Bifurcations of standing localized waves on periodic graphs (Q529597)

In this paper, the authors consider bound states of the one-dimensional stationary nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS) \[ (1)\quad -\partial_x^2\phi -2|\phi|^2\phi = \Lambda \phi, \quad \Lambda\in\mathbb{R}, \quad \phi\in H^2(\Gamma), \] where \(\Gamma\) is a periodic graph made of circles joined together by horizontal links, and \(\phi\) satisfies the Kirchhoff boundary conditions. Such bound states arise as standing waves \(u(x,t)=e^{i\Lambda t}\phi(x)\) of the time-dependent NLS \[ (2)\quad i\partial_t u -\partial_x^2 u = 2|u|^2u,\quad u(x,t):\;\Gamma\times\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{C}. \] In a recent work [NoDEA, Nonlinear Differ. Equ. Appl. 23, No. 6, Paper No. 63, 30 p. (2016; Zbl 1367.35156)], \textit{S. Gilg} et al. considered the time-evolution problem (2), applying the spectral Floquet-Bloch decomposition and energy methods to analyze the propagation of nonlinear waves on the periodic graph \(\Gamma\). In the present work, the authors look at stationary bound states and obtain an existence and bifurcation result. More precisely, in Theorem 1.1, the authors show that for every \(\Lambda<0\) close to \(0\), the problem (1) admits two bound states which are strong solutions of (1). Both of these bound states are positive on \(\Gamma\) and symmetric in the upper and lower half of each circle. Moreover, these are localized, in the sense that \(\phi(x)\to 0\) as \(|x|\to\infty\), exponentially. The first of these bound states is also symmetric about the midpoint of a horizontal link, whereas the second one is symmetric about the midpoint of an upper/lower semicircle. In addition, the authors prove the estimate \[ \|\phi\|_{H^2(\Gamma)}\leq C_0|\Lambda|^\frac12, \] implying that the bound states bifurcate from the zero solution at the bottom \(\Lambda=0\) of the essential spectrum of the linear operator \(-\partial_x^2\). The proofs rely on energy methods and a reduction to homoclinic orbits of a 2-dimensional nonlinear discrete map. The qualitative properties of the bound states are proven using geometric theory of stable and unstable manifolds for the 2-d discrete map. The paper concludes with numerical approximations of the bound states obtained in the main result.