arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Atanas G. Stefanov.
We study the dissipative Boussinesq problem, which extends the "good" Boussinesq equation by incorporating viscosity effects. It is well-known that this model supports monotone decreasing traveling kink solutions. We show that these kinks are orbitally stable in $H^1(\rone)$. Moreover, they are asymptotically stable in $\dot{H}^1(\rone)$ and $L^p(\rone), 2<p\leq \infty$.
We investigate the existence and spectral stability of traveling wave solutions for a class of fourth-order semilinear wave equations, commonly referred to as beam equations. Using variational methods based on a constrained maximization problem, we establish the existence of smooth, exponentially decaying traveling wave profiles for wavespeeds in the interval $(0, \sqrt{2})$. We derive precise spectral properties of the associated linearized operators and prove a Vakhitov-Kolokolov (VK) type stability criterion that completely characterizes spectral stability. Furthermore, we determine the sharp exponential decay rate of the traveling waves and demonstrate that it matches the decay rate of the Green's function for the linearized operator. Our analysis extends to fourth-order nonlinear Schrodinger equations, for which we establish analogous existence and stability results. The theoretical findings are complemented by numerical computations that verify the stability predictions and reveal the transition from unstable to stable regimes as the wavespeed varies. These results provide a comprehensive mathematical framework for understanding wave propagation phenomena in structural mechanics, particularly suspension bridge models.
Burgers equation is a classic model, which arises in numerous applications. At its very core it is a simple conservation law, which serves as a toy model for various dynamics phenomena. In particular, it supports explicit heteroclinic solutions, both fronts and backs. Their stability has been studied in details. There has been substantial interest in considering dispersive and/or diffusive modifications, which present novel dynamical paradigms in such simple setting. More specificaly, the KdV-Burgers model has been showed to support unique fronts (not all of them monotone!) with fixed values at $\pm \infty$. Many articles, among which \cite{Pego}, \cite{NS1}, \cite{NS2}, have studied the question of stability of monotone (or close to monotone) fronts. In a breakthrough paper, \cite{BBHY}, the authors have extended these results in several different directions. They have considered a wider range of models. The fronts do not need to be monotone, but are subject of a spectral condition instead. Most importantly the method allows for large perturbations, as long as the heteroclinic conditions at $\pm \infty$ are met. That is, there is asymptotic attraction to the said fronts or equivalently the limit set consist of one point. The purpose of this paper is to extend the results of \cite{BBHY} by providing explicit algebraic rates of convergence as $t\to \infty$. We bootstrap these results from the results in \cite{BBHY} using additional energy estimates for two important examples namely KdV-Burgers and the fractional Burgers problem. These rates are likely not optimal, but we conjecture that they are algebraic nonetheless.
In the present work we construct kink solutions for different (parabolic and wave) variants of the fractional $ϕ^4$ model, in both the sub-Laplacian and super-Laplacian setting. We establish existence and monotonicity results (for the sub - Laplacian case), along with sharp asymptotics which are corroborated through numerical computations. Importantly, in the sub-Laplacian regime, we provide the explicit and numerically verifiable spectral condition, which guarantees uniqueness for odd kinks. We check numerically the relevant condition to confirm the uniqueness of such solutions. In addition, we show asymptotic stability for the stationary kinks in the parabolic setting and also, the spectral stability for the traveling kinks in the corresponding wave equation.
We analyze the Drinfeld-Sokolob-Wilson system, which features a dispersive, KdV type evolution with a dispersionless conservation law. We establish well-posedness with low regularity initial data $L^2({\mathbb T})\times L^2({\mathbb T})$ for the Cauchy problem on periodic background, which is then extrapolated to global solutions, due to $L^2$ conservation law. We also establish a dynamically more relevant result, namely a global persistence of solutions with (large) initial data in $H^1({\mathbb T})\times L^2({\mathbb T})$. This is obtained by following a more sophisticated approach, specifically the method of normal forms. Finally, for a fixed period $L$, we construct an explicit one parameter family of periodic waves, see \eqref{2.16} below. We show that they are all spectrally unstable with respect to co-periodic perturbations. Specifically, we show that the Hamiltonian instability index is equal to one, which identifies the instability as a single positive growing mode.
We consider a semilinear Schrödinger equation, driven by the power degenerate second order differential operator $\nabla\cdot (|x|^{2a} \nabla), a\in (0,1)$. We construct the solitary waves, in the sharp range of parameters, as minimizers of the Caffarelli-Kohn-Nirenberg's inequality. Depending on the parameter $a$ and the nonlinearity, we establish a number of properties, such as positivity, smoothness (away from the origin) and almost exponential decay. Then, and as a consequence of our variational constrcution, we completely characterize the spectral stability of the said solitons. We pose some natural conjectures, which are still open -- such as the radiality of the ground states, the non-degeneracy and most importantly uniqueness.
In the seminal work of Benjamin,\cite{Ben} in the late 70's, he has derived the ubiquitous Benjamin model, which is a reduced model in the theory of water waves. Notably, it contains two parameters in its dispersion part and under some special circumstances, it turns into the celebrated KdV or the Benjamin-Ono equation, During the90's, there was renewed interest in it. Benjamin, \cite{Ben1}, \cite{Ben2} studied the problem for existence of solitary waves, followed by works of Bona-Chen, \cite{BC}, Albert-Bona-Restrepo, \cite{ABR}, Pava, \cite{Pava1}, who have showed the existence of travelling waves, mostly by variational, but also bifurcation methods. Some results about the stability became available, but unfortunately, those were restricted to either small waves or Benjamin model, close to a distinguished (i.e. KdV or BO) limit. Quite recently, in \cite{ADM}, Abdallah, Darwich and Molinet, proved existence, orbital stability and uniqueness results for these waves, but only for large values of $\f{c}{\ga^2}>>1$. In this article, we present an alternative constrained maximization procedure for the construction of these waves, for the full range of the parameters, which allows us to ascertain their spectral stability. Moreover, we extend this construction to all $L^2$ subcritical cases (i.e. power nonlinearities $(|u|^{p-2}u)_x$, $2<p\leq 6$). Finally, we propose a different procedure, based on a specific form of the Sobolev embedding inequality, which works for all powers $2<p<\infty$, but produces some unstable waves, for large $p$. Some open questions and a conjecture regarding this last result are proposed for further investigation.
We study the periodic Schrödinger-Korteweg de Vries system. We describe the two-parametetric family of $2T$ periodic traveling waves of dnoidal type. The main objective of the paper is to establish their spectral stability with respect to co-periodic perturbations. In the limit $T\to \infty$, we recover the results of Albert-Angulo, for the stability of the soliton solutions of this system on the real line.
We consider the NLS system of the third-harmonic generation, which was introduced by Sammut. Our interest is in solitary wave solutions and their stability properties. The recent work of Oliveira and Pastor, discussed global well-posedness vs. finite time blow-up, as well as other aspects of the dynamics. These authors have also constructed solitary wave solutions, via the method of mountain pass/Nehari manifold, in an appropriate range of parameters. Specifically, the waves exist only in spatial dimensions $n=1,2,3$. They have also established some stability/instability results for these waves. In this work, we systematically build and study solitary waves for this important model. We construct the waves in the largest possible parameter space, and we provide a complete classification of their stability. In dimension one, we show stability, whereas, in $n=2,3$, they are generally spectrally unstable, except for a small region, where they do enjoy an extra pseudo-conformal symmetry. Finally, we discuss instability by a blow-up. In the case $n=3$, and for a more restrictive set of parameters, we use virial identities methods to derive the strong instability, in the spirit of Ohta's approach. In $n=2$, the virial identities reduce matters, via conservation of mass and energy, to the initial data. Our conclusions mirror closely the well-known results for the scalar cubic focusing NLS, while the proofs are much more involved.
Recently, two different proofs for large and intermediate-size solitary waves of the nonlocally dispersive Whitham equation have been presented, using either global bifurcation theory or the limit of waves of large period. We give here a different approach by maximising directly the dispersive part of the energy functional, while keeping the remaining nonlinear terms fixed with an Orlicz-space constraint. This method is to our knowledge new in the setting of water waves. The constructed solutions are bell-shaped in the sense that they are even, one-sided monotone, and attain their maximum at the origin. The method initially considers weaker solutions than in earlier works, and is not limited to small waves: a family of solutions is obtained, along which the dispersive energy is continuous and increasing. In general, our construction admits more than one solution for each energy level, and waves with the same energy level may have different heights. Although a transformation in the construction hinders us from concluding the family with an extreme wave, we give a quantitative proof that the set reaches `large' or 'intermediate-sized' waves.
The paper concerns with the stability of periodic travelling waves of dnoidal type of the Zakharov system. This problem was considered in Angulo-Brango, Nonlinearity'11, where it was shown that subject to a technical condition on the perturbation, such waves are orbitally stable, with respect to perturbations of the same period. Our main result fills up the gap created by the aforementioned technical condition. More precisely, we show that for all natural values of the parameters, the periodic dnoidal waves are spectrally stable.
The focussing anisotropic nonlinear Schrödinger equation \begin{align*} \mathrm{i} u_t-\partial_{xx} u + (-\partial_{yy})^s u=|u|^{p-2}u \quad \mbox{in}\ \mathbb{R} \times \mathbb{R}^2 \end{align*} is considered for $0 2$. Here the equation is of anisotropy, it means that dispersion of solutions along $x$-axis and $y$-axis is different. We show that while localized time-periodic waves, that are solutions in the form $u=e^{-\mathrm{i} ωt} ϕ$, do not exist in the regime $p\geq p_s:=\frac{2(1+s)}{1-s}$, they do exist in the complementary regime $2<p<p_s$. In fact, we construct them variationally and we establish a number of key properties. Importantly, we completely characterize their spectral stability properties. Our consideration are easily extendable to the higher dimensional situation. We also show uniqueness of these waves under a natural weak non-degeneracy assumption. This assumption is actually removed for $s$ close to $1$, implying uniqueness for the waves in the full range of parameters.
