Instability of the solitary waves for the generalized Boussinesq equations

TL;DR

This paper investigates the stability of solitary wave solutions for a generalized Boussinesq equation, proving their orbital instability specifically in the degenerate case where the frequency parameter equals a critical value.

Contribution

It establishes the orbital instability of solitary waves in the degenerate case for the first time, filling a gap in the stability analysis of these solutions.

Findings

Proves orbital instability at the critical frequency case

Completes the stability classification for all parameter regimes

Identifies the degenerate case as unstable

Abstract

In this work, we consider the following generalized Boussinesq equation \begin{align*} \partial_{t}^2u-\partial_{x}^2u+\partial_{x}^2(\partial_{x}^2u+|u|^{p}u)=0,\qquad (t,x)\in\mathbb R\times \mathbb R, \end{align*} with $0<p<\infty$. This equation has the traveling wave solutions $\phi_\omega(x-\omega t)$, with the frequency $\omega\in (-1,1)$ and $\phi_\omega$ satisfying \begin{align*} -\partial_{xx}{\phi}_{\omega}+(1-{\omega^2}){\phi}_{\omega}-{\phi}_{\omega}^{p+1}=0. \end{align*} Bona and Sachs (1988) proved that the traveling wave $\phi_\omega(x-\omega t)$ is orbitally stable when $0<p<4,$ $\frac p4<\omega^2<1$. Liu (1993) proved the orbital instability under the conditions $0<p<4,$ $\omega^2<\frac p4$ or $p\ge 4,$ $\omega^2<1$. In this paper, we prove the orbital instability in the degenerate case $0<p<4,\omega^2=\frac p4$ .