A resonant Lyapunov centre theorem with an application to doubly periodic travelling hydroelastic waves

Abstract

We present a Lyapunov centre theorem for an antisymplectically reversible Hamiltonian system exhibiting a nondegenerate $1:1$ or $1:-1$ semisimple resonance as a detuning parameter is varied. The system can be finite- or infinite dimensional (and quasilinear) and have a non-constant symplectic structure. We allow the origin to be a "trivial" eigenvalue arising from a translational symmetry or, in an infinite-dimensional setting, to lie in the continuous spectrum of the linearised Hamiltonian vector field provided a compatibility condition on its range is satisfied. As an application we show how Kirchg\"{a}ssner's spatial dynamics approach can be used to construct doubly periodic travelling waves on the surface of a three-dimensional body of water (of finite or infinite depth) beneath a thin ice sheet (hydroelastic waves). The hydrodynamic problem is formulated as a reversible Hamiltonian system in which an arbitrary horizontal spatial direction is the time-like variable and the infinite-dimensional phase space consists of wave profiles which are periodic (with fixed period) in a second, different horizontal direction. Applying our Lyapunov centre theorem at a point in parameter space associated with a $1:1$ or $1:-1$ semisimple resonance yields a periodic solution of the spatial Hamiltonian system corresponding to a doubly periodic hydroelastic wave.