Energy and local energy bounds for the 1-d cubic NLS equation in \(H^{-\frac{1}{4}}\) (Q1947423)

The cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS) in one space dimension for \(u=u(x,t)\) is given by: \[ \sqrt{-1}u_t-u_{xx}\pm u|u|^2=0\quad\text{with}\quad u(0)=u_0\,. \] The problem is scale invariant under the transformation \(u(x,t)\rightarrow\lambda u(\lambda x,\lambda^2t)\) and also under the Galilean transformation \(u(x,t)\rightarrow e^{\sqrt{-1}cx-\sqrt{-1}c^2t}u(x+2ct,t)\). It is well posed for initial data \(u_0\in L^2\) and has a Lipschitz dependence on the initial data, uniformly for time in a compact set and data in bounded sets in \(L^2\). The authors show that the solutions satisfy a-priori local-in-time \(H^s\) bounds in terms of the \(H^s\) size of the initial data provided that \(s\geq-{1\over4}\). The authors use a localization in space and local energy decay. The question of uniqueness or continuous dependence on the initial data in \(L^2\) in the \(H^s\) norm for \(s<0\) is left open.