On Small-Amplitude Asymmetric Water Waves

Abstract We generalize the method used by Mæhlen and Seth (Asymmetric traveling wave solutions of the capillary–gravity Whitham equation, 2023, arxiv:2312.15343 ) used to prove the existence of small-amplitude asymmetric solutions to the capillary–gravity Whitham equation, so that it can be applied directly to a class of similar equations. The purpose is to prove or disprove the existence of asymmetric waves for the water wave problem or other model equations for water waves. Our main result in this paper is a theorem that gives both necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of small-amplitude periodic asymmetric solutions for this class of equations. The result is then applied to an infinite depth capillary–gravity Whitham equation and an infinite depth capillary–gravity Babenko equation to show a nonexistence result of small-amplitude waves for these equations. This example also highlights the similarities between these equations suggesting the potential existence of small-amplitude asymmetric waves for the finite depth capillary–gravity Babenko equation.