Modified wave operators for the defocusing cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation in one space dimension with large scattering data

Abstract: In the present paper, we construct modified wave operators for the defocusing cubic nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation (NLS) in one space dimension without size restriction on scattering data. In the proof, we introduce a new formulation of the problem based on the linearization of the NLS around a prescribed asymptotic profile. For the linearized equation which is a system of Schr\"odinger equations with non-symmetric, time-dependent long-range potentials, we show a modified energy identity, as well as an associated energy estimate, which allow us to apply a simple energy method to construct the modified wave operators. As a byproduct, we also obtain in the focusing case an improved explicit upper bound for the size of scattering data to ensure the existence of modified wave operators. Our argument relies neither on the complete integrability nor on the smoothness of nonlinearity, and also works for short-range perturbations of the cubic nonlinearity.