We introduce a new method for the analysis of singularities in the unstable problem $$Δu = -χ_{\{u>0\}},$$ which arises in solid combustion as well as in the composite membrane problem. Our study is confined to points of "supercharacteristic" growth of the solution, i.e. points at which the solution grows faster than the characteristic/invariant scaling of the equation would suggest. At such points the classical theory is doomed to fail, due to incompatibility of the invariant scaling of the equation and the scaling of the solution.
In the case of two dimensions our result shows that in a neighborhood of the set at which the second derivatives of $u$ are unbounded, the level set $\{u=0\}$ consists of two $C^1$-curves meeting at right angles. It is important that our result is not confined to the minimal solution of the equation but holds for all solutions.
We prove a theorem on self-improving regularity for derivatives of solutions of the inequality $F(v'(x))\le KG(v'(x))$ constructed by means of a quasiconvex function $F$ and a null Lagrangian $G$. We apply this theorem to improve the stability and Hölder regularity results of \cite{Egor2008} and to establish a theorem on removability of singularities for solutions of this inequality.
We consider the porous medium equation on manifolds with conical singularities and show existence, uniqueness and maximal $L^{p}$-regularity of a short time solution. In particular, we obtain information on the short time asymptotics of the solution near the conical point. Our method is based on bounded imaginary powers results for cone differential operators on Mellin-Sobolev spaces and $R$-sectoriality perturbation techniques.
In this paper we examine necessary conditions for an inhomogeneity to be non-scattering, or equivalently, by negation, sufficient conditions for it to be scattering. These conditions are formulated in terms of the regularity of the boundary of the inhomogeneity. We examine broad classes of incident waves in both two and three dimensions. Our analysis is greatly influenced by the analysis carried out by Williams [28] in order to establish that a domain, which does not possess the Pompeiu Property, has a real analytic boundary. That analysis, as well as ours, relies crucially on classical free b…
We investigate singular and degenerate behavior of solutions of the unstable free boundary problem $$Δu = -χ_{\{u>0\}} .$$ First, we construct a solution that is not of class $C^{1,1}$ and whose free boundary consists of four arcs meeting in a {\em cross}-shaped singularity. This solution is completely unstable/repulsive from above and below which would make it hard to get by the usual methods, and even numerics is non-trivial. We also show existence of a degenerate solution. This answers two of the open questions in a recent paper by R. Monneau-G.S. Weiss.
In two dimensions every weak solution to a nonlinear elliptic system $\rm{div} a(x,u,Du)=0$ has Hölder continuous first derivatives provided that standard continuity, ellipticity and growth assumptions hold with a growth exponent $p \geq 2$. We give an example showing that this result cannot be extended to the subquadratic case, i.e. that weak solutions are not necessarily continuous if $1< p <2$. Furthermore, we discuss related results for variational integrals.
We characterize microlocal regularity of Colombeau generalized functions by an appropriate extension of the classical notion of micro-ellipticity to pseudodifferential operators with slow scale generalized symbols. Thus we obtain an alternative, yet equivalent, way to determine generalized wave front sets, which is analogous to the original definition of the wave front set of distributions via intersections over characteristic sets. The new methods are then applied to regularity theory of generalized solutions of (pseudo-)differential equations, where we extend the general noncharacteristic re…
Classical vorticity solution branches of the three dimensional incompressible Euler equation are constructed where a velocity component can blow up at some point after finite time for regular data in H2. Furthermore, vorticity can blow up after finite time for data in H2, and there are classical solution branches with regular data which develop weak singularities at some point of space time after finite time. The construction of these time-local solution branches is by viscosity limits of viscosity extensions of time-reversed Euler-type equations. The short time (weak) singularities are then i…
We use sequences which depend on two parameters to define families of ultradifferentiable functions which contain Gevrey classes. It is shown that such families are closed under superposition, and therefore inverse closed as well. Furthermore, we study partial differential operators whose coefficients satisfy the extended Gevrey regularity. To that aim we introduce appropriate wave front sets and derive a theorem on propagation of singularities. This extends related known results in the sense that weaker assumptions on the regularity of the coefficients are imposed.
