The existence and non-existence of solutions for the nonlinear Schrödinger equation in one dimension (Q1644327)

The author considers the nonlinear Schrödinger equation in one dimension of the form \[ -u''+(1+b(x))u=f(u),\quad u\in H^1(\mathbb{R}), \] where the potential \(b(x)\) satisfies \(1+b(x)\geq0\), \(\lim_{|x|\to\infty}b(x)=0\) and \(\limsup_{|x|\to\infty}e^{\beta_0|x|}b(x)\leq0\) for \(\beta_0>2\) and \(f(u)\) behaves like \(|u|^{p-1}u\) for \(p>1\). In this paper the author proves, using variational methods, that if \(b(x)\) also satisfies \[ \int_{-\infty}^\infty b(x)e^{2|x|}dx<2, \] then the nonlinear Schrödinger equation has at least a positive solution. On the contrary, if \(b(x)\) satisfies \[ m_1\mu e^{-\mu|x|}\leq b(x)\leq m_2\mu e^{-\mu|x|} \] for some \(\mu>2\) and \(m_2\geq m_1>0\), then, for some choices of the parameters the nonlinear Schrödinger equation does not have nontrivial solutions.