arXiv subjects

Bjorn Sandstede

Publications and source records attributed to Bjorn Sandstede.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Determining the source of period-doubling instabilities in spiral waves

Spiral wave patterns observed in models of cardiac arrhythmias and chemical oscillations develop alternans and stationary line defects, which can both be thought of as period-doubling instabilities. These instabilities are observed on bounded domains, and may be caused by the spiral core, far-field asymptotics, or boundary conditions. Here, we introduce a methodology to disentangle the impacts of each region on the instabilities by analyzing spectral properties of spiral waves and boundary sinks on bounded domains with appropriate boundary conditions. We apply our techniques to spirals formed in reaction-diffusion systems to investigate how and why alternans and line defects develop. Our results indicate that the mechanisms driving these instabilities are quite different; alternans are driven by the spiral core, whereas line defects appear from boundary effects. Moreover, we find that the shape of the alternans eigenfunction is due to the interaction of a point eigenvalue with curves of continuous spectra.

math.DS↗

arXiv2016

Mixing in Reaction-Diffusion Systems: Large Phase Offsets

We consider Reaction-Diffusion systems on $\mathbb{R}$, and prove diffusive mixing of asymptotic states $u_0(kx - ϕ_{\pm}, k)$, where $u_0$ is a periodic wave. Our analysis is the first to treat arbitrarily large phase-offsets $ϕ_d = ϕ_{+}- ϕ_{-}$, so long as this offset proceeds in a sufficiently regular manner. The offset $ϕ_d$ completely determines the size of the asymptotic profiles, placing our analysis in the large data setting. In addition, the present result is a global stability result, in the sense that the class of initial data considered are not near the asymptotic profile in any sense. We prove global existence, decay, and asymptotic self-similarity of the associated wavenumber equation. We develop a functional framework to handle the linearized operator around large Burgers profiles via the exact integrability of the underlying Burgers flow. This framework enables us to prove a crucial, new mean-zero coercivity estimate, which we then combine with a nonlinear energy method.

math.AP↗

arXiv2013

Nonlinear stability of source defects in the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation

In an appropriate moving coordinate frame, source defects are time-periodic solutions to reaction-diffusion equations that are spatially asymptotic to spatially periodic wave trains whose group velocities point away from the core of the defect. In this paper, we rigorously establish nonlinear stability of spectrally stable source defects in the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation. Due to the outward transport at the far field, localized perturbations may lead to a highly non-localized response even on the linear level. To overcome this, we first investigate in detail the dynamics of the solution to the linearized equation. This allows us to determine an approximate solution that satisfies the full equation up to and including quadratic terms in the nonlinearity. This approximation utilizes the fact that the non-localized phase response, resulting from the embedded zero eigenvalues, can be captured, to leading order, by the nonlinear Burgers equation. The analysis is completed by obtaining detailed estimates for the resolvent kernel and pointwise estimates for the Green's function, which allow one to close a nonlinear iteration scheme.

math.AP↗

arXiv2011

Toward nonlinear stability of sources via a modified Burgers equation

Coherent structures are solutions to reaction-diffusion systems that are time-periodic in an appropriate moving frame and spatially asymptotic at $x=\pm\infty$ to spatially periodic travelling waves. This paper is concerned with sources which are coherent structures for which the group velocities in the far field point away from the core. Sources actively select wave numbers and therefore often organize the overall dynamics in a spatially extended system. Determining their nonlinear stability properties is challenging as localized perturbations may lead to a non-localized response even on the linear level due to the outward transport. Using a modified Burgers equation as a model problem that captures some of the essential features of coherent structures, we show how this phenomenon can be analysed and nonlinear stability be established in this simpler context.

math.AP↗

arXiv2010

Perturbations of embedded eigenvalues for the planar bilaplacian

Operators on unbounded domains may acquire eigenvalues that are embedded in the essential spectrum. Determining the fate of these embedded eigenvalues under small perturbations of the underlying operator is a challenging task, and the persistence properties of such eigenvalues is linked intimately to the multiplicity of the essential spectrum. In this paper, we consider the planar bilaplacian with potential and show that the set of potentials for which an embedded eigenvalue persists is locally an infinite-dimensional manifold with infinite codimension in an appropriate space of potentials.

math.FA↗

arXiv2009

Existence of multi-pulses of the regularized short-pulse and Ostrovsky equations

The existence of multi-pulse solutions near orbit-flip bifurcations of a primary single-humped pulse is shown in reversible, conservative, singularly perturbed vector fields. Similar to the non-singular case, the sign of a geometric condition that involves the first integral decides whether multi-pulses exist or not. The proof utilizes a combination of geometric singular perturbation theory and Lyapunov--Schmidt reduction through Lin's method. The motivation for considering orbit flips in singularly perturbed systems comes from the regularized short-pulse equation and the Ostrovsky equation, which both fit into this framework and are shown here to support multi-pulses.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2008

Nonlinear stability of time-periodic viscous shocks

In order to understand the nonlinear stability of many types of time-periodic travelling waves on unbounded domains, one must overcome two main difficulties: the presence of embedded neutral eigenvalues and the time-dependence of the associated linear operator. This problem is studied in the context of time-periodic Lax shocks in systems of viscous conservation laws. Using spatial dynamics and a decomposition into separate Floquet eigenmodes, it is shown that the linear evolution for the time-dependent operator can be represented using a contour integral similar to that of the standard time-independent case. By decomposing the resulting Green's distribution, the leading order behavior associated with the embedded eigenvalues is extracted. Sharp pointwise bounds are then obtained, which are used to prove that time-periodic Lax shocks are linearly and nonlinearly stable under the necessary conditions of spectral stability and minimal multiplicity of the translational eigenvalues. The latter conditions hold, for example, for small-oscillation time-periodic waves that emerge through a supercritical Hopf bifurcation from a family of time-independent Lax shocks of possibly large amplitude.

math.AP↗