NLS ground states on the half-line with point interactions

Existence problems for PDEs: global existence, local existence, non-existence (35A01) Uniqueness problems for PDEs: global uniqueness, local uniqueness, non-uniqueness (35A02) Axially symmetric solutions to PDEs (35B07) Positive solutions to PDEs (35B09) Soliton solutions (35C08) PDEs in connection with quantum mechanics (35Q40) NLS equations (nonlinear Schrödinger equations) (35Q55) Miscellaneous topics in partial differential equations (35R99) Variational inequalities (49J40) Duality theory (optimization) (49N15)

Abstract: We investigate the existence and the uniqueness of NLS ground states of fixed mass on the half-line in the presence of a point interaction at the origin. The nonlinearity is of power type, and the regime is either

L^{2}

-subcritical or

L^{2}

-critical, while the point interaction is either attractive or repulsive. In the

L^{2}

-subcritical case, we prove that ground states exist for every mass value if the interaction is attractive, while ground states exist only for sufficiently large masses if the interaction is repulsive. In the latter case, if the power is less or equal to four, ground states coincide with the only bound state. If instead, the power is greater than four, then there are values of the mass for which two bound states exist, and neither of the two is a ground state, and values of the mass for which two bound states exist, and one of them is a ground state. In the

L^{2}

-critical case, we prove that ground states exist for masses strictly below a critical mass value in the attractive case, while ground states never exist in the repulsive case.

