Complex solutions and stationary scattering for the nonlinear Helmholtz equation

Abstract: We study a stationary scattering problem related to the nonlinear Helmholtz equation $-\Delta u - k^2 u = f(x,u) \ \ \text{in $\mathbb{R}^N$,}$ where $N \ge 3$ and $k>0$. For a given incident free wave $\varphi \in L^\infty(\mathbb{R}^N)$, we prove the existence of complex-valued solutions of the form $u=\varphi+u_{\text{sc}}$, where $u_{\text{sc}}$ satisfies the Sommerfeld outgoing radiation condition. Since neither a variational framework nor maximum principles are available for this problem, we use topological fixed point theory and global bifurcation theory to solve an associated integral equation involving the Helmholtz resolvent operator. The key step of this approach is the proof of suitable a priori bounds.