Long-Time Dynamics of KdV Solitary Waves over a Variable Bottom

Abstract

We study the variable bottom generalized Korteweg-de Vries (bKdV) equation dt u=-dx(dx^2 u+f(u)-b(t,x)u), where f is a nonlinearity and b is a small, bounded and slowly varying function related to the varying depth of a channel of water. Many variable coefficient KdV-type equations, including the variable coefficient, variable bottom KdV equation, can be rescaled into the bKdV. We study the long time behaviour of solutions with initial conditions close to a stable, b=0 solitary wave. We prove that for long time intervals, such solutions have the form of the solitary wave, whose centre and scale evolve according to a certain dynamical law involving the function b(t,x), plus an H^1-small fluctuation.