Past Partial Differential Equations Seminar

In this talk we discuss the Type I blow up and the related problems in the 3D Euler equations. We say a solution $v$ to the Euler equations satisfies Type I condition at possible blow up time $T_*$ if $\lim\sup_{t\nearrow T_*} (T_*-t) \|\nabla v(t)\|_{L^\infty} <+\infty$. The scenario of Type I blow up is a natural generalization of the self-similar(or discretely self-similar) blow up. We present some recent progresses of our study regarding this. We first localize previous result that ``small Type I blow up'' is absent. After that we show that the atomic concentration of energy is excluded under the Type I condition. This result, in particular, solves the problem of removing discretely self-similar blow up in the energy conserving scale, since one point energy concentration is necessarily accompanied with such blow up. We also localize the Beale-Kato-Majda type blow up criterion. Using similar local blow up criterion for the 2D Boussinesq equations, we can show that Type I and some of Type II blow up in a region off the axis can be excluded in the axisymmetric Euler equations. These are joint works with J. Wolf.

In joint work with Peter Topping we introduce pyramid Ricci flows, defined throughout uniform regions of spacetime that are not simply parabolic cylinders, and enjoying curvature estimates that are not required to remain spatially constant throughout the domain of definition. This weakened notion of Ricci flow may be run in situations ill-suited to the classical theory. As an application of pyramid Ricci flows, we obtain global regularity results for three-dimensional Ricci limit spaces (extending results of Miles Simon and Peter Topping) and for higher dimensional PIC1 limit spaces (extending not only the results of Richard Bamler, Esther Cabezas-Rivas and Burkhard Wilking, but also the subsequent refinements by Yi Lai).
 

"We study the hydrodynamic limit for the isothermal dynamics of an anharmonic chain under hyperbolic space-time scaling under varying tension. The temperature is kept constant by a contact with a heat bath, realised via a stochastic momentum-preserving noise added to the dynamics. The noise is designed to be large at the microscopic level, but vanishing in the macroscopic scale. Boundary conditions are also considered: one end of the chain is kept fixed, while a time-varying tension is applied to the other end. We show that the volume stretch and momentum converge to a weak solution of the isothermal Euler equations in Lagrangian coordinates with boundary conditions."

For measuring families of curves, or, more generally, of measures, $M_p$-modulus is traditionally used. More recent studies use so-called plans on measures. In their fundamental paper Ambrosio, Di Marino and Savare proved that these two approaches are in some sense equivalent within $1<p<\infty$. We consider the limiting case $p=1$ and show that the $AM$-modulus can be obtained alternatively by the plan approach. On the way, we demonstrate unexpected behavior of the $AM$-modulus in comparison with usual capacities.

This is a joint work with Vendula Honzlov\'a Exnerov\'a, Ond\v{r}ej F.K. Kalenda and Olli Martio. Partially supported by the grant GA\,\v{C}R P201/18-07996S of the Czech Science Foundation.

I'll talk about smooth solutions of Euler equations with compactly supported velocities, and applications to other equations.

This work is devoted to the study of the following boundary value problem for compressible Navier-Stokes equations\begin{align*}&\begin{aligned}[b] \partial_t(\varrho \mathbf{u})+\text{div}(\varrho \mathbf u\otimes\mathbf u) &+\nabla p(\rho)\\&= \text{div} \mathbb S(\mathbf u)+\varrho\, \mathbf f\quad\text{ in }\Omega\times (0,T),\end{aligned} \\[6pt]&\partial_t\varrho+\text{div}(\varrho \mathbf u)=0\quad\text{ in }\Omega\times (0,T), \\[6pt]&\begin{aligned}[c] &\mathbf u=0\quad\text{ on }\partial \Omega\times( 0,T), \\ &\mathbf u(x,0)=\mathbf u_0(x)\quad\text{ in } \Omega,\\&\varrho(x,0)= \varrho_0(x) \quad\text{ in } \Omega, \end{aligned}\end{align*} where $\Omega$ is a bounded domain in $\mathbb R^d$, $d=2,3$, $\varrho_0>0$, $\mathbf u_0$, $\mathbf f$ are given functions, $p(\varrho)=\varrho^\gamma$, $\mathbb S(\mathbf u)=\mu(\nabla\mathbf{u}+\nabla\mathbf{u}^\top)+\lambda \text{div } \mathbf{u}$, $\mu, \lambda$ are positive constants. We consider the endpoint cases $\gamma=3/2$, $d=3$ and $\gamma=1$, $d=2$, when the energy estimate does not guarantee the integrability of the kinetic energy density with an exponent greater than 1, which leads to the so-called concentration problem. In order to cope with this difficulty we develop new approach to the problem. Our method is based on the estimates of the Newton potential of $p(\varrho)$. We prove that the kinetic energy density in 3-dimensional problem with $\gamma=3/2$ is bounded in $L\log L^\alpha$ Orlitz space and obtain new estimates for the pressure function. In the case $d=2$ and $\gamma=1$ we prove the existence of the weak solution to the problem. We also discuss the structure of concentrations for rotationally-symmetric and stationary solutions.

Let $\Omega\subseteq\mathbb{R}^2$ be a domain and let $f\in W^{1,1}(\Omega,\mathbb{R}^2)$ be a homeomorphism (between $\Omega$ and $f(\Omega)$). Then there exists a sequence of smooth diffeomorphisms $f_k$ converging to $f$ in $W^{1,1}(\Omega,\mathbb{R}^2)$ and uniformly. This is a joint result with A. Pratelli.
 

The hypoelliptic Laplacian is a family of operators indexed by $b \in \mathbf{R}^*_+$, acting on the total space of the tangent bundle of a Riemannian manifold, that interpolates between the ordinary Laplacian as $b \to 0$ and the generator of the geodesic flow as $b \to +\infty$. These operators are not elliptic, they are not self-adjoint, they are hypoelliptic. One can think of the total space of the tangent bundle as the phase space of classical mechanics; so that the hypoelliptic Laplacian produces an interpolation between the geodesic flow and its quantisation. There is a dynamical counterpart, which is a natural interpolation between classical Brownian motion and the geodesic flow.

The hypoelliptic deformation preserves subtle invariants of the Laplacian. In the case of locally symmetric spaces (which are defined via Lie groups), the deformation is essentially isospectral, and leads to geometric formulas for orbital integrals, a key ingredient in Selberg's trace formula.

In a first part of the talk, I will describe the geometric construction of the hypoelliptic Laplacian in the context of de Rham theory. In a second part, I will explain applications to the trace formula.

 I will give a short survey on classical inequalities for Laplace eigenvalues, tell about related history and questions. I will then discuss the so-called Korevaar method, and new results generalising to higher eigenvalues a number of classical inequalities known for the first Laplace eigenvalue only. 

Ginzburg–Landau type functionals provide a relaxation scheme to construct harmonic maps in the presence of topological obstructions. They arise in superconductivity models, in liquid crystal models (Landau–de Gennes functional) and in the generation of cross-fields in meshing. For a general compact manifold target space we describe the asymptotic number, type and location of singularities that arise in minimizers. We cover in particular the case where the fundamental group of the vacuum manifold in nonabelian and hence the singularities cannot be characterized univocally as elements of the fundamental group. The results unify the existing theory and cover new situations and problems.

This is a joint work with Antonin Monteil and Rémy Rodiac (UCLouvain, Louvain- la-Neuve, Belgium)

We study solutions to stationary Navier-Stokes system in two dimensional exterior domains, namely, existence of these solutions and their asymptotical behavior. The talk is based on the recent joint papers with K. Pileckas and R. Russo where the uniform boundedness and uniform convergence at infinity for arbitrary solution with finite Dirichlet integral were established. Here  no restrictions on smallness of fluxes are assumed, etc.  In the proofs we develop the ideas of the classical papers of Gilbarg & H.F. Weinberger (Ann. Scuola Norm.Pisa 1978) and Amick (Acta Math. 1988).

