Decay estimates for nonradiative solutions of the energy-critical focusing wave equation

TL;DR

This paper establishes decay estimates for nonradiative solutions of the energy-critical focusing wave equation in odd dimensions, advancing the understanding of soliton resolution and the asymptotic behavior of solutions.

Contribution

It proves the asymptotic behavior of initial data for radial nonradiative solutions in odd dimensions, aiding the proof of soliton resolution in all odd space dimensions.

Findings

Radial nonradiative solutions in odd dimensions have prescribed asymptotics at infinity.

Nonradiative solutions with compact support initial data cannot exist.

The results support the soliton resolution conjecture in odd space dimensions.

Abstract

Consider the energy-critical focusing wave equation in space dimension $N\geq 3$. The equation has a nonzero radial stationary solution $W$, which is unique up to scaling and sign change. It is conjectured (soliton resolution) that any radial, bounded in the energy norm solution of the equation behaves asymptotically as a sum of modulated $W$s, decoupled by the scaling, and a radiation term. A nonradiative solution of the equation is by definition a solution whose energy in the exterior $\{|x|>|t|\}$ of the wave cone vanishes asymptotically as $t\to +\infty$ and $t\to -\infty$. In a previous work (Cambridge Journal of Mathematics 2013, arXiv:1204.0031), we have proved that the only radial nonradiative solutions of the equation in three space dimensions are, up to scaling, $0$ and $\pm W$. This was crucial in the proof of soliton resolution in 3 space dimension. In this paper, we prove that the initial data of a radial nonradiative solution in odd space dimension have a prescribed asymptotic behaviour as $r\to \infty$. We will use this property for the proof of soliton resolution, for radial data, in all odd space dimensions. The proof uses the characterization of nonradiative solutions of the linear wave equation in odd space dimensions obtained by Lawrie, Liu, Schlag and the second author (Advances in Mathematics, 2015, arXiv:1409.3643) . We also study the propagation of the support of nonzero radial solutions with compactly supported initial data, and prove that these solutions cannot be nonradiative.