Periodic nonlinear waves on a half-line (Q1071166)

Let \(g: R\to R\) be a \(C^ 2\) function with \(g(0)=0\) and consider the nonlinear autonomous wave equation \[ (1)\quad u_{tt}=u_{xx}- g(u)\quad for\quad x\in [0,\infty)\quad and\quad t\in R. \] This paper shows that, if \(g'(0)>1\), then there do exist solutions of (1) which are non-constant and \(2\pi\)-periodic in t and which decay exponentially fast as \(x\to \infty\) in the sense that \[ \int^{2\pi}_{0}(u^ 2(x,t)+u^ 2_ t(x,t)+u^ 2_ x(x,t)) dt\leq C \exp (-lx) \] for some \(\lambda >0\). The idea of the proof consists in considering (1) as a dynamical system in the ''time'' x while thinking the ''space'' variable t as ranging over the circle \({\mathbb{Z}}/2\pi {\mathbb{Z}}\), and applying the stable manifold theorem. The open question of the existence of solutions decaying as \(x\to \pm \infty\) is then discussed.