Stability and instability of breathers in the U(1) Sasa–Satsuma and nonlinear Schrödinger models*

Abstract

Abstract We consider the Sasa–Satsuma (SS) and nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equations posed along the line, in 1 + 1 dimensions. Both equations are canonical integrable U(1) models, with solitons, multi-solitons and breather solutions Yang (2010 SIAM Mathematical Modeling and Computation). For these two equations, we recognize four distinct localized breather modes: the Sasa–Satsuma for SS, and for NLS the Satsuma–Yajima, Kuznetsov–Ma and Peregrine breathers. Very little is known about the stability of these solutions, mainly because of their complex structure, which does not fit into the classical soliton behavior Grillakis et al (1987 J. Funct. Anal. 74 160–97). In this paper we find the natural H 2 variational characterization for each of them. This seems to be the first known variational characterization for these solutions; in particular, the first one obtained for the famous Peregrine breather. We also prove that Sasa–Satsuma breathers are H 2 nonlinearly stable, improving the linear stability property previously proved by Pelinovsky and Yang (2005 Chaos 15 037115). Moreover, in the SS case, we provide an alternative understanding of the SS solution as a breather, and not only as an embedded soliton. The method of proof is based in the use of a H 2 based Lyapunov functional, in the spirit of Alejo and Muñoz (2013 Commun. Math. Phys. 324 233–62), extended this time to the vector-valued case. We also provide another rigorous justification of the instability of the remaining three nonlinear modes (Satsuma–Yajima, Peregrine and Kuznetsov–Ma), based in the study of their corresponding linear variational structure (as critical points of a suitable Lyapunov functional), and complementing the instability results recently proved e.g. in Muñoz (2017 Proyecciones (Antofagasta) 36 653–83).