Small-amplitude nonlinear waves on a black hole background

Abstract

Let G(x) be a C^0 function such that |G(x)|\le K|x|^{p} for |x|\le c, for constants K,c>0. We consider spherically symmetric solutions of \Box_g\phi=G(\phi) where g is a Schwarzschild or more generally a Reissner-Nordstrom metric, and such that \phi and \nabla \phi are compactly supported on a complete Cauchy surface. It is proven that for p> 4, such solutions do not blow up in the domain of outer communications, provided the initial data are small. Moreover, |\phi|\le C(\max\{v,1\})^{-1}, where v denotes an Eddington-Finkelstein advanced time coordinate.