The nonlinear steepest descent method: asymptotics for initial-boundary value problems (Q2814474)

The author motivates his review of the Riemann-Hilbert problem with the study of the initial value problem associated with the modified Korteweg-de Vries equation \(u_t+6u^2u_x-u_{xxx}=0\) (mKdV in the following) in the quarter plane \(x\geq 0\), \(t\geq 0\), making a review of the construction of solutions of this equation in the quarter plane by using Riemann-Hilbert techniques. Then, in Theorem 3.1, the author proves a nonlinear steepest descent result used to find the asymptotics of a class of Riemann-Hilbert problems that arise in the study of long time asymptotics in the similarity sector. Then, in Theorem 4.1, the author applies Theorem 3.1 to find an asymptotic formula for the quarter-plane solutions of the mKdV equation in the similarity sector, giving the explicit form of the leading order term \({\mathcal O}(t^{-1/2})\) as \((x,t)\to\infty\) in a subsector of the similarity sector. Then, the author concentrates his attention in the self-similar sector of the equation, where the asymptotics of the mKdV equation is characterized by the solution of a Riemann-Hilbert problem with a jump matrix that has two critical points that merge at the origin in the long time asymptotics. Theorem 6.1 provides an implementation of the nonlinear steepest descent method adequate for the analysis of this particular situation. Then, Theorem 7.1 gives the asymptotic behavior of the quarter plane solutions of the mKdV equation in the self-similar sector, showing that, if the boundary values have sufficient decay as \(t\to\infty\), then the solution is \({\mathcal O}(t^{-2/3})\) as \(t\to\infty\). All the theorems provide rigorous and uniform error estimates. Some open problems are also drawn.