Decay estimates for beam equations with potentials on the line

Abstract: This paper is devoted to the time decay estimates for the following beam equation with a potential on the line: $$ \partial_t^2 u + \left( \Delta^2 + m^2 + V(x) \right) u = 0, \ \ u(0, x) = f(x),\quad \partial_t u(0, x) = g(x), $$ where $V$ is a real-valued decaying potential on $\mathbb{R}$, and $m \in \mathbb{R}$. Let $H = \Delta^2 + V$ and $P_{ac}(H)$ denote the projection onto the absolutely continuous spectrum of $H$. Then for $m = 0$, we establish the following decay estimates of the solution operators: $$ \left|\cos (t \sqrt{H}) P_{ac}(H)\right|{L^1 \rightarrow L^{\infty}} + \left|\frac{\sin (t \sqrt{H})}{t \sqrt{H}} P{ac}(H)\right|_{L^1 \rightarrow L^{\infty}} \lesssim |t|^{-\frac{1}{2}}. $$ But for $m \neq 0$, the solutions have different time decay estimates from the case where $m=0$. Specifically, the $L^1$-$L^\infty$ estimates of $\cos (t \sqrt{H + m^2})$ and $\frac{\sin (t \sqrt{H + m^2})}{\sqrt{H + m^2}}$ are bounded by $O(|t|^{-\frac{1}{4}})$ in the low-energy part and $O(|t|^{-\frac{1}{2}})$ in the high-energy part. It is noteworthy that all these results remain consistent with the free cases (i.e., $V = 0$) whatever zero is a regular point or a resonance of $H$. As consequences, we establish the corresponding Strichartz estimates, which are fundamental to study nonlinear problems of beam equations.