Orbital instability of periodic waves for scalar viscous balance laws (Q6155106)

In this paper, the authors prove that, for a large class of nonlinear evolution equations known as scalar viscous balance laws, the spectral (linear) instability condition of periodic traveling wave solutions implies their orbital (nonlinear) instability in appropriate periodic Sobolev spaces. The analysis is based on a combination of the well-posedness theory, the smoothness of the data-solution map, the implicit function theorem and an abstract result of instability of equilibria under nonlinear iterations. The resulting instability criterion is applied to two families of periodic waves. The first family consists of small amplitude waves with finite fundamental period which emerge from a local Hopf bifurcation when the speed \(c\) crosses a critical value \(c_0\). The second family comprises arbitrarily large period waves which arise from a global homoclinic bifurcation around a second critical value of the speed \(c_1\) that is the speed of a traveling pulse or homoclinic wave, and tend to a limiting traveling pulse when their fundamental period tends to infinity. In the case of both families, the criterion is applied to conclude their orbital instability under the flow of the nonlinear viscous balance law in periodic Sobolev spaces with same period as the fundamental period of the wave.