Bloch theory and spectral gaps for linearized water waves

Abstract

The system of equations for water waves, when linearized about equilibrium of a fluid body with a varying bottom boundary, is described by a spectral problem for the Dirichlet -- Neumann operator of the unperturbed free surface. This spectral problem is fundamental in questions of stability, as well as to the perturbation theory of evolution of the free surface in such settings. In addition, the Dirichlet -- Neumann operator is self-adjoint when given an appropriate definition and domain, and it is a novel but very natural spectral problem for a nonlocal operator. In the case in which the bottom boundary varies periodically, $\{y = -h + b(x)\}$ where $b(x+\gamma) = b(x)$, $\gamma \in \Gamma$ a lattice, this spectral problem admits a Bloch decomposition in terms of spectral band functions and their associated band-parametrized eigenfunctions. In this article we describe this analytic construction in the case of a spatially periodic bottom variation from constant depth in two space dimensional water waves problem, giving a construction of the Bloch eigenfunctions and eigenvalues as a function of the band parameters and a description of the Dirichlet -- Neumann operator in terms of the bathymetry $b(x)$. One of the consequences of this description is that the spectrum consists of a series of bands separated by spectral gaps which are zones of forbidden energies. For a given generic periodic bottom profile $b(x)=\varepsilon \beta(x)$, every gap opens for a sufficiently small value of the perturbation parameter $\varepsilon$.