Full family of flattening solitary waves for the mass critical generalized KdV equation

Abstract

For the mass critical generalized KdV equation $\partial_t u + \partial_x (\partial_x^2 u + u^5)=0$ on $\mathbb R$, we construct a full family of flattening solitary wave solutions. Let $Q$ be the unique even positive solution of $Q''+Q^5=Q$. For any $\nu\in (0,\frac 13)$, there exist global (for $t\geq 0$) solutions of the equation with the asymptotic behavior \begin{equation*} u(t,x)= t^{-\frac{\nu}2} Q\left(t^{-\nu} (x-x(t))\right)+w(t,x) \end{equation*} where, for some $c>0$, \begin{equation*} x(t)\sim c t^{1-2\nu} \quad \mbox{and}\quad \|w(t)\|_{H^1(x>\frac 12 x(t))} \to 0\quad \mbox{as $t\to +\infty$.} \end{equation*} Moreover, the initial data for such solutions can be taken arbitrarily close to a solitary wave in the energy space. The long-time flattening of the solitary wave is forced by a slowly decaying tail in the initial data. This result and its proof are inspired and complement recent blow-up results for the critical generalized KdV equation. This article is also motivated by previous constructions of exotic behaviors close to solitons for other nonlinear dispersive equations such as the energy-critical wave equation.