Non-degeneracy and existence of new solutions for the Schrödinger equations (Q2135154)

The authors investigate the nonlinear Schrödinger equation \[ -\Delta u + V(y) u = u^p, \qquad u > 0 \quad \text{ on } \mathbb R^N, \qquad u \in H^1(\mathbb R^N) \] where \(p \in (1, \frac{N+2}{N-2})\) and \(V\) is a radial potential satisfying \(\lim_{r \to \infty} V(r) = 1\). It has been shown in [\textit{J. Wei} and \textit{S. Yan}, Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 37, No. 3--4, 423--439 (2010; Zbl 1189.35106)] that for every \(k\) large enough, this equation has a solution \(u_k\) with \(k\) peaks located equally spaced on a circle in the \(x_1\)-\(x_2\) plane, of radius \(r_k \to \infty\) as \(k \to \infty\). In the present paper, under some more precise assumptions on the asymptotic behavior of \(V\), the authors prove non-degeneracy for solutions having exactly the symmetry of the \(u_k\). If \(N \geq 4\), this permits them, starting from a fixed \(u_k\) and for \(n \geq n_0(k)\) large enough, to construct new solutions with \(n\) additional peaks located equally spaced on a circle in the \(x_3\)-\(x_4\) plane, of radius \(t_n \to \infty\) as \(n \to \infty\).