Scattering problem for the nonlinear wave equation in the finite energy and conformal charge space (Q5957478)

This paper is devoted to the theory of scattering for a nonlinear wave equation with power nonlinearity of degree \(\rho\), in space dimensions \(n=3\) and \(n=4\), in the natural (i.e. largest) functional space where the kinetic parts of the energy and of the conformal charge are defined. The existence of the wave operators is proved for \(5/2<\rho\leq 3\) for \(n=3\) and \(2< \rho< 5/2\) for \(n=4\). The lower bound is shown to be optimal in a suitable sense by comparison with known small data results. The upper bound is equal to or larger than the conformal invariance value \(1+4/(n-1)\). The proof proceeds by a contraction method, using generalized Strichartz inequalities, generalized Li-Zhou inequalities, and the invariant vector fields of the wave equation. Asymptotic completeness for repulsive interactions (and arbitrarily large data) is proved under the additional condition \(\rho> \rho_*(n)\), where \(\rho_*(n)\) is the larger root of the equation \((n-1)\rho^2- (n+2)\rho-1=0\), by using the previously known fact that the kinetic part of the conformal charge is uniformly bounded in time for global solutions under those conditions.