An A Posteriori KAM Theorem for Whiskered Tori in Hamiltonian Partial Differential Equations with Applications to some Ill-Posed Equations

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to develop a KAM theory for tori with hyperbolic directions, which applies to Hamiltonian partial differential equations, even to some ill-posed ones. The main result has an a-posteriori format, that is, we show that if there is an approximate solution of an invariance equation which also satisfies some non-degeneracy conditions, then there is a true solution nearby. This allows, besides dealing with the quasi-integrable case, for the validation of numerical computations or formal perturbative expansions as well as for obtaining quasi-periodic solutions in degenerate situations. The a-posteriori format also has other automatic consequences (smooth dependence on parameters, bootstrap of regularity, etc.). We emphasize that the non-degeneracy conditions required are just quantities evaluated on the approximate solution (no global assumptions on the system such as twist). Hence, they are readily verifiable in perturbation expansions. We will pay attention to the quantitative relations between the sizes of the approximation and the non-degeneracy conditions. This will allow us to prove what experts call small twist theorems (the non-degeneracy conditions vanishes as the perturbation goes to zero but much slower than the error of the approximation). The method of proof is based on an iterative method for solving a functional equation for the parameterization of the torus expressing that the range of the parameterization admits an evolution and is invariant. We also solve functional equations for bundles which imply that are invariant under the linearization. The iterative method does not use transformation theory nor action-angle variables. The main result does not assume that the system is close to integrable. More surprisingly, we do not need that the equations we study define an evolution for all initial conditions and are well posed. Even if the systems we study do not admit solutions for all initial conditions, we show that there is a systematic way to choose initial conditions on which one can define an evolution which is quasi-periodic. We first develop an abstract theorem. Then, we show how this abstract result applies to some concrete examples. The examples considered in this paper are the scalar Boussinesq equation and the Boussinesq system (both are PDE models that aim to describe water waves in the long wave limit). For these equations we construct small amplitude time quasi-periodic solutions which are even in the spatial variable. The strategy for the abstract theorem is inspired by that in Fontich et al. (Electron Res Announc Math Sci 16:9–22, 2009; J Differ Equ 246(8):3136–3213, 2009). The main part of the paper is to study infinite dimensional analogues of dichotomies which applies even to ill-posed equations and which is stable under addition of unbounded perturbations. This requires that we assume smoothing properties. We also present very detailed bounds on the change of the splittings under perturbations.