A robust way to justify the derivative NLS approximation

Abstract

The derivative nonlinear Schrödinger (DNLS) equation can be derived as an amplitude equation via multiple scaling perturbation analysis for the description of the slowly varying envelope of an underlying oscillating and traveling wave packet in dispersive wave systems. It appears in the degenerated situation when the cubic coefficient of the similarly derived NLS equation vanishes. It is the purpose of this paper to prove that the DNLS approximation makes correct predictions about the dynamics of the original system under rather weak assumptions on the original dispersive wave system if we assume that the initial conditions of the DNLS equation are analytic in a strip of the complex plane. The method is presented for a Klein-Gordon model with a cubic nonlinearity.