We study partial regularity of suitable weak solutions of the steady Hall magnetohydrodynamics equations in a domain $Ω\subset \Bbb R^3$. In particular we prove that the set of possible singularities of the suitable weak solution has Hausdorff dimension at most one. Moreover, in the case $Ω=\Bbb R^3$, we show that the set of possible singularities is compact.
We produce local Calabi-Yau metrics on $\mathbf C^2$ with conical singularities along three or more complex lines through the origin whose cone angles strictly violate the Troyanov condition. The tangent cone at the origin is a flat polyhedral Kähler cone with conical singularities along two intersecting lines: one with cone angle corresponding to the line with smallest cone angle, while the other forms as the collision of the remaining lines into a single conical line. Using a branched covering argument, we can construct Calabi-Yau metrics with cone singularities along cuspidal curves with co…
We consider the nonlinear Schrödinger equation $-Δu + V(x) u = Γ(x) |u|^{p-1}u$ in $\R^n$ where the spectrum of $-Δ+V(x)$ is positive. In the case $n\geq 3$ we use variational methods to prove that for all $p\in (\frac{n}{n-2},\frac{n}{n-2}+\eps)$ there exist distributional solutions with a point singularity at the origin provided $\eps>0$ is sufficiently small and $V,Γ$ are bounded on $\R^n\setminus B_1(0)$ and satisfy suitable Hölder-type conditions at the origin. In the case $n=1,2$ or $n\geq 3,1<p<\frac{n}{n-2}$, however, we show that every distributional solution of the more general equat…
In this paper, we study the dynamics of fluids in porous media governed by Darcy's law: the Muskat problem. We consider the setting of two immiscible fluids of different densities and viscosities under the influence of gravity in which one fluid is completely surrounded by the other. This setting is gravity unstable because along a portion of the interface, the denser fluid must be above the other. Surprisingly, even without capillarity, the circle-shaped bubble is a steady state solution moving with vertical constant velocity determined by the density jump between the fluids. Taking advantage…
Euler-Leray data functions of first and second order are defined by first and second order derivatives of the nonlinear spatial part of the incompressible Euler equation operator in Leray projection form applied to Cauchy data. The Lipschitz continuity of these functions for a certain class of strongly regular Cauchy data is sufficient for the existence of global regular upper bounds of incompressible Navier Stokes equation solutions. Global regular upper bounds of global solution branches of the incompressible Euler equation can be obtained for a class of strongly regular Cauchy data, if the …
In the category of metrics with conical singularities along a smooth divisor with angle in $(0, 2π)$, we show that locally defined weak solutions ($C^{1,1}-$solutions) to the Kähler-Einstein equations actually possess maximum regularity, which means the metrics are actually Hölder continuous in the singular polar coordinates. This shows the weak Kähler-Einstein metrics constructed by Guenancia-Paun \cite{GP}, and independently by Yao \cite{GT}, are all actually strong-conical Kähler-Einstein metrics. The key step is to establish a Liouville-type theorem for weak-conical Kähler-Ricci flat metri…
Local regularity of axially symmetric solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations is studied. It is shown that under certain natural assumptions there are no singularities of Type I.
We study the porous medium equation on manifolds with conical singularities. Given strictly positive initial values, we show that the solution exists in the maximal $L^{q}$-regularity space for all times and is instantaneously smooth in space and time, where the maximal $L^{q}$-regularity is obtained in the sense of Mellin-Sobolev spaces. Moreover, we obtain precise information concerning the asymptotic behavior of the solution close to the singularity. Finally, we show the existence of generalized solutions for non-negative initial data.
We prove a regularity result for the unstable elliptic free boundary problem $Δu = -χ_{\{u>0\}}$ related to traveling waves in a problem arising in solid combustion. The maximal solution and every local minimizer of the energy are regular, that is, $\{u=0\}$ is locally an analytic surface and $u|_{\bar{\{u>0\}}}, u|_{\bar{\{u<0\}}}$ are locally analytic functions. Moreover we prove a partial regularity result for solutions that are non-degenerate of second order: here $\{u=0\}$ is analytic up to a closed set of Hausdorff dimension $n-2$. We discuss possible singularities.
