On the stability of nonlinear waves in integrable models (Q1074781)

A new method of investigation of stability is presented for nonlinear wave equations integrable by the inverse scattering transform method. It is shown that if the nonlinear equation \(U_ t=S(u)\) admits the Zakharov-Shabat representation then the problem of stability with respect to small perturbations reduces to the solution of two joint linear matrix equations. This linear system admits a separation of variables and as a result the resulting spectral problems are of a lower order than the initial linearized equation. This just yields the advantage of the IST method application to the stability problem. The method proposed is applied to the stability problem for stationary periodic waves in a weakly dispersive medium described by the Kadomtsev- Petviashvili equation. It is shown that the stationary waves with arbitrary amplitudes in the cases of negative dispersion are stable with respect to transverse perturbations. For positive dispersion the stationary waves are unstable.