Asymptotics of solutions with a compactness property for the nonlinear damped Klein-Gordon equation

Abstract

We consider the nonlinear damped Klein-Gordon equation \[ \partial_{tt}u+2\alpha\partial_{t}u-\Delta u+u-|u|^{p-1}u=0 \quad \text{on} \ \ [0,\infty)\times \mathbb{R}^N \] with $\alpha>0$, $2 \le N\le 5$ and energy subcritical exponents $p>2$. We study the behavior of solutions for which it is supposed that only one nonlinear object appears asymptotically for large times, at least for a sequence of times. We first prove that the nonlinear object is necessarily a bound state. Next, we show that when the nonlinear object is a non-degenerate state or a degenerate excited state satisfying a simplicity condition, the convergence holds for all positive times, with an exponential or algebraic rate respectively. Last, we provide an example where the solution converges exactly at the rate $t^{-1}$ to the excited state.