We apply the method of nonlinear steepest descent to compute the long-time asymptotics of the Toda lattice for decaying initial data in the soliton region. In addition, we point out how to reduce the problem in the remaining region to the known case without solitons.
The purpose of this article is to give a streamlined and self-contained treatment of the long-time asymptotics of the Toda lattice for decaying initial data in the soliton and in the similarity region via the method of nonlinear steepest descent.
We apply the method of nonlinear steepest descent to compute the long-time asymptotics of the periodic (and slightly more generally of the quasi-periodic finite-gap) Toda lattice for decaying initial data in the soliton region. In addition, we show how to reduce the problem in the remaining region to the known case without solitons.
We derive the long-time asymptotics for the Toda shock problem using the nonlinear steepest descent analysis for oscillatory Riemann--Hilbert factorization problems. We show that the half plane of space/time variables splits into five main regions: The two regions far outside where the solution is close to free backgrounds. The middle region, where the solution can be asymptotically described by a two band solution, and two regions separating them, where the solution is asymptotically given by a slowly modulated two band solution. In particular, the form of this solution in the separating regions verifies a conjecture from Venakides, Deift, and Oba from 1991.
In a recent paper we have considered the long time asymptotics of the periodic Toda lattice under a short range perturbation and we have proved that the perturbed lattice asymptotically approaches a modulated lattice. In the present paper we capture the higher order asymptotics, at least away from some resonance regions. In particular we prove that the decay rate is $O(t^{-1/2})$. Our proof relies on the asymptotic analysis of the associated Riemann-Hilbert factorization problem, which is here set on a hyperelliptic curve. As in previous studies of the free Toda lattice, the higher order asymptotics arise from local Riemann-Hilbert factorization problems on small crosses centered on the stationary phase points. We discover that the analysis of such a local problem can be done in a chart around each stationary phase point and reduces to a Riemann--Hilbert factorization problem on the complex plane. This result can then be pulled back to the hyperelliptic curve.
We show that Toda shock waves are asymptotically close to a modulated finite gap solution in the region separating the soliton and the elliptic wave regions. We previously derived formulas for the leading terms of the asymptotic expansion of these shock waves in all principal regions and conjectured that in the modulation region the next term is of order $O(t^{-1})$. In the present paper we prove this fact and investigate how resonances and eigenvalues influence the leading asymptotic behaviour. Our main contribution is the solution of the local parametrix Riemann-Hilbert problems and a rigorous justification of the analysis. In particular, this involves the construction of a proper singular matrix model solution.