Breather solutions in periodic media (Q2430679)

The authors consider nonlinear wave equations of the form \[ s(x) u_{tt} = u_{xx} - q(x) u + u^3, \] where \(s(x)\) and \(q(x)\) are \(a\)-periodic real-valued coefficients. They choose these coefficients in such a way that the linear problem, \[ q(x) w(x) - w''(x) - \omega^2 s(x) w(x) = 0, \] has finite spectral gaps near odd multiples of \(\omega_* = \frac{13 \pi}{16}\), that is, for frequencies \(\omega= (2n+1) \omega_*\), with \(n \in \mathbb N\). The only way to achieve the spectral gap assumption is to assume that the function \(s(x)\) is piecewise smooth. The spectral gap assumption gives the condition that the odd multiples of the frequency of breathers bifurcating from \(\omega_*\) are not in resonance with linear Bloch waves. Once the spectral gap assumption is satisfied, the rest of the proof on existence of breathers bifurcating from the frequency \(\omega_*\) relies on the spatial dynamics formalism, center manifold reductions, and persistence of homoclinic orbits in reversible two-dimensional dynamical systems.