Asymptotic behaviors of radial solutions to semilinear wave equations in odd space dimensions (Q1895935)

This paper is concerned with small solutions \(u(r, t)\), on \(\mathbb{R}^2\), to the equation \[ Lu\equiv (\partial^2_t- \partial^2_r- (n- 1)/r) u= F(u, \partial_t u, \partial_r u),\quad n= 3, 5, 7,\dots\tag{\(*\)} \] on \(\mathbb{R}^2\), where \(F(\lambda_1, \lambda_2, \lambda_3)\) is a function of class \({\mathcal C}^{(n+ 1)/2}\), even with respect to the variable \(\lambda_3\), such that \(D^\alpha F(\lambda)= O(|\lambda|^{p- |\alpha|})\) for all \(|\alpha|< p\), at \(\lambda= 0\), with \(p> p_0(n)=\)positive root of \((n- 1)p^2_0- (n+ 1) p_0- 2= 0\). Limitedly to radially symmetric solutions, this equation represents the counterpart of the nonlinear wave equation \(\square u= F(u, \partial_t u, \nabla _x u)\) in \(n\) space variables, for which both the global existence of small solutions and the scattering problems have been deeply investigated in the last two decades. The authors prove first the existence and the uniqueness of a global solution \(u_-(r, t)\), even in \(r\), to the linear Cauchy problem \(Lu= 0\); \(u(r, 0)= f(r)\), \(\partial_t u(r, 0)= g(r)\), for sufficiently small, even data \(\{f, g\}\). Afterwards they prove that, for all \(\{f, g\}\) as above, \((*)\) admits a unique global solution \(u(r, t)\), even in \(r\), which is asymptotic to \(u_-(r, t)\) for \(t\to -\infty\), in the sense that for some \(\chi> 0\), \[ |D^1_{r, t}(u- u_-)(r, t)|\leq C\langle r\rangle^{(1- n)/2}\langle|r|- |t|\rangle^{- 1}\langle |r|- t\rangle^{- \chi}, \] where \(\langle r\rangle= \sqrt{1+ r^2}\). Moreover, there exists another solution \(u_+(r, t)\) of \(Lu= 0\), which is asymptotic to \(u(r, t)\) for \(t\to +\infty\); thus the scattering operator \(\{f(r), g(r)\}\mapsto \{u_+(r, 0), \partial_t u_+(r, 0)\}\) is defined.