We prove that quasi-plurisubharmonic envelopes with prescribed analytic singularities in suitable big cohomology classes on compact Kähler manifolds have the optimal $C^{1,1}$ regularity on a Zariski open set. This also proves regularity of certain pluricomplex Green's functions on Kähler manifolds. We then go on to prove the same regularity for envelopes when the manifold is assumed to have boundary. As an application, we answer affirmatively a question of Ross--Witt-Nyström concerning the Hele-Shaw flow on an arbitrary Reimann surface.
In this work we study the wavefront set of a solution u to Pu = f, where P is a pseudodifferential operator on a manifold with real-valued homogeneous principal symbol p, when the Hamilton vector field corresponding to p is radial on a Lagrangian submanifold contained in the characteristic set of P. The standard propagation of singularities theorem of Duistermaat-Hormander gives no information at the Lagrangian submanifold. By adapting the standard positive-commutator estimate proof of this theorem, we are able to conclude additional regularity at a point q in this radial set, assuming some re…
In this article we develop a framework for studying parabolic semilinear stochastic evolution equations (SEEs) with singularities in the initial condition and singularities at the initial time of the time-dependent coefficients of the considered SEE. We use this framework to establish existence, uniqueness, and regularity results for mild solutions of parabolic semilinear SEEs with singularities at the initial time. We also provide several counterexample SEEs that illustrate the optimality of our results.
We study partial regularity of weak solutions of the 3D valued non-stationary Hall magnetohydrodynamics equations on $ \Bbb R^2$. In particular we prove the existence of a weak solution whose set of possible singularities has the space-time Hausdorff dimension at most two.
We give a constructive proof that coordinate transformations exist which raise the regularity of the gravitational metric tensor from $C^{0,1}$ to $C^{1,1}$ in a neighborhood of points of shock wave collision in General Relativity. The proof applies to collisions between shock waves coming from different characteristic families, in spherically symmetric spacetimes. Our result here implies that spacetime is locally inertial and corrects an error in our earlier RSPA-publication, which led us to the false conclusion that such coordinate transformations, which smooth the metric to $C^{1,1}$, canno…
In light of the question of finite-time blow-up vs. global well-posedness of solutions to problems involving nonlinear partial differential equations, we provide several cautionary examples which indicate that modifications to the boundary conditions or to the nonlinearity of the equations can effect whether the equations develop finite-time singularities. In particular, we aim to underscore the idea that in analytical and computational investigations of the blow-up of three-dimensional Euler and Navier-Stokes equations, the boundary conditions may need to be taken into greater account. We als…
In this paper we prove uniqueness of blow-ups and $C^{1,\log}$-regularity for the free-boundary of minimizers of the Alt-Caffarelli functional at points where one blow-up has an isolated singularity. We do this by establishing a (log-)epiperimetric inequality for the Weiss energy for traces close to that of a cone with isolated singularity, whose free-boundary is graphical and smooth over that of the cone in the sphere. With additional assumptions on the cone, we can prove a classical epiperimetric inequality which can be applied to deduce a $C^{1,α}$ regularity result. We also show that these…
In the unit ball B(0,1), let $u$ and $Ω$ (a domain in $\R$) solve the following overdetermined problem: $$Δu =χ_Ω\quad \hbox{in} B(0,1), \qquad 0 \in \partial Ω, \qquad u=|\nabla u |=0 \quad \hbox{in} B(0,1)\setminus Ω,$$ where $χ_Ω$ denotes the characteristic function, and the equation is satisfied in the sense of distributions. If the complement of $Ω$ does not develop cusp singularities at the origin then we prove $\partial Ω$ is analytic in some small neighborhood of the origin. The result can be modified to yield for more general divergence form operators. As an application of this, then,…
We prove that in dimension $n \ge 2$ the main singularities of a complex potential $q$ having a certain a priori regularity are contained in the Born approximation $q_θ$ constructed from fixed angle scattering data. Moreover, ${q-q_θ}$ can be up to one derivative more regular than $q$ in the Sobolev scale. In fact, this result is optimal, we construct a family of compactly supported and radial potentials for which it is not possible to have more than one derivative gain. Also, these functions show that for $n>3$, the maximum derivative gain can be very small for potentials in the Sobolev scale…
We construct a counterexample to $W^{2,1}$ regularity for convex solutions to $$\det D^2u \leq 1, \quad u|_{\partial Ω} = 0$$ in two dimensions. We also prove a result on the propagation of singularities in two dimensions that are logarithmically slower than Lipschitz. This generalizes a classical result of Alexandrov and is optimal by example.
