Linear stability analysis for travelling waves of second order in time PDE's (Q2918663)

The paper reports exact results obtained for stability of traveling-wave solutions to the second-order nonlinear wave equations that can be written as NEWLINE\[NEWLINE u_{tt} + Lu +N(u)=0, NEWLINE\]NEWLINE where \(L\) is a linear differential operator acting on functions of coordinate \(x\), and \(N(u)\) is a nonlinear term. The analysis is based on investigation of a newly defined function whose zeros determine unstable eigenvalues of the linearized equation for small perturbations around the traveling wave. It is stressed that this function is different from the standard Evans function. As particular applications, three systems are considered: the ``good'' Boussinesq equation, the Klein-Gordon equation coupled to an additional equation, following the pattern of the Zakharov's system, and a wave equation with a fourth-order operator \(L\) (a specific form of the ``beam equation'').