Spectrum of a non-self-adjoint operator associated with the periodic heat equation

We study the spectrum of the linear operator $L = - \partial_{\theta} - \epsilon \partial_{\theta} (\sin \theta \partial_{\theta})$ subject to the periodic boundary conditions on $\theta \in [-\pi,\pi]$. We prove that the operator is closed in $L^2([-\pi,\pi])$ with the domain in $H^1_{\rm per}([-\pi,\pi])$ for $|\epsilon| < 2$, its spectrum consists of an infinite sequence of isolated eigenvalues and the set of corresponding eigenfunctions is complete. By using numerical approximations of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions, we show that all eigenvalues are simple, located on the imaginary axis and the angle between two subsequent eigenfunctions tends to zero for larger eigenvalues. As a result, the complete set of linearly independent eigenfunctions does not form a basis in $H^1_{\rm per}([-\pi,\pi])$.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figure

Rigorous justification of the short-pulse equation

We prove that the short-pulse equation, which is derived from Maxwell equations with formal asymptotic methods, can be rigorously justified. The justification procedure applies to small-norm solutions of the short-pulse equation. Although the small-norm solutions exist for infinite times and include modulated pulses and their elastic interactions, the error bound for arbitrary initial data can only be controlled over finite time intervals.Comment: 15 pages, no figure

Orbital stability in the cubic defocusing NLS equation: I. Cnoidal periodic waves

Periodic waves of the one-dimensional cubic defocusing NLS equation are considered. Using tools from integrability theory, these waves have been shown in [Bottman, Deconinck, and Nivala, 2011] to be linearly stable and the Floquet-Bloch spectrum of the linearized operator has been explicitly computed. We combine here the first four conserved quantities of the NLS equation to give a direct proof that cnoidal periodic waves are orbitally stable with respect to subharmonic perturbations, with period equal to an integer multiple of the period of the wave. Our result is not restricted to the periodic waves of small amplitudes.Comment: 28 pages, 3 figures. Main result strengthened by removing a smallness condition. Limiting case of the black soliton now postponed to a companion pape

Surface gap solitons at a nonlinearity interface

We demonstrate existence of waves localized at the interface of two nonlinear periodic media with different coefficients of the cubic nonlinearity via the one-dimensional Gross--Pitaevsky equation. We call these waves the surface gap solitons (SGS). In the case of smooth symmetric periodic potentials, we study analytically bifurcations of SGS's from standard gap solitons and determine numerically the maximal jump of the nonlinearity coefficient allowing for the SGS existence. We show that the maximal jump vanishes near the thresholds of bifurcations of gap solitons. In the case of continuous potentials with a jump in the first derivative at the interface, we develop a homotopy method of continuation of SGS families from the solution obtained via gluing of parts of the standard gap solitons and study existence of SGS's in the photonic band gaps. We explain the termination of the SGS families in the interior points of the band gaps from the bifurcation of linear bound states in the continuous non-smooth potentials.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables corrections in v.2: sign error in the energy functional on p.3; discussion of the symmetries of Bloch functions on p. 5-6 corrected; derivative symbol missing in (3.5) and in the formula for \mu below (3.6

Global existence of small-norm solutions in the reduced Ostrovsky equation

We use a novel transformation of the reduced Ostrovsky equation to the integrable Tzitz\'eica equation and prove global existence of small-norm solutions in Sobolev space $H^3(R)$. This scenario is an alternative to finite-time wave breaking of large-norm solutions of the reduced Ostrovsky equation. We also discuss a sharp sufficient condition for the finite-time wave breaking.Comment: 11 pages; 1 figur