Modified scattering of small data solutions to the Vlasov-Poisson system with a trapping potential

Abstract: In this paper, we study small data solutions to the Vlasov-Poisson system with the simplest external potential, for which unstable trapping holds for the associated Hamiltonian flow. First, we provide a new proof of global existence for small data solutions to the Vlasov-Poisson system with the trapping potential $\frac{-|x|^2}{2}$ in dimension two. We exploit the uniform hyperbolicity of the Hamiltonian flow, by making use of the commuting vector fields contained in the stable and unstable invariant distributions of phase space for the linearized system. In contrast with the proof in \cite{VV23}, we do not use modified vector field techniques. Moreover, we obtain small data modified scattering for this non-linear system. We show that the distribution function converges to a new regular distribution function along modifications to the characteristics of the linearized problem. We define the linearly growing corrections to the characteristic system, in terms of a precise effective asymptotic force field. We make use of the scattering state to obtain the late-time asymptotic behavior of the spatial density. Finally, we prove that the distribution function (up to normalization) converges weakly to a Dirac mass on the unstable manifold of the origin.