An existence theory for nonlinear equations on metric graphs via energy methods

MaRDI QIDQ6325486zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Matthias Hofmann

Publication date 17 September 2019

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Schrödinger operator, Schrödinger equation (35J10) Nonlinear elliptic equations (35J60) Variational methods for second-order elliptic equations (35J20) Variational methods for higher-order elliptic equations (35J35) NLS equations (nonlinear Schrödinger equations) (35Q55) Variational inequalities (49J40) Quantum mechanics on special spaces: manifolds, fractals, graphs, lattices (81Q35) PDEs on graphs and networks (ramified or polygonal spaces) (35R02)

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to develop a general existence theory for constrained minimization problems for functionals defined on function spaces on metric measure spaces $(mathcalM,d,mu)$. We apply this theory to functionals defined on metric graphs $mathcalG$, in particular $L^2$-constrained minimization problems for functionals of the form ${\displaystyle }$E(u) = frac{1}{2} a(u,u) - frac{1}{q}int_{mathcal K} |u|^q , mathrm dx,${\displaystyle }$ where $q>2$, $a(cdot,cdot)$ is a suitable symmetric sesquilinear form on some function space on $mathcalG$ and $mathcalKsubseteqmathcalG$ is given. We show how the existence of solutions can be obtained via decomposition methods using spectral properties of the operator $A$ associated with the form $a(cdot,cdot)$ and discuss the spectral quantities involved. An example that we consider is the higher-order variant of the stationary NLS (nonlinear Schr"odinger) energy functional with potential $Vin{L}^2+L^{i}nfty(mathcalG)$ ${\displaystyle }$ E^{(k)}(u)= frac{1}{2} int_{mathcal G} |u^{(k)}|^2+ V(x) |u|^2 , mathrm dx - frac{1}{p} int_{mathcal K} |u|^q , mathrm dx${\displaystyle }$ defined on a class of higher-order Sobolev spaces $H^k(mathcalG)$ that we introduce. When $mathcalK$ is a bounded subgraph, one has localized nonlinearities, which we treat as a special case. When $k=1$ we also consider metric graphs with infinite edge set as well as magnetic potentials. Then the operator $A$ associated to the linear form is a Schr"odinger operator, and in the $L^2$-subcritical case $2<q<6$, we obtain generalizations of existence results for the NLS functional as for instance obtained by Adami, Serra and Tilli [JFA 271 (2016), 201-223], and Cacciapuoti, Finco and Noja [Nonlinearity 30 (2017), 3271-3303], among others.

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