On Wilton ripples. II: Rigorous results (Q1060092)

[For part I see: the authors, Wave Motion 3, 115-135 (1981; Zbl 0472.76026).] Wilton ripples are a special case of nonlinear progressive water waves of small amplitude which move, subject to the effects of surface tension, without change of shape. They are combination waves - perturbations of two pure waves having wavelengths L and L/2 - and in water of infinite depth occur near Bond numbers \((\rho g/T)(L/2\pi)^ 2\) equal to 2,3,.... (where T is the surface tension and \(\rho\) g is the weight density of the water). The purpose of this paper is to prove the existence of Wilton ripples; in particular, to describe rigorously gravity-capillary waves in a full neighbourhood of Bond number equal to 2. The authors claim this as the first rigorous derivation of bifurcation and the occurrence of combination waves in the context of gravity-capillary waves. Iterative perturbation arguments are used to demonstrate the validity of previously-derived formal results (see the first part). However the stability of the different bifurcation branches remains unresolved. The results are obtained initially for two-dimensional flows in water of infinite depth. They are then generalized to finite depth and three dimensions.