Well-posedness and stability in the periodic case for the Benney system

Abstract: We establish local well-posedness results in weak periodic function spaces for the Cauchy problem of the Benney system. The Sobolev space $H^{1/2}\times L<sup>2$ is the lowest regularity attained and also we cover the energy space $H^{1}\times L<sup>2$, where global well-posedness follows from the conservation laws of the system. Moreover, we show the existence of smooth explicit family of periodic travelling waves of \emph{dnoidal} type and we prove, under certain conditions, that this family is orbitally stable in the energy space.