Elliptic solutions of the defocusing NLS equation are stable

Abstract

The stability of the stationary periodic solutions of the integrable (one-dimensional, cubic) defocusing nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation is reasonably well understood, especially for solutions of small amplitude. In this paper, we exploit the integrability of the NLS equation to establish the spectral stability of all such stationary solutions, this time by explicitly computing the spectrum and the corresponding eigenfunctions associated with their linear stability problem. An additional argument using an appropriate Krein signature allows us to conclude the (nonlinear) orbital stability of all stationary solutions of the defocusing NLS equation with respect to so-called subharmonic perturbations: perturbations that have period equal to an integer multiple of the period of the amplitude of the solution. All results presented here are independent of the size of the amplitude of the solutions and apply equally to solutions with trivial and nontrivial phase profiles.