A pseudoconformal compactification of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation and applications (Q1043766)

The paper revisits the general analysis of the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation in dimension \(d\), \[ (i\partial_t + \frac 12 \Delta)u=\mu |u|^{p-1}u, \] where \(\Delta\) is the Laplacian, and \(\mu=\pm 1\). It is known that, in addition to the usual conformal invariance, the NLS equation in the case of the critical value of the nonlinearity power, \(p=1+(4/d)\), is invariant with respect to the pseudoconformal transformation, \[ u(x,t) \to |t|^{d/2}u(-1/t,x/t)\exp(i|x|^2/(2t)), \] which is closely related to the occurrence of the critical collapse in this case, in the case of the self-focusing nonlinearity, \(\mu = -1\). Another transformation, related to the pseudoconformal one, is the lens transformation, which, essentially, compactifies the infinite time interval in the NLS equation, \(-\infty < t < +\infty\), into a finite interval, \((-\pi/2,+\pi/2)\), at the expense of augmenting the equation with a harmonic (quadratic) potential: \[ u(t,x)\to U\equiv (\cos t)^{-d/2}u\left(\tan t, \frac{x}{\cos t}\right) \exp\left(-i|x|^2\tan(t/2)\right) \, . \] The transformation conserves the norm of the solution and its Strichartz norms (which are used for the derivation of the known Strichartz estimates, necessary for the proof of the well-posedness of the Cauchy problem for the NLS equation). The lens transform of \(u\) obeys the NLS equation with the harmonic-potential term: \[ (i\partial_t + \frac 12 \Delta - \frac 12 |x|^2)U=\mu |\cos t|^ {d(p-1)/2 - 2}|U|^{p-1}U, \] which takes an especially simple form in the critical case, when the \(\cos t\) factor in front of the nonlinear term vanishes. The equation for \(U\) can be extended from the temporal interval \((-\pi/2,+\pi/2)\), in which it is posed by the lens transformation, to the infinite region of the new temporal variable in the undercritical case, \(p<1+(4/d)\). The present paper presents an overview of the results obtained with the use of the lens transformation for the proof of basic results concerning the well-posedness of the NLS equation with initial conditions, such as the existence, boundedness, and asymptotic completeness of the solutions.