We analyze the Benney model for interaction of short and long waves in resonant water wave interactions. Our particular interest is in the periodic traveling waves, which we construct and study in detail. The main results are that, for all natural values of the parameters, the periodic dnoidal waves are spectrally stable with respect to perturbations of the same period. For another natural set of parameters, we construct the snoidal waves, which exhibit instabilities, in the same setup. Our results are the first instability results in this context. On the other hand, the spectral stability established herein improves significantly upon the work Angulo-Corcho-Hakkaev, which established stability of the dnoidal waves, on a subset of parameter space, by relying on the Grillakis-Shatah theory. Our approach, which turns out to give definite answer for the entire domain of parameters, relies on the instability index theory. Interestingly, end even though the linearized operators are explicit, our spectral analysis requires subtle and detailed analysis of matrix Schrödinger operators in the periodic context, which support some interesting features.
In his seminal work, Weinstein considered the question of the ground states for discrete Schrödinger equations with power law nonlinearities, posed on ${\mathbb Z}^d$. More specifically, he constructed the so-called normalized waves, by minimizing the Hamiltonian functional, for fixed power $P$ (i.e. $l^2$ mass). This type of variational method allows one to claim, in a straightforward manner, set stability for such waves. In this work, we revisit and build upon Weinstein's work in several directions. First, for the normalized waves, we show that they are in fact spectrally stable as solutions of the corresponding discrete NLS evolution equation. Next, we construct the so-called homogeneous waves, by using a different constrained optimization problem. Importantly, this construction works for all values of the parameters, e.g. $l^2$ supercritical problems. We establish a rigorous criterion for stability, which decides the stability on the homogeneous waves, based on the classical Grillakis-Shatah-Strauss/Vakhitov-Kolokolov quantity $\partial_ω\|φ_ω\|_{l^2}^2$. In addition, we provide some symmetry results for the solitons. Finally, we complement our results with numerical computations, which showcase the full agreement between the conclusion from the GSS/VK criterion vis-á-vis with the linearized problem. In particular, one observes that it is possible for the stability of the wave to change as the spectral parameter $ω$ varies, in contrast with the corresponding continuous NLS model.
We study the two dimensional non-linear Schrödinger equation with two types of exponential non-linearities. It is well-known by a work of Ruf - Sani, that such models support solitary wave solutions, which are solutions of some constrained minimization problem. We show that these Ruf - Sani solitons, are spectrally unstable as well as unstable by blow-up.
In this paper, we consider the degenerate semi-linear Schrödinger and Korteweg-deVries equations in one spatial dimension. We construct special solutions of the two models, namely standing wave solutions of NLS and traveling waves, which turn out to have compact support, compactons. We show that the compactons are unique bell-shaped solutions of the corresponding PDE's and for appropriate variational problems as well. We provide a complete spectral characterization of such waves, for all values of $p$. Namely, we show that all waves are spectrally stable for $2 8$. This extends previous work of Germain, Harrop-Griffits and Marzuola, who have established orbital stability for some specific waves, in the range $p<8$.
The Barashenkov-Bogdan-Zhanlav solitons $u_\pm$ for the forced NLS/Lugiato-Lefever model on the line are considered. While the instability of $u_+$ was established in the original paper, \cite{B1}, the analogous question for $u_-$ was only considered heuristically and numerically. We rigorously analyze the stability of $u_-$ in the various regime of the parameters. In particular, we show that $u_-$ is spectrally stable for small pump strength $h$. Moreover, $u_-$ remains spectrally stable until a pair of neutral eigenvalues of negative Krein signature hits another pair of eigenvalues, which has emanated from the edge of the continuous spectrum, \cite{B1, BBK, ABP}. After the collision, an instability is conjectured and numerically observed in previous works, \cite{B1}.
We study the concentrated NLS on ${\mathbf R^n}$, with power non-linearities, driven by the fractional Laplacian, $(-Δ)^s, s>\frac{n}{2}$. We construct the solitary waves explicitly, in an optimal range of the parameters, so that they belong to the natural energy space $H^s$. Next, we provide a complete classification of their spectral stability. Finally, we show that the waves are non-degenerate and consequently orbitally stable, whenever they are spectrally stable. Incidentally, our construction shows that the soliton profiles for the concentrated NLS are in fact exact minimizers of the Sobolev embedding $H^s({\mathbf R^n})\hookrightarrow L^\infty({\mathbf R^n})$, which provides an alternative calculation and justification of the sharp constants in these inequalities.