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Asymptotic expansions for semilinear waves on asymptotically flat spacetimes

Analysis of PDEs 2025-12-23 v3 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

We establish precise asymptotic expansions for solutions to semilinear wave equations with power-type nonlinearities on asymptotically flat spacetimes. Our analysis focuses on two key cases: cubic nonlinearities and higher-order power nonlinearities. For cubic nonlinearities of the form a(t,x)ϕ3a(t,x)\phi^3, we prove asymptotic expansions for the solution globally in the spacetime. In the special case of compact spatial regions, solutions exhibit the asymptotic behavior ϕ(t,x)=ct2+O(t3+)\phi(t,x) = ct^{-2} + O(t^{-3+}). For higher-order nonlinearities a(t,x)ϕpa(t,x)\phi^p with p4p\geq 4, we prove the solution satisfies ϕ(t,x)=dt3+O(t4+)\phi(t, x)= d t^{-3} + O(t^{-4+}), thereby extending the classical Price's law (a late-time tail postulated in 1972) to nonlinear settings in a precise fashion. These results sharpen previous decay estimates for nonlinear waves. We develop a radiation field expansion and a low-energy resolvent expansion adapted to conormal asymptotic inputs, extending Hintz's approach for linear waves to the semilinear setting. Our methods connect geometric microlocal analysis (b-calculus) with classical physical-space techniques, providing a convenient tool for analyzing asymptotic behavior of nonlinear waves.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2407.08997,
  title  = {Asymptotic expansions for semilinear waves on asymptotically flat spacetimes},
  author = {Shi-Zhuo Looi and Haoren Xiong},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.08997},
  year   = {2025}
}

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38 pages