Hylomorphic solitons in the nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation (Q846287)

The article is devoted to the solitary waves of the nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation \[ \psi_{tt} - \Delta \psi + f'(|\psi|) \psi = 0. \] In this paper, solitary waves are referred to as solitons if they are stable and have a particle-like behaviour. This is not a conventional definition as the word ``solitons'' is typically used in the context of integrable equations. The authors add another unconventional definition of ``hylomorphic solitons'' from the Greek words ``hyle'' (for matter or a set of particles) and ``morphe'' (for a form). The meaning of ``hylomorphic solitons'' is thought to be ``solitons that give a suitable form to condensed matter''. The mathematical definition of the hylomorphic solitons is based on the ratio between the energy and the charge of the nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation. The three aims of the article are formulated as follows. {\parindent5mm \begin{itemize}\item[1.] To give the definition of hylomorphic solitons. \item[2.] To describe a new variational approach to the proof of the existence of hylomorphic solitons in the context of the nonlinear Klein-Gordon equations. \item[3.] To classify the nonlinearities which give hylomorphic solitons. \end{itemize}} In particular, four classes of nonlinearities are obtained and the necessary conditions for the nonlinear term to belong to a given class are derived. Numerical simulations show the different behaviour of hylomorphic solitons for these classes quantitatively.