Linear and orbital stability analysis for solitary-wave solutions of variable-coefficient scalar field equations

We study general semilinear scalar-field equations on the real line with variable coefficients in the linear terms. These coefficients are uniformly small, but slowly decaying, perturbations of a constant-coefficient operator. We are motivated by the question of how these perturbations of the equation may change the stability properties of kink solutions (one-dimensional topological solitons). We prove existence of a stationary kink solution in our setting, and perform a detailed spectral analysis of the corresponding linearized operator, based on perturbing the linearized operator around the constant-coefficient kink. We derive a formula that allows us to check whether a discrete eigenvalue emerges from the essential spectrum under this perturbation. Known examples suggest that this extra eigenvalue may have an important influence on the long-time dynamics in a neighborhood of the kink. We also establish orbital stability of solitary-wave solutions in the variable-coefficient regime, despite the possible presence of negative eigenvalues in the linearization.