Long time asymptotic for the Wadati-Konno-Ichikawa equation with finite density initial data

Abstract

In this work, we investigate the Cauchy problem of the Wadati-Konno-Ichikawa (WKI) equation with finite density initial data. Employing the $\bar{\partial}$-generalization of Deift-Zhou nonlinear steepest descent method, we derive the long time asymptotic behavior of the solution $q(x,t)$ in space-time soliton region. Based on the resulting asymptotic behavior, the asymptotic approximation of the WKI equation is characterized with the soliton term confirmed by $N(I)$-soliton on discrete spectrum and the $t^{-\frac{1}{2}}$ leading order term on continuous spectrum with residual error up to $O(t^{-\frac{3}{4}})$. Our results also confirm the soliton resolution conjecture for the WKI equation with finite density initial data.