Decay rates for cubic and higher order nonlinear wave equations on asymptotically flat spacetimes

Abstract

In this paper, we prove pointwise decay rates for cubic and higher order nonlinear wave equations, including quasilinear wave equations, on asymptotically flat and time-dependent spacetimes. We assume that the solution to the linear equation (rather than the nonlinear equation) satisfies a weaker form of the standard integrated local energy decay, or Morawetz, estimate. For nonlinearities with a total derivative structure, we prove better pointwise decay rates.