A sharp condition for scattering of the radial 3d cubic nonlinear Schroedinger equation

Abstract

We consider the problem of identifying sharp criteria under which radial $H^1$ (finite energy) solutions to the focusing 3d cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS) $i\partial_t u + Δu + |u|^2u=0$ scatter, i.e. approach the solution to a linear Schrödinger equation as $t\to \pm \infty$. The criteria is expressed in terms of the scale-invariant quantities $\|u_0\|_{L^2}\|\nabla u_0\|_{L^2}$ and $M[u]E[u]$, where $u_0$ denotes the initial data, and $M[u]$ and $E[u]$ denote the (conserved in time) mass and energy of the corresponding solution $u(t)$. The focusing NLS possesses a soliton solution $e^{it}Q(x)$, where $Q$ is the ground-state solution to a nonlinear elliptic equation, and we prove that if $M[u]E[u] \|Q\|_{L^2}\|\nabla Q\|_{L^2}$, then the solution blows-up in finite time. The technique employed is parallel to that employed by Kenig-Merle \cite{KM06a} in their study of the energy-critical NLS.