A proof of the soliton resolution conjecture for the Benjamin--Ono equation

We give a proof of the soliton resolution conjecture for the Benjamin--Ono equation, namely every solution with sufficiently regular and decaying initial data can be written as a finite sum of soliton solutions with different velocities up to a radiative remainder term in the long--time asymptotics. We provide a detailed correspondence between the spectral theory of the Lax operator associated to the initial data and the different terms of the soliton resolution expansion. The proof is based on a new use of a representation formula of the solution due to the second author, and on a detailed analysis of the distorted Fourier transform associated to the Lax operator.