Review text

The authors study ground states of the focusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a point singularity on the half-line \(\mathbb{R}_+=(0,\infty)\), i.e., the minimization problem \begin{align*} \mathcal{F}(\mu) := \inf_{u\in H_\mu^1(\mathbb{R}_+)}F(u), \tag{1} \end{align*} where \(\mu\in\mathbb{R}_+:=(0,\infty)\) denotes the mass of a potential minimizer, \begin{align*} H_\mu^1(\mathbb{R}_+) := \left\{u\in H^1(\mathbb{R}_+):\,\int_0^\infty |u|^2=\mu\right\}, \end{align*} and \begin{align*} F(u) := \frac12\int_0^\infty \left(|u'(x)|^2-\frac{|u(x)|^p}{p}\right)\,dx + \frac\alpha2|u(0)|^2. \end{align*} Here, \(\alpha\in\mathbb{R}\) denotes the strength of the point singularity at the origin and \(p\) belongs either to the interval \((2,6)\) (\(L^2\)-subcritical regime) or equals \(6\) (\(L^2\)-critical regime). The corresponding Euler--Lagrange equation is \[ \begin{cases} -u - |u|^{p-2}u = -\omega u & \quad \text{on}\ \mathbb{R}_+=(0,\infty), \\ u'(0) = \alpha u(0). \end{cases} \tag{2} \] The main results of the paper under review (Theorems~1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 1.6 and Proposition 1.4) concern the existence and uniqueness of ground and bound states of (1) and (2), depending on the values of \(\alpha\), \(\mu\), and \(p\in(2,6]\). Using the notation \(\phi_\omega\) for the soliton solution to the stationary NLS \(-u-|u|^{p-2}u=-\omega u\) on \(\mathbb{R}\), the results can be summarized as follows. \begin{itemize} \item[1.] (Theorem 1.1) If \(2<p<6\) and \(\alpha<0\), then for every \(\mu>0\) there is a unique positive ground state of (1). \item[2.] (Theorem 1.2) If \(2<p\leq4\) and \(\alpha>0\), then ground states of (1) exist if and only if \(\mu>\|\phi_{\alpha^2}\|_{L^2(\mathbb{R})}^2\). Moreover, when they exist, then the positive ground state is unique and coincides with the only positive bound state of (2) at mass \(\mu\). \item[3.] (Theorem 1.3) If \(4<p<6\) and \(\alpha>0\), then there is \(\mu^*=\mu^*(\alpha)<\|\phi_{\alpha^2}\|_{L^2(\mathbb{R})}^2\) such that bound states of (2) at mass \(\mu\) exist if and only if \(\mu\geq\mu^*\). Two positive bound states of mass \(\mu\) exist if and only if \(\mu\in(\mu^*,\|\phi_{\alpha^2}\|_{L^2(\mathbb{R})}^2)\). Moreover, there is \(\tilde \mu=\tilde\mu(\alpha)\) satisfying \(\tilde\mu\in(\mu^*,\|\phi_{\alpha^2}\|_{L^2(\mathbb{R})}^2)\) such that ground states of (1) at mass \(\mu\) exist if and only if \(\mu\geq\tilde\mu\). When they exist, the positive ground states are unique. \item[4.] (Proposition 1.4) There is an explicit function \(\gamma_p\) such that if \(p\leq 4\), then ground states of (1) at mass \(\mu\) exist if and only if \(\alpha<\gamma_p \mu^{\frac{p-2}{6-p}}\). If \(p\in(4,6)\), then ground states of (1) at mass \(\mu\) exist if and only if \(\alpha\leq\tilde h(\mu)\) with \(\tilde h(\mu)>\gamma_p \mu^{\frac{p-2}{6-p}}\). \item[5.] (Theorem 1.5) If \(p=6\) and \(\alpha<0\), then \(\mathcal{F}(\mu)=-c<0\) and ground states of (1) at mass \(\mu\) exist and coincide with the only positive bound state if \(\mu\in(0,\sqrt3\pi/4)\). On the other hand, \(\mathcal{F}(\mu)=-\infty\) if \(\mu\geq\sqrt3\pi/4\). \item[6.] (Theorem 1.6) If \(p=6\) and \(\alpha<0\), then \(\mathcal{F}(\mu)=0\) if \(\mu\in(0,\sqrt3\pi/4)\) and \(\mathcal{F}(\mu)=-\infty\) if \(\mu\geq\sqrt3\pi/4\). In particular, ground states of (1) at mass \(\mu\) do not exist for any \(\mu>0\). \end{itemize} The authors remark the following in view of existing literature. \begin{itemize} \item Theorem 1.1 was proved in greater generality, namely for star graphs with at least three half-lines, in [\textit{R. Adami} et al., Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. Non Linéaire 31, No. 6, 1289--1310 (2014; Zbl 1304.81087)]. \item The occurrence of a phase transition at \(p=4\) for \(\alpha>0\) was also observed in [\textit{R. Fukuizumi} and \textit{L. Jeanjean}, Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst. 21, No. 1, 121--136 (2008; Zbl 1144.35465)] in the context orbital stability of even bound states for the same NLS but on \(\mathbb{R}\); by symmetry, these results extend to the present situation on \(\mathbb{R}_+\). \item The content of Theorem 1.5 is mostly contained in [\textit{C. Cacciapuoti}, Contemp. Math. 717, 155--172 (2018; Zbl 1428.35487)]. \end{itemize} \smallskip Section~2 recalls some results concerning (1) and (2) with \(\alpha=0\). \smallskip Section~3 states and proves properties of bound states of (2), such as \begin{itemize} \item the threshold for existence or non-existence of bound states \(\eta^{\omega,\alpha}=\phi_\omega(\cdot-a)\) (where \(a=2\tanh^{-1}(\alpha/\omega)/[(p-2)\sqrt\omega]\)), depending on the ratio \(\omega/\alpha^2\) (Proposition~3.1), \item the dependence of the mass \(M(\omega,\alpha):=\|\eta^{\omega,\alpha}\|_2^2\) of bound states on \(\omega\) (Propositions~3.2, 3.8), \item the number \(|\mathcal{A_\mu}|:=|\{\eta^{\omega,\alpha}:\,M(\omega,\alpha)=\mu\}|\) of bound states with specific mass \(\mu>0\) (Corollaries~3.3, 3.9) depending on \(\alpha,p,\mu\), and \item a condition to decide which of two bound states has least energy when \(p\in(4,6)\) (Proposition~3.6). \end{itemize} \smallskip Sections~4 and 5 contains the proofs of the main results.

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