Uniqueness of bound states to $\Delta u-u+|u|^{p-1}u= 0$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$, $n\ge 3$

Abstract

We give a positive answer to a conjecture of Berestycki and Lions in 1983 on the uniqueness of bound states to $\Delta u +f(u)=0$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$, $u\in H^1(\mathbb{R}^n)$, $u\not\equiv 0$, $n\ge 3$. For the model nonlinearity $f(u)=-u+|u|^{p-1}u$, $1<p<(n+2)/(n-2)$, arisen from finding standing waves of Klein-Gordon equation or nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, we show that, for each integer $k\ge 1$, the problem has a unique solution $u=u(|x|)$, $x\in \mathbb{R}^n$, up to translation and reflection, that has precisely $k$ zeros for $|x|>0$.