Semilinear NLW

Semilinear wave equations

[Note: Many references needed here!]

Semilinear wave equations (NLW) and semi-linear Klein-Gordon equations (NLKG) take the form

$\Box \phi =F(\phi ),\Box \phi =\phi +F(\phi )$

respectively where $F$ is a function only of $f$ and not of its derivatives, which vanishes to more than first order.

Typically $F$ is a power type nonlinearity. If $F$ is the gradient of some function $V$, then we have a conserved Hamiltonian

$\int |{\frac {\phi _{t}|^{2}}{2}}+|{\frac {\nabla \phi |^{2}}{2}}+V(\phi )\ dx.$

For NLKG there is an additional term of Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle | \phi |^2 /2} in the integrand, which is useful for controlling the low frequencies of Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle f} . If V is positive definite then we call the NLW defocusing; if $V$ is negative definite we call the NLW focusing.

To analyze these equations in Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle H^s} we need the non-linearity to be sufficiently smooth. More precisely, we will always assume either that Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F} is smooth, or that Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle F} is a p^th-power type non-linearity with Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle p > [s]+1} .

The scaling regularity is Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_c = d/2 - 2/(p-1)} . Notable powers of Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle p} include the Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle L^2} -critical power Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle p_{L^2} = 1 + 4/d} , the Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle H^{1/2}} -critical or conformal power p_{H^{1/2}} = 1 + 4/(d-1), and the Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle H^1} -critical power Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle p_{H^1} = 1 + 4/{d-2}} .

Dimension d	Strauss exponent (NLKG)	Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle L^2} -critical exponent	Strauss exponent (NLW)	H^{1/2}-critical exponent	H^1-critical exponent
1	3.56155...	5	infinity	infinity	N/A
2	2.41421...	3	3.56155...	5	infinity
3	2	2.33333...	2.41421...	3	5
4	1.78078...	2	2	2.33333...	3

Necessary conditions for LWP

The following necessary conditions for LWP are known.

• Firstly, for focussing NLW/NLKG one has blowup in finite time for large data, as can be seen by the ODE method. One can scale this and obtain ill-posedness for any focussing NLW/NLKG in the supercritical regime s < s_c; this has been extended to the defocusing case in CtCoTa-p2. By using Lorentz scaling instead of isotropic scaling one can also obtain ill-posedness whenever s is below the conformal regularity Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_{conf} = (d+1)/4 - 1/(p-1)} in the focusing case; the defocusing case is still open. In the Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle H^{1/2}} -critical power or below, this condition is stronger than the scaling requirement.
  • When Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle d \geq 2} and 1 < p < p_{H^{1/2}} with the focusing sign, blowup is known to occur when a certain Lyapunov functional is negative, and the rate of blowup is self-similar MeZaa2003; earlier results are in AntMe2001, CafFri1986, Al1995, KiLit1993, KiLit1993b. To make sense of the non-linearity in the sense of distributions we need s \geq 0 (indeed we have illposedness below this regularity by a high-to-low cascade, see CtCoTa-p2). In the one-dimensional case one also needs the condition Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle 1/2 - s < 1/p} to keep the non-linearity integrable, because there is no Strichartz smoothing to exploit.
• Finally, in three dimensions one has ill-posedness when Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle p=2} and Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s = s_{conf} = 0} Lb1993.

• In dimensions Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle d\leq3 } the above necessary conditions are also sufficient for LWP.
• For d>4 sufficiency is only known assuming the condition

Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle p (d/4-s) \leq 1/2 ( (d+3)/2 - s)} (*)

and excluding the double endpoint when (*) holds with equality and s=s_{conf} Ta1999. The main tool is two-scale Strichartz estimates.

• By using standard Strichartz estimates this was proven with (*) replaced by Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle p ((d+1)/4-s) \leq (d+1)/2d ( (d+3)/2 - s)} ; (**) see KeTa1998 for the double endpoint when (**) holds with equality and s=s_{conf}, and LbSo1995 for all other cases. A slightly weaker result also appears in Kp1993. GWP and scattering for NLW is known for data with small Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle H^{s_c}} norm when Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle p} is at or above the Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle H^{1/2}} -critical power (and this has been extended to Besov spaces; see Pl-p4. This can be used to obtain self-similar solutions, see [MiaZg-p2]). One also has GWP in Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle H^1} in the defocussing case when p is at or below the Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle H^1} -critical power. (At the critical power this result is due to Gl1992; see also SaSw1994. For radial data this was shown in Sw1988.) For more scattering results, see below.

For the defocussing NLKG, GWP in $H^{s}$, Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s < 1} , is known in the following cases:

• Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle d=3, p = 3, s > 3/4} KnPoVe-p2
• Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle d=3, 3 \leq p < 5, s > [4(p-1) + (5-p)(3p-3-4)]/[2(p-1)(7-p)]} MiaZgFg-p
• Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle d=3, 2 < p < 3, or n\geq4, (d+1)^2/((d-1)^2+4) \leq p < (d-1)/(d-3)} , and

Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s > [2(p-1)^2 - (d+2-p(d-2))(d+1-p(d-1))] / [2(p-1)(d+1-p(d-3))]}

[MiaZgFg-p]. Note that this is the range of p for which s_conf obeys both the scaling condition Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_{conf} > s_c} and the condition (**).

• Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle d=2, 3 \leq p \leq 5, s > (p-2)/(p-1)} Fo-p; this is

for the NLW instead of NLKG.

• Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle d=2, p > 5, s > (p-1)/p} Fo-p; this is for the NLW

instead of NLKG. GWP and blowup has also been studied for the NLW with a conformal factor

Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \Box u = (t^2 + (1 - (t^2-x^2)/4)^2)^{-(d-1)p/4 + (d+3)/4} |u|^p} ;

the significance of this factor is that it behaves well under conformal compactification. See Aa2002, BcKkZz2002, Gue2003 for some recent results. A substantial scattering theory for NLW and NLKG is known. The non-relativistic limit of NLKG has attracted a fair amount of research.

Specific semilinear wave equations

• Sine-Gordon
• Quadratic NLW/NLKG
• Cubic NLW/NLKG (on R, on R^2, on R^3, and on R^4)
• Quartic NLW/NLKG
• Quintic NLW/NLKG (on R, on R^2, and on R^3)
• Septic NLW/NLKG (on R, on R^2, and on R^3)