  In this paper we consider the spectral and nonlinear stability of periodic
traveling wave solutions of a generalized Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation. In
particular, we resolve the long-standing question of nonlinear modulational
stability by demonstrating that spectrally stable waves are nonlinearly stable
when subject to small localized (integrable) perturbations. Our analysis is
based upon detailed estimates of the linearized solution operator, which are
complicated by the fact that the (necessarily essential) spectrum of the
associated linearization intersects the imaginary axis at the origin. We carry
out a numerical Evans function study of the spectral problem and find bands of
spectrally stable periodic traveling waves, in close agreement with previous
numerical studies of Frisch-She-Thual, Bar-Nepomnyashchy,
Chang-Demekhin-Kopelevich, and others carried out by other techniques. We also
compare predictions of the associated Whitham modulation equations, which
formally describe the dynamics of weak large scale perturbations of a periodic
wave train, with numerical time evolution studies, demonstrating their
effectiveness at a practical level. For the reader's convenience, we include in
an appendix the corresponding treatment of the Swift-Hohenberg equation, a
nonconservative counterpart of the generalized Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation
for which the nonlinear stability analysis is considerably simpler, together
with numerical Evans function analyses extending spectral stability analyses of
Mielke and Schneider.
