Qualitative Properties of Saddle-Shaped Solutions to Bistable Diffusion Equations

We consider the elliptic equation ? Δu = f(u) in the whole ?^2m , where f is of bistable type. It is known that there exists a saddle-shaped solution in ?^2m . This is a solution which changes sign in ?^2m and vanishes only on the Simons cone 𝒞 = {(x ¹, x ²) ∈ ? ^m × ? ^m : |x ¹| = |x ²|}. It is also known that these solutions are unstable in dimensions 2 and 4.

In this article we establish that when 2m = 6 every saddle-shaped solution is unstable outside of every compact set and, as a consequence has infinite Morse index. For this we establish the asymptotic behavior of saddle-shaped solutions at infinity. Moreover we prove the existence of a minimal and a maximal saddle-shaped solutions and derive monotonicity properties for the maximal solution.

These results are relevant in connection with a conjecture of De Giorgi on 1D symmetry of certain solutions. Saddle-shaped solutions are the simplest candidates, besides 1D solutions, to be global minimizers in high dimensions, a property not yet established.