We discuss shock reflection problem for compressible gas dynamics, von Neumann conjectures on transition between regular and Mach reflections, and existence of regular reflection solutions for potential flow equation. Then we will talk about recent results on uniqueness and stability of regular reflection solutions for potential flow equation in a natural class of self-similar solutions. The approach is to reduce the shock reflection problem to a free boundary problem for a nonlinear elliptic equation, and prove uniqueness by a version of method of continuity. A property of solutions important for the proof of uniqueness is convexity of the free boundary. 

This talk is based on joint works with G.-Q. Chen and W. Xiang.

The Prandtl equation was derived in 1904 by Ludwig Prandtl in order to describe the behavior of fluids with small viscosity around a solid obstacle. Over the past decades, several results of ill-posedness in Sobolev spaces have been proved for this equation. As a consequence, it is natural to look for more sophisticated boundary layer models, that describe the coupling with the outer Euler flow at a higher order. Unfortunately, these models do not always display better mathematical properties, as I will explain in this talk. This is a joint work with Helge Dietert, David Gérard-Varet and Frédéric Marbach.

In recent years it has been discovered that also non-linear, degenerate equations like the $p$-Poisson equation $$ -\mathrm{div}(A(\nabla u))= - \mathrm{div} (|\nabla u|^{{p-2}}\nabla u)= -{\rm div} F$$ allow for optimal regularity. This equation has similarities to the one of power-law fluids. In particular, the non-linear mapping $F \mapsto A(\nabla u)$ satisfies surprisingly the linear, optimal estimate $\|A(\nabla u)\|_X \le c\, \|F\|_X$ for several choices of spaces $X$. In particular, this estimate holds for Lebesgue spaces $L^q$ (with $q \geq p'$), spaces of bounded mean oscillations and Holder spaces$C^{0,\alpha}$ (for some $\alpha>0$).

In this talk we show that we can extend this theory to Sobolev and Besov spaces of (almost) one derivative. Our result are restricted to the case of the plane, since we use complex analysis in our proof. Moreover, we are restricted to the super-linear case $p \geq 2$, since the result fails $p < 2$. Joint work with Anna Kh. Balci, Markus Weimar.

I will present a construction of large families of singularity-free stationary solutions of Einstein equations, for a large class of matter models including vacuum, with a negative cosmological constant. The solutions, which are of course real-valued Lorentzian metrics, are determined by a set of free data at conformal infinity, and the construction proceeds through elliptic equations for complex-valued tensor fields. One thus obtains infinite dimensional families of both strictly stationary spacetimes and black hole spacetimes.

In this talk, we will present results regarding the regularity and

rigidity of solutions to the Monge-Ampere equation, inspired by the role

played by this equation in the context of prestrained elasticity. We will

show how the Nash-Kuiper convex integration can be applied here to achieve

flexibility of Holder solutions, and how other techniques from fluid

dynamics (the commutator estimate, yielding the degree formula in the

present context) find their parallels in proving the rigidity. We will indicate

possible avenues for the future related research.

We consider vector-valued maps which minimize an energy with two terms: an elastic term penalizing high gradients, and a potential term penalizing values far away from a fixed submanifold N. In the scaling limit where the second term is dominant, minimizers converge to maps with values into the manifold N. If the elastic term is the classical Dirichlet energy (i.e. the squared L^2-norm of the gradient), classical tools show that this convergence is uniform away from a singular set where the energy concentrates. Some physical models (as e.g. liquid crystal models) include however more general elastic energies (still coercive and quadratic in the gradient, but less symmetric), for which these classical tools do not apply. We will present a new strategy to obtain nevertheless this uniform convergence. This is a joint work with Andres Contreras.

