Instability of two-pulse periodic waves with long wavelength in some Hamiltonian PDEs

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Courant, Thomas
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Courant, Thomas
author_facet Courant, Thomas
contents We consider quasilinear generalizations of the Korteweg-de Vries equation and dispersive perturbations of the Euler equations for compressible fluids, either in Lagrangian or in Eulerian coordinates. In particular, our framework includes hydrodynamic formulation of the nonlinear Schrödinger equations. The periodic waves we study exhibit on each period two pulses, one converging to a bright soliton and one converging to a dark soliton, when wavelength goes to infinity. We show that such waves, for sufficiently large periods, are spectrally unstable. To do so, we combine two approaches. The first one is to calculate the asymptotic expansion of the Hessian matrix of the action integral and concludes using arXiv:1505.01382 as in arXiv:1710.03936 . This shows instability when both limiting solitary waves are stable. The second approach studies the convergence of the spectrum when the period goes to infinity and is applied in remaining cases, when one of the solitary waves is unstable. To carry out the latter, we prove the convergence of an appropriate renormalization of the periodic Evans function as in arXiv:1802.02830 .
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_17317
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Instability of two-pulse periodic waves with long wavelength in some Hamiltonian PDEs
Courant, Thomas
Analysis of PDEs
35B35, 35B10, 35Q35, 35Q51, 35Q53, 37K45, 35P15, 34E10
We consider quasilinear generalizations of the Korteweg-de Vries equation and dispersive perturbations of the Euler equations for compressible fluids, either in Lagrangian or in Eulerian coordinates. In particular, our framework includes hydrodynamic formulation of the nonlinear Schrödinger equations. The periodic waves we study exhibit on each period two pulses, one converging to a bright soliton and one converging to a dark soliton, when wavelength goes to infinity. We show that such waves, for sufficiently large periods, are spectrally unstable. To do so, we combine two approaches. The first one is to calculate the asymptotic expansion of the Hessian matrix of the action integral and concludes using arXiv:1505.01382 as in arXiv:1710.03936 . This shows instability when both limiting solitary waves are stable. The second approach studies the convergence of the spectrum when the period goes to infinity and is applied in remaining cases, when one of the solitary waves is unstable. To carry out the latter, we prove the convergence of an appropriate renormalization of the periodic Evans function as in arXiv:1802.02830 .
title Instability of two-pulse periodic waves with long wavelength in some Hamiltonian PDEs
topic Analysis of PDEs
35B35, 35B10, 35Q35, 35Q51, 35Q53, 37K45, 35P15, 34E10
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.17317