We show that a viscosity solution of a uniformly elliptic, fully nonlinear equation which vanishes on an open set must be identically zero, provided that the equation is $C^{1,1}$. We do not assume that the nonlinearity is convex or concave, and thus \emph{a priori} $C^2$ estimates are unavailable. Nevertheless, we use the boundary Harnack inequality and a regularity result for solutions with small oscillations to prove that the solution must be smooth at an appropriate point on the boundary of the set on which it is assumed to vanish. This then permits us to conclude with an application of a classical unique continuation result for linear equations.
We investigate the quantitative unique continuation of solutions to higher order elliptic equations with singular coefficients. Quantitative unique continuation described by the vanishing order is a quantitative form of strong unique continuation property. We characterize the vanishing order of solutions for higher order elliptic equations in terms of the norms of coefficient functions in their respective Lebesgue spaces. New versions of quantitative Carleman estimates are established.
We establish the strong unique continuation property of fractional orders of linear elliptic equations with Lipschitz coefficients by establishing monotonicity of some Almgren-type frequency functional via an extension procedure.
We prove that solutions to elliptic equations in two variables in divergence form, possibly non-selfadjoint and with lower order terms, satisfy the strong unique continuation property.
We consider elliptic equations in planar domains with mixed boundary conditions of Dirichlet-Neumann type. Sharp asymptotic expansions of the solutions and unique continuation properties from the Dirichlet-Neumann junction are proved.
In this paper we develop a monotonicity formula for elliptic systems with Neumann boundary coupling, proving unique continuation and classification of blow-up profiles. As an application, we obtain strong unique continuation for some fourth order equations and higher order fractional problems.
We quantify the uniqueness of continuation from Cauchy or interior data. Our approach consists in extending the existing results in the linear case. As by product we obtain a new stability estimate in the linear case. We also show the so-called strong uniqueness of continuation and the uniqueness of continuation from a set of positive measure. These results are derived by using a linearization procedure.
In this paper, we give the strong unique continuation property for a general two dimensional anisotropic elliptic system with real coefficients in a Gevrey class under the assumption that the principal symbol of the system has simple characteristics. The strong unique continuation property is derived by obtaining some Carleman estimate. The derivation of the Carleman estimate is based on transforming the system to a larger second order elliptic system with diagonal principal part which has complex coefficients.
In this article we deal with different forms of the unique continuation property for second order elliptic equations with nonlinear potentials of sublinear growth. Under suitable regularity assumptions, we prove the weak and the strong unique continuation property. Moreover, we also discuss the unique continuation property from measurable sets, which shows that nodal domains to these equations must have vanishing Lebesgue measure. Our methods rely on suitable Carleman estimates, for which we include the sublinear potential into the main part of the operator.
Asymptotics of solutions to fractional elliptic equations with Hardy type potentials is studied in this paper. By using an Almgren type monotonicity formula, separation of variables, and blow-up arguments, we describe the exact behavior near the singularity of solutions to linear and semilinear fractional elliptic equations with a homogeneous singular potential related to the fractional Hardy inequality. As a consequence we obtain unique continuation properties for fractional elliptic equations.
In this paper we prove unique continuation principles for some systems of elliptic partial differential equations satisfying a suitable superlinearity condition. As an application, we obtain nonexistence of nontrivial (not necessarily positive) radial solutions for the Lane-Emden system posed in a ball, in the critical and supercritical regimes. Some of our results also apply to general fully nonlinear operators, such as Pucci's extremal operators, being new even for scalar equations.
We study local asymptotics of solutions to fractional elliptic equations at boundary points, under some outer homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition. Our analysis is based on a blow-up procedure which involves some Almgren type monotonicity formulae and provides a classification of all possible homogeneity degrees of limiting entire profiles. As a consequence, we establish a strong unique continuation principle from boundary points.
This paper discusses the unique continuation principal of the solutions of the following perturbed fourth order elliptic differential operator $\mathcal{L}_{A,q}u=0$, where \[ \mathcal{L}_{A,q}(x,D)\ =\ \sum_{j=1}^nD^4_{x_j} + \sum_{j=1}^n A_jD_{x_j} + q, \qquad (A, q) \in W^{1,\infty}(Ω,\mathbb{C}^n) \times L^{\infty}(Ω,\mathbb{C}) \] whose principal term is not given by some integer power of the Laplacian operator. We derive some suitable Carleman estimates which is the main tool to prove the unique continuation principle. As a by-product, we also deduce some stability estimate and prove the…
We prove a quantitative, large-scale doubling inequality and large-scale three-ellipsoid inequality for solutