Critical velocity in kink-defect interaction models: rigorous results

Abstract

In this work we study a model of interaction of kinks of the sine-Gordon equation with a weak defect. We obtain rigorous results concerning the so-called critical velocity derived in [7] by a geometric approach. More specifically, we prove that a heteroclinic orbit in the energy level $0$ of a $2$-dof Hamiltonian $H_\epsilon$ is destroyed giving rise to heteroclinic connections between certain elements (at infinity) for exponentially small (in $\epsilon$) energy levels. In this setting Melnikov theory does not apply because there are exponentially small phenomena.