Benjamin-Ono Soliton Dynamics in a slowly varying potential revisited

Abstract

The Benjamin Ono equation with a slowly varying potential is $$\text{(pBO)}{u}_t+(H{u}_x-Vu+\frac{1}{2}{u}^2{)}_x=0$$ with $V(x)=W(hx)$, $0<h\ll 1$, and $W\in C_c^{\infty }(\mathbb{R})$, and $H$ denotes the Hilbert transform. The soliton profile is $$Q_{a,c}(x)=cQ(c(x-a)),\text{ where }Q(x)=\frac{4}{1+x^2}$$ and $a\in \mathbb{R}$, $c>0$ are parameters. For initial condition $u_0(x)$ to (pBO) close to $Q_{0,1}(x)$, it was shown in a previous work by Z. Zhang that the solution $u(x,t)$ to (pBO) remains close to $Q_{a(t),c(t)}(x)$ and approximate parameter dynamics for $(a,c)$ were provided, on a dynamically relevant time scale. In this paper, we prove exact $(a,c)$ parameter dynamics. This is achieved using the basic framework of the previous work by Z. Zhang but adding a local virial estimate for the linearization of (pBO) around the soliton. This is a local-in-space estimate averaged in time, often called a local smoothing estimate, showing that effectively the remainder function in the perturbation analysis is smaller near the soliton than globally in space. A weaker version of this estimate is proved in a paper by Kenig & Martel as part of a "linear Liouville" result, and we have adapted and extended their proof for our application.