Instability theory of stationary solutions for nonlinear Schrödinger equations

Abstract

We study the orbital instability of algebraically decaying stationary solutions of nonlinear Schrödinger equations in dimensions $d\ge2$, taking competing double-power nonlinearities as a canonical model. At zero frequency, the essential spectrum of the linearized operator touches zero, and the usual $H^1$ coercivity is lost. We construct the zero-frequency limit $η_0$ of the frequency derivatives $\partial_ωϕ_ω$ of standing-wave profiles and determine its sharp asymptotic behavior. For a stationary ground state $ϕ_0\in H^1(\mathbb{R}^d)$, we prove instability if $\langle x\rangle\,ϕ_0\notin L^2(\mathbb{R}^d)$ or, when $\langle x\rangle\,ϕ_0\in L^2(\mathbb{R}^d)$, if the duality pairing $\langleη_0,ϕ_0\rangle$ is negative. This criterion is a zero-frequency counterpart of the negative slope condition in the Grillakis–Shatah–Strauss theory. The proof combines variation of parameters for the linearized ODE with a shooting analysis that determines the global behavior of the homogeneous solution regular at the origin. We then localize $η_0$ to construct an unstable direction and establish instability through a Lyapunov functional argument based on the variational characterization of ground states. The results extend with essentially the same proofs to a class of multiple-power nonlinearities.