Traveling waves for a quasilinear wave equation (Q2079669)

The authors consider the 2+1 dimensional quasilinear wave equation \[ -\Delta u+\partial_t^2 (V(\lambda, y)u + \Gamma(y) u^3)=0 \] where the potentials \(V(\lambda, \cdot)\) and \(\Gamma\) depend only on \(y\) and contain material properties. Here \(\lambda \in \mathbb{R}\) and \(u\) is assumed to be periodic in the \(x\) direction. In particular, the authors study the existence of traveling waves for this problem for potentials of the form \(V(\lambda, y) = \lambda V_0(y)+V_1(y)\) where \(V_0 \in L^{\infty}(\mathbb{R})\) and \(V_1\) is a distribution. The authors ultimately show, under certain conditions on the potential, existence of traveling waves which are periodic in \(x\) and localized in \(y\). Bifurcation theory is used to prove existence of small amplitude solutions. Explicit examples of distributional potentials where the results hold are provided.