Uniqueness of ground states for combined power-type nonlinear scalar field equations involving the Sobolev critical exponent at high frequencies in three and four dimensions (Q2172760)

This paper is concerned with the uniqueness of ground states of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation \[ -\Delta u + \omega u - |u|^{p-1}u - |u|^{\frac{4}{d-2}}u = 0 \ \text{ in } \mathbb{R}^d,\tag{1} \] where \(d \geq 3\) and the nonlinearity is the sum of a subcritical (\(1 < p < 2^*-1\)) and a Sobolev critical pure power term. We recall that \(2^*=2d/d-2\). The search for ground state solutions is very important since they correspond to the minimum energy level of the system modeled by the equation under consideration. Giving some concrete examples, in chemistry, knowing where the electrons are in an unexcited atom allows us to tell where the excited electrons, which are in their lowest energy level, went to and returned from where they emit a photon. Or, in condensed matter physics, the ground state is interesting because it tells what the system will do at low temperatures, i.e. where the quantum effects are usually strongest. As already said, in this work the authors are interested in showing the uniqueness of ground states for (1). In literature, answers to this question were available only in dimension \(d \geq 5\) or \(d=3\). Here, they showed the uniqueness in \(d=3\) and \(d=4\) for high frequencies (i.e. \(\omega \gg 1\)). Although the uniqueness of the ground state was already known in dimension \(d=3\), nothing was available if \(d=4\). This result covers the gap, providing a new and universal way to show uniqueness both in dimensions \(d=3\) and \(d=4\). The proof relies on a fixed-point argument developed in [\textit{M. Coles} and \textit{S. Gustafson}, Publ. Res. Inst. Math. Sci. 56, No. 4, 647--699 (2020; Zbl 1462.35350)], suitably adapted to this context, and on fine constructions of estimates for the perturbed resolvents. Those estimates are necessary since the technique used in [\textit{T. Akahori} et al., Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 58, No. 4, Paper No. 120, 32 p. (2019; Zbl 1418.35166)] to show uniqueness in higher dimensions (\(d \geq 5\)) does not work in lower dimension: in fact, the ground states are not \(L^2(\mathbb{R}^d)\)-bounded with respect to \(\omega\).