In this paper, we obtain general conditions under which the wave equation is well-posed in spacetimes with metrics of Lipschitz regularity. In particular, the results can be applied to spacetimes where there is a loss of regularity on a hypersurface such as shell-crossing singularities, thin shells of matter and surface layers. This provides a framework for regarding gravitational singularities, not as obstructions to the world lines of point-particles, but rather as an obstruction to the dynamics of test fields.
This work deals with existence of solutions for the class of quasilinear elliptic problems with cylindrical singularities and multiple critical nonlinearities that can be written in the form \begin{align*} -\operatorname{div}\left[\frac{|\nabla u|^{p-2}}{|y|^{ap}}\nabla u\right] -μ\,\frac{u^{p-1}}{|y|^{p(a+1)}} = \frac{u^{p^*(a,b)-1}}{|y|^{bp^*(a,b)}} + \frac{u^{p^*(a,c)-1}}{|y|^{cp^*(a,c)}}, \qquad (x,y) \in \mathbb{R}^{N-k}\times\mathbb{R}^k. \end{align*} The existence of a positive, weak solution $u \in \mathcal{D}_a^{1,p}(\mathbb{R}^N\backslash\{|y|=0\})$ is proved with the help of the mou…
Whether or not classical solutions of the 2D incompressible MHD equations without full dissipation and magnetic diffusion can develop finite-time singularities is a difficult issue. A major result of this paper establishes the global regularity of classical solutions for the MHD equations with mixed partial dissipation and magnetic diffusion. In addition, the global existence, conditional regularity and uniqueness of a weak solution is obtained for the 2D MHD equations with only magnetic diffusion.
We show that the regularity of the gravitational metric tensor in spherically symmetric spacetimes cannot be lifted from $C^{0,1}$ to $C^{1,1}$ within the class of $C^{1,1}$ coordinate transformations in a neighborhood of a point of shock wave interaction in General Relativity, without forcing the determinant of the metric tensor to vanish at the point of interaction. This is in contrast to Israel's Theorem which states that such coordinate transformations always exist in a neighborhood of a point on a smooth single shock surface. The results thus imply that points of shock wave interaction re…
In this paper we characterize the regularity structure, as well as show the global-in-time existence and uniqueness, of (energy) conservative solutions to the Hunter-Saxton equation by using the method of characteristics. The major difference between the current work and previous results is that we are able to characterize the singularities of energy measure and their nature in a very precise manner. In particular, we show that singularities, whose temporal and spatial locations are also explicitly given in this work, may only appear at at most countably many times, and are completely determin…
For the wave equation associated to the Laplacian on a compact manifold with boundary with a conic metric (with respect to which the boundary is metrically a point) the propagation of singularities through the boundary is analyzed. Under appropriate regularity assumptions the diffracted, non-direct, wave produced by the boundary is shown to have Sobolev regularity greater than the incoming wave.
Low-regularity a priori estimates, blow-up criterion, and self-intersection singularities for free-boundary ideal magnetohydrodynamics with surface tension
City University of Hong Kong（香港城市大学）；Beijing University of Technology（北京工业大学）
This article addresses linear hyperbolic partial differential equations and pseudodifferential equations with strongly singular coefficients and data, modelled as members of algebras of generalised functions. We employ the recently developed theory of generalised Fourier integral operators to construct parametrices for the solutions and to describe propagation of singularities in this setting. As required tools, the construction of generalised solutions to eikonal and transport equations is given and results on the microlocal regularity of the kernels of generalised Fourier integral operators …
We develop the regularity theory of the spatially homogeneous Boltzmann equation with cut-off and hard potentials (for instance, hard spheres), by (i) revisiting the Lp-theory to obtain constructive bounds, (ii) establishing propagation of smoothness and singularities, (iii) obtaining estimates about the decay of the sin- gularities of the initial datum. Our proofs are based on a detailed study of the "regularity of the gain operator". An application to the long-time behavior is presented.
In this paper, we study time-harmonic electromagnetic scattering in two scenarios, where the anomalous scatterer is either a pair of electromagnetic sources or an inhomogeneous medium, both with compact supports. We are mainly concerned with the geometrical inverse scattering problem of recovering the support of the scatterer, independent of its physical contents, by a single far-field measurement. It is assumed that the support of the scatterer (locally) possesses a conical singularity. We establish a local characterisation of the scatterer when invisibility/transparency occurs, showing that …
We study the existence and regularity of solutions to the Cauchy problem for the inhomogeneous heat equation on compact Riemannian manifolds with conical singularities. We introduce weighted Hölder and Sobolev spaces with discrete asymptotics and we prove existence and maximal regularity of solutions to the Cauchy problem for the inhomogeneous heat equation, when the free term lies in a weighted parabolic Hölder or Sobolev space with discrete asymptotics. This generalizes a result previously obtained by Coriasco, Schrohe, and Seiler (Thm. 7.2 in Math. Z. 244 (2003), 235--269) by different mean…
We study the interaction between the stability, and the propagation of regularity, for solutions to the incompressible 3D Euler equation. It is still unknown whether a solution with smooth initial data can develop a singularity in finite time. This article explains why the prediction of such a blow-up, via direct numerical experiments, is so difficult. It is described how, in such a scenario, the solution becomes unstable as time approaches the blow-up time.
In this paper we give a new, less restrictive condition for removability of singular sets, $E$, of smooth solutions to the m-Hessian equation (and also for more general fully nonlinear elliptic equations) in $Ω\setminus E$, $Ω\subset \mathbb R^n$. Besides the existence and regularity results for these equations, the proof only makes use of the classical elliptic theory, i.e. the classical maximum principles and a Hopf lemma.
We obtain new semiclassical estimates for pseudodifferential operators with low regular symbols. Such symbols appear naturally in a Cauchy Problem related to recent weak solutions to the unstable Muskat problem constructed via convex integration in [CCF16]. In particular, our new estimates reveal the tight relation between the speed of opening of the mixing zone and the regularity of the interphase.
We show propagation of moments in velocity for the 3-dimensional Vlasov-Poisson system with a uniform magnetic field $B = (0, 0, ω)$ by adapting the work of Lions, Perthame. The added magnetic field also produces singularities at times which are the multiples of the cyclotron period $t = \dfrac{2πk}ω, k \in \mathbb{N}$ . This result also allows to show propagation of regularity for the solution. For uniqueness, we extend Loeper's result by showing that the set of solutions with bounded macroscopic density is a uniqueness class.
We prove a local-in-time regularity criterion for the 3D Navier-Stokes equations. In particular, it follows from the criterion that the Hausdorff dimension of possible singular times of Leray-Hopf weak solutions $u\in L^r_t B^α_{s,\infty}$ for some $α>0$, $ s > 3$ and $r> 2 $ is less than $\frac{r}{2}(\frac{3}{s} + \frac{2}{r} -α-1 )$. The main contribution is that we do not assume the suitability of weak solutions.
The paper is devoted to regularity theory of generalized solutions to semilinear wave equations with a small nonlinearity. The setting is the one of Colombeau algebras of generalized functions. It is shown that in one space dimension, an initial singularity at the origin propagates along the characteristic lines emanating from the origin, as in the linear case. The proof relies on a fixed point theorem in the ultra-metric topology on the algebras involved. The paper takes up the initiating research of the 1970s on anomalous singularities in classical solutions to semilinear hyperbolic equation…
We find a new scaling invariance of the barotropic compressible Navier-Stokes equations. Then it is shown that type I singularities of solutions with $$\limsup_{t \nearrow T}|{\rm div} u(t, x)|(T - t) \leq κ,$$ can never happen at time $T$ for all adiabatic number $γ\geq 1$. Here $κ> 0$ doesn't depend on the initial data. This is achieved by proving the regularity of solutions under $$ρ(t, x) \leq \frac{M}{(T - t)^κ},\quad M < \infty.$$ This new scaling invariance also motivates us to construct an explicit type II blowup solution for $γ> 1$.
