Paper 2, Section II, 33C

Integrable Systems
Part II, 2020

(i) Explain how the inverse scattering method can be used to solve the initial value problem for the KdV\mathrm{KdV} equation

ut+uxxx6uux=0,u(x,0)=u0(x)u_{t}+u_{x x x}-6 u u_{x}=0, \quad u(x, 0)=u_{0}(x)

including a description of the scattering data associated to the operator Lu=x2+u(x,t)L_{u}=-\partial_{x}^{2}+u(x, t), its time dependence, and the reconstruction of uu via the inverse scattering problem.

(ii) Solve the inverse scattering problem for the reflectionless case, in which the reflection coefficient R(k)R(k) is identically zero and the discrete scattering data consists of a single bound state, and hence derive the 1-soliton solution of KdV\mathrm{KdV}.

(iii) Consider the direct and inverse scattering problems in the case of a small potential u(x)=ϵq(x)u(x)=\epsilon q(x), with ϵ\epsilon arbitrarily small: 0<ϵ10<\epsilon \ll 1. Show that the reflection coefficient is given by

R(k)=ϵe2ikz2ikq(z)dz+O(ϵ2)R(k)=\epsilon \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} \frac{e^{-2 i k z}}{2 i k} q(z) d z+O\left(\epsilon^{2}\right)

and verify that the solution of the inverse scattering problem applied to this reflection coefficient does indeed lead back to the potential u=ϵqu=\epsilon q when calculated to first order in