Existence and uniqueness of solutions for the generalized Korteweg-de Vries equation (Q1113388)

We continue the study of the Cauchy problem for the generalized Korteweg- de Vries equation \(\partial_ tu+D^ 3u=DV'(u)\) with \(V\in {\mathcal C}^ 1({\mathbb{R}},{\mathbb{R}})\) and with initial data \(u_ 0\) in \(L^ 2\) or \(H^ 1\) initiated by the first and the second author in a previous paper [[1] Uniqueness of solutions for the generalized Korteweg-de Vries equation, preprint Orsay (1988)]. In [1] uniqueness of the solutions was proved in suitable function spaces and suitable assumptions on V, for \(u_ 0\) in \(L^ 2\) or \(H^ 1\) spaces. Here, using compactness methods, we prove the existence of \(L^ 2\) and \(H^ 1\) solutions for initial data \(u_ 0\) in \(L^ 2\) or \(H^ 1\) under more general assumptions on V, including some restrictions at zero and infinity but no more local regularity than \(V\in {\mathcal C}^ 1\). We then specialize our results to the situations considered in [1] and prove the existence of solutions under the assumptions of [1] in the function spaces considered in [1], thereby converting the uniqueness results of [1] into existence and uniqueness results in the same spaces.