Painleve XXXIV asymptotics for the defocusing mKdV equation with step-like initial data in transition regions

Abstract: In this paper, we consider the Cauchy problem for the defocusing modified Korteweg-de Vries (mKdV) equation with a step-like initial data. Based on the Riemann-Hilbert problem associated with the mKdV equation, we derive the long-time asymptotic expansion of the solution to the defocusing mKdV equation in two transition regions using the nonlinear steepest descent method. It comes out that the leading term in the expansion is shown to match the corresponding background constants. The subleading term, however, decays at the order $\mathcal{O}(t^{-2/3})$, and its coefficient is derived from the associated Painlevé \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral34\relax} model.