We consider solutions to the two-dimensional incompressible Euler system with only integrable vorticity, thus with possibly locally infinite energy. With such regularity, we use the recently developed theory of Lagrangian flows associated to vector fields with gradient given by a singular integral in order to define Lagrangian solutions, for which the vorticity is transported by the flow. We prove strong stability of these solutions via strong convergence of the flow, under the only assumption of $L^1$ weak convergence of the initial vorticity. The existence of Lagrangian solutions to the Euler system follows for arbitrary $L^1$ vorticity. Relations with previously known notions of solutions are shown.

We analyse under which conditions equilibration between two competing effects, repulsion modelled by nonlinear diffusion and attraction modelled by nonlocal interaction, occurs. I will discuss several regimes that appear in aggregation diffusion problems with homogeneous kernels. I will first concentrate in the fair competition case distinguishing among porous medium like cases and fast diffusion like ones. I will discuss the main qualitative properties in terms of stationary states and minimizers of the free energies. In particular, all the porous medium cases are critical while the fast diffusion are not. In the second part, I will discuss the diffusion dominated case in which this balance leads to continuous compactly supported radially decreasing equilibrium configurations for all masses. All stationary states with suitable regularity are shown to be radially symmetric by means of continuous Steiner symmetrisation techniques. Calculus of variations tools allow us to show the existence of global minimizers among these equilibria. Finally, in the particular case of Newtonian interaction in two dimensions they lead to uniqueness of equilibria for any given mass up to translation and to the convergence of solutions of the associated nonlinear aggregation-diffusion equations towards this unique equilibrium profile up to translations as time tends to infinity. This talk is based on works in collaboration with S. Hittmeir, B. Volzone and Y. Yao and with V. Calvez and F. Hoffmann.

Suppose that we want to minimise the L-infinity norm of the Laplacian of a function (or a similar quantity) under Dirichlet boundary conditions. This is a convex, but not strictly convex variational problem. Nevertheless, it turns out that it has a unique solution, which is characterised by a system of PDEs. The behaviour is thus quite different from the better-known first order problems going back to Aronsson. This is joint work with N. Katzourakis (Reading).
 

In this talk, we shall provide a comprehensive variational principle that allows one to apply critical point theory on closed proper subsets of a given Banach space and yet, to obtain critical points with respect to the whole space.
This variational principle has many applications in partial differential equations while unifies and generalizes several results in nonlinear Analysis such as the fixed point theory, critical point theory on convex sets and the principle of symmetric criticality.

For a nonlinear elliptic system coming from a nonlinear Schroedinger system, the interaction between components is represented by a symmetric matrix. The construction of possibly lower energy nontrivial solutions and the complete description of dependence of the solutions on the matrix are quite challenging tasks. Especially, we are interested in the case that intra-species interaction forces are fixed and inter-species forces are very large, that is, the diagonal part of the symmetric matric is fixed and the non-diagonal entries are very large. In this case, depending on the network between components by repulsive or attractive forces, several different types of patterns may appear. I would like to explain our recent studies on the problem with three components and touch a possible exploration on the general n-components problem.

We consider a collisionless kinetic equation describing the probability density of particles moving in a one-dimensional domain subject to partly diffusive reflection at the boundary. It was shown in 2017 by Mokhtar-Kharroubi and Rudnicki that for large times such systems either converge to an invariant density or, if no invariant density exists, exhibit a so-called “sweeping phenomenon” in which the mass concentrates near small velocities. This dichotomy is obtained by means of subtle arguments relying on the theory of positive operator semigroups. In this talk I shall review some of these results before discussing how, under suitable assumptions both on the boundary operators (which in particular ensure that an invariant density exists) and on the initial density, one may even obtain estimates on the rate at which the system converges to its equilibrium. This is joint work with Mustapha Mokhtar-Kharroubi (Besançon).