Blow-up and lifespan estimate to a nonlinear wave equation in Schwarzschild spacetime

Abstract

We study the semilinear wave equation with power type nonlinearity and small initial data in Schwarzschild spacetime. If the nonlinear exponent p satisfies 2≤p<1+2, we establish the sharp upper bound of lifespan estimate, while for the most delicate critical power p=1+2, we show that the lifespan satisfiesT(ε)≤exp⁡(Cε−(2+2)), the optimality of which remains to be proved. The key novelty is that the compact support of the initial data can be close to the event horizon. By combining the global existence result for p>1+2 obtained by Lindblad et al. (2014) [25], we then give a positive answer to the interesting question posed by Dafermos and Rodnianski (2005) [22, the end of the first paragraph in page 1151]: p=1+2 is exactly the critical power of p separating stability and blow-up.