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Abstract We study the problem of stability of the catenoid, which is an asymptotically flat rotationally symmetric minimal surface in Euclidean space, viewed as a stationary solution to the hyperbolic vanishing mean curvature equation in Minkowski space. The latter is a quasilinear wave equation that constitutes the hyperbolic counterpart of the minimal surface equation in Euclidean space. Our main result is the nonlinear asymptotic stability, modulo suitable translation and boost (i.e., modulation), of the$$n$$ $n$-dimensional catenoid with respect to a codimension one set of initial data perturbations without any symmetry assumptions, for$$n \geq 5$$ $n\ge 5$. The modulation and the codimension one restriction on the data are necessary and optimal in view of the kernel and the unique simple eigenvalue, respectively, of the stability operator of the catenoid. In a broader context, this paper fits in the long tradition of studies of soliton stability problems. From this viewpoint, our aim here is to tackle some new issues that arise due to the quasilinear nature of the underlying hyperbolic equation. Ideas introduced in this paper include a new profile construction and modulation analysis to track the evolution of the translation and boost parameters of the stationary solution, a new scheme for proving integrated local energy decay for the perturbation in the quasilinear and modulation-theoretic context, and an adaptation of the vectorfield method in the presence of dynamic translations and boosts of the stationary solution. 

We consider the codimension one asymptotic stability problem for the soliton of the focusing cubic Klein-Gordon equation on the line under even perturbations. The main obstruction to full asymptotic stability on the center-stable manifold is a small divisor in a quadratic source term of the perturbation equation. This singularity is due to the threshold resonance of the linearized operator and the absence of null structure in the nonlinearity. The threshold resonance of the linearized operator produces a one-dimensional space of slowly decaying Klein-Gordon waves, relative to local norms. In contrast, the closely related perturbation equation for the sine-Gordon kink does exhibit null structure, which makes the corresponding quadratic source term amenable to normal forms (see Lührmann and Schlag [Duke Math. J. 172 (2023), pp. 2715–2820]). The main result of this work establishes decay estimates up to exponential time scales for small “codimension one type” perturbations of the soliton of the focusing cubic Klein-Gordon equation. The proof is based upon a super-symmetric approach to the study of modified scattering for 1D nonlinear Klein-Gordon equations with Pöschl-Teller potentials from Lührmann and Schlag [Duke Math. J. 172 (2023), pp. 2715–2820], and an implementation of a version of an adapted functional framework introduced by Germain and Pusateri [Forum Math. Pi 10 (2022), p. 172]. 

Abstract We consider the asymptotic behavior of small global-in-time solutions to a 1D Klein–Gordon equation with a spatially localized, variable coefficient quadratic nonlinearity and a non-generic linear potential. The purpose of this work is to continue the investigation of the occurrence of a novel modified scattering behavior of the solutions that involves a logarithmic slow-down of the decay rate along certain rays. This phenomenon is ultimately caused by the threshold resonance of the linear Klein–Gordon operator. It was previously uncovered for the special case of the zero potential in [51]. The Klein–Gordon model considered in this paper is motivated by the asymptotic stability problem for kink solutions arising in classical scalar field theories on the real line.