Global solutions and the asymptotic behavior for nonlinear wave equations with small initial data (Q1682966): Difference between revisions

This monograph is devoted to the extensive investigation of the Cauchy problem for systems of nonlinear wave equations with small initial data. In the category of smooth solutions, the following topics are covered: sufficient conditions for the small data global existence, the asymptotic behavior of global solutions, and the lifespan estimates of solutions, with an emphasis on the relation between the nonlinear wave equations and their reduced equations. The monograph also contains some recent progress in the small data global existence under some structure conditions weaker than the null condition, and it is shown that a wide variety of the asymptotic behavior is observed under such weaker conditions. Most of the chapters are followed by some notes, which include some historical comments, further discussions, and open problems, which are helpful not only for researchers, but also for graduate students who are interested in entering the field of nonlinear wave equations. The exposition is intended to be self-contained, at least for the main stories. Especially, no knowledge on linear and nonlinear wave equations are assumed. To simplify the exposition, the author mainly treats the semilinear wave equations and leave the discussion of possible extension to the quasilinear cases in notes at the end of each chapter. In most problems, the essential points have already presented in the semilinear case. The monograph is organized as follows: In Chapter 1, an overview of the problem is given. In Chapter 2, some notations and basic facts on function spaces, theory of distributions, Fourier analysis, \(L^2\) based Sobolev spaces, functions with values in Banach spaces and the Radon transform are collected. In Chapter 3, for linear wave equations, the author studied explicit formula and asymptotic behavior of solutions, as well as the energy inequality. Chapter 4 is devoted to the proof of the classical local existence theorem and property of finite speed of propagation for nonlinear wave equations. The vector field method is introduced in Chapter 5. Some important inequalities, including the Klainerman-Sobolev inequality and \(L^1-L^\infty\) estimates due to Klainerman and Hörmander are also proved. Using the vector field method, when the nonlinearity depends only on derivatives of the unknowns, the global existence in the supercritical case, the blow-up results and the lifespan estimates in the critical case are presented in Chapter 6. Then, Chapter 7 is devoted to the much more delicate case of general nonlinearity involving the unknown functions, in three space dimensions. The difficulty here is the lack of the natural estimate for \(\|u(t)\|_{L^2}\). Systems of reduced equations are introduced and analyzed in Chapter 8, in two and three space dimensions. In Chapter 9, the null conditions are introduced, and the global existence and the asymptotic behavior of classical solutions under the null condition is proved. To treat the two space dimensional case, a so-called ghost weighted energy inequality is introduced. In Chapter 10, the notion of the weak null condition is introduced. Under some structural conditions on systems of reduced equations, which covers a certain kind of nonlinearity satisfying the weak null condition, the author proves global existence of solutions. In addition, the connection between the asymptotic behavior of nonlinear wave equations and the systems of reduced equations are illustrated through some examples. Finally in Chapter 11, the author reviews some related topics, such as systems of nonlinear wave equations with multiple propagation speeds, and coupled systems of nonlinear wave and Klein-Gordon equations, where we are forced to restrict the usage of vector fields.