Schrödinger equations with a spatially decaying nonlinearity: existence and stability of standing waves (Q939259)

A solution of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation \[ i\partial_t w + \Delta_x w +V(x)| w| ^{p-1} w =0 \] is called a standing wave if it has the form \(w(x,t) = e^{i\lambda t}u(x)\) where \(\lambda >0\) and \(x \in {\mathbb R}^N\). A solution \(w\) is called orbitally stable if any other solution whose initial data is closed to the initial data of \(w\) stays closed to \(w\). In the present article under some hypotheses satisfied by the potential \(V\) the authors establish the existence of \(C^1\)-branch of standing waves parameterized by \(\lambda\) sufficiently closed to \(0\) and establish some inequalities for \(p\) which imply stability and instability of these solutions. The perturbation method which is used to obtain a smooth branch of solutions originates in the paper of the second author [Proc. R. Soc. Edinb., Sect. A 101, 273--282 (1985; Zbl 0582.34010)].