Nonlinear Stability of Periodic Traveling-Wave Solutions of Viscous Conservation Laws in Dimensions One and Two

Abstract. Extending results of Oh and Zumbrun in dimensions d ≥ 3, we establish nonlinear stability and asymptotic behavior of spatially periodic traveling-wave solutions of viscous systems of conservation laws in critical dimensions d = 1, 2, under a natural set of spectral stability assumptions introduced by Schneider in the setting of reaction diffusion equations. The key new steps in the analysis beyond that in dimensions d ≥ 3 are a refined Green function estimate separating off translation as the slowest decaying linear mode and a novel scheme for detecting cancellation at the level of the nonlinear iteration in the Duhamel representation of a modulated periodic wave.