We solve the open problem of spectral stability of smooth periodic waves in the Camassa–Holm equation. The key to obtaining this result is that the periodic waves of the Camassa–Holm equation can be characterized by an alternative Hamiltonian structure, different from the standard formulation common to the Korteweg-de Vries equation. The standard formulation has the disadvantage that the period function is not monotone and the quadratic energy form may have two rather than one negative eigenvalues. We prove that the nonstandard formulation has the advantage that the period function is monotone and the quadratic energy form has only one simple negative eigenvalue. We deduce a precise condition for the spectral and orbital stability of the smooth periodic travelling waves and show numerically that this condition is satisfied in the open region where the smooth periodic waves exist.@en

We show that the peaked periodic traveling wave of the reduced Ostrovsky equations with quadratic and cubic nonlinearity is spectrally unstable in the space of square integrable periodic functions with zero mean and the same period. We discover that the spectrum of a linearized operator at the peaked periodic wave completely covers a closed vertical strip of the complex plane. In order to obtain this instability, we prove an abstract result on spectra of operators under compact perturbations. This justifies the truncation of the linearized operator at the peaked periodic wave to its differential part for which the spectrum is then computed explicitly.@en

We consider the propagation of smooth solitary waves in a two-dimensional generalization of the Camassa–Holm equation. We show that transverse perturbations to one-dimensional solitary waves behave similarly to the KP-II theory. This conclusion follows from our two main results: (i) the double eigenvalue of the linearized equations related to the translational symmetry breaks under a transverse perturbation into a pair of the asymptotically stable resonances and (ii) small-amplitude solitary waves are linearly stable with respect to transverse perturbations.@en

We consider the propagation of smooth solitary waves in a two-dimensional generalization of the Camassa–Holm equation. We show that transverse perturbations to one-dimensional solitary waves behave similarly to the KP-II theory. This conclusion follows from our two main results: (i) the double eigenvalue of the linearized equations related to the translational symmetry breaks under a transverse perturbation into a pair of the asymptotically stable resonances and (ii) small-amplitude solitary waves are linearly stable with respect to transverse perturbations.@en

We derive a precise energy stability criterion for smooth periodic waves in the Degasperis–Procesi (DP) equation. Compared to the Camassa-Holm (CH) equation, the number of negative eigenvalues of an associated Hessian operator changes in the existence region of smooth periodic waves. We utilize properties of the period function with respect to two parameters in order to obtain a smooth existence curve for the family of smooth periodic waves with a fixed period. The energy stability condition is derived on parts of this existence curve, which correspond to either one or two negative eigenvalues of the Hessian operator. We show numerically that the energy stability condition is satisfied on either part of the curve and prove analytically that it holds in a neighborhood of the boundary of the existence region of smooth periodic waves.@en