Bifurcations of unstable eigenvalues for Stokes waves derived from conserved energy

Abstract

We address Euler’s equations for irrotational gravity waves in an infinitely deep fluid rewritten in conformal variables. Stokes waves are traveling waves with the smooth periodic profiles. In agreement with the previous numerical results, we give a rigorous proof that the zero eigenvalue bifurcation in the linearized equations of motion for co-periodic perturbations occurs at each extremal point of the energy function versus the steepness parameter, provided that the wave speed is not extremal at the same steepness. We derive the leading order of the unstable eigenvalues and, assisted with numerical approximation of its coefficients, we show that the new unstable eigenvalues emerge only in the direction of increasing steepness.