On symmetry of traveling solitary waves for dispersion generalized NLS

Abstract

We consider dispersion generalized nonlinear Schr\"odinger equations (NLS) of the form $i \partial_t u = P(D) u - |u|^{2 \sigma} u$, where $P(D)$ denotes a (pseudo)-differential operator of arbitrary order. As a main result, we prove symmetry results for traveling solitary waves in the case of powers $\sigma \in \mathbb{N}$. The arguments are based on Steiner type rearrangements in Fourier space. Our results apply to a broad class of NLS-type equations such as fourth-order (biharmonic) NLS, fractional NLS, square-root Klein-Gordon and half-wave equations.