Spectral stability and slow--fast structure of traveling waves in a regularized sine--Gordon equation

Abstract

We investigate the dynamics and spectral stability of traveling kink and antikink solutions in a dissipative sine--Gordon equation with two distinct fourth--order regularization mechanisms: a mixed space--time (inertial) term and a purely spatial (elliptic) term. The model includes damping, bias forcing, and higher--order dissipative effects, and is motivated by refined descriptions of fluxon dynamics in long Josephson junctions. Using a collective--coordinate reduction, we derive a Melnikov--type condition for speed selection, yielding explicit predictions for asymptotic propagation speeds, which are validated by direct numerical simulations of the full partial differential equation. Spectral stability is analyzed using Evans function techniques adapted to the singular slow--fast structure induced by the regularization. By formulating the linearized problem on a consistent--splitting domain, we show that no additional point spectrum bifurcates from the origin. Near the edges of the essential spectrum, a square--root transformation is used to resolve branch singularities and establish analyticity in a lifted spectral variable. Numerical Evans function computations near $λ=0$ and near the essential spectrum edges confirm the analytical results, indicating absence of unstable eigenvalues for both kink and antikink solutions.