Symmetry-breaking bifurcation in the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with symmetric potentials (Q651405)

The paper is concerned with the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation \[ i u_t=-u_{xx}+V(x)u+\sigma |u|^{2p}u,\,\,\,(x,t)\in\mathbb{R}\times\mathbb{R},\tag{1} \] where \(u:\mathbb{R}\times\mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{C}\) is the wave function, \(p>0\) is the nonlinearity power, \(\sigma\in\mathbb{R}\) determines the defocusing (\(\sigma>0\)) or focusing (\(\sigma<0\)) character of the nonlinearity, and the potential \(V:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}\) is a symmetric function which vanishes at infinity. The authors investigate the properties of stationary, symmetric and asymmetric states of (1), that is, solutions of the form \(u(t,x)=e^{iEt}\phi(x)\), where \(\phi\) satisfies the stationary NLS equation \[ -\phi''(x)+V(x)\phi(x)+\sigma|\phi(x)|^{2p}\phi(x)+E\phi(x)=0,\,\,\,x\in\mathbb{R},\tag{2} \] \(E\) is an arbitrary parameter, and \(0\) is the lowest eigenvalue of the associated self-adjoint linear Schrödinger operator \(L_-\). These functions \(u\) are called ground states of equation (2). They prove that the symmetric, nonlinear ground states must undergo a symmetry breaking bifurcation if the potential has a non-degenerate local maxima at zero. Under a generic assumption they show that the bifurcation is either a subcritical or supercritical pitchfork. In the case of double-well potentials with large separation, the power of the nonlinearity determines the subcritical or supercritical character of the bifurcation. Some numerical results for a double-well potential obtained after the splitting of a single-well potential are also presented.