Modification of the vector-field method related to quadratically perturbed wave equations in two space dimensions (Q2303469)

In this paper, the author considers the precise decay property of global small solutions to the Cauchy problem for two dimensional quasilinear wave equation \((\partial_t^2-\Delta+\eta^{\alpha\beta\gamma}\partial_\gamma u \partial_{\alpha}\partial_\beta)u=0\), with null condition: \(\eta^{\alpha\beta\gamma}\xi_\gamma \xi_{\alpha}\xi_\beta=0\) for any \(\xi\in\{1\}\times\mathbb{S}^1\). For small data with compact support of size \(\epsilon\), the obtained decay rate is of the form \((1+t+|x|)^{-1/2}(1+|t-|x||)^{-\rho}\), as well as the improved rate for the tangential derivatives to the forward light cones: \((\nabla+\frac{x}{|x|}\partial_t) u\lesssim \epsilon (1+t+|x|)^{-1} (1+|x|)^{-1/2}(1+|t-|x||)^{-\rho}\), with \(\rho<1/2\). The decay estimate is almost best possible, as the estimate with \(\rho=1/2\) is the best estimate in the case of the linear homogeneous wave equation. The main point of this paper is to illustrate the fact that such a result could be shown by using only a restricted set of vector fields associated with the space-time translations and spatial rotations. For the entire collection see [Zbl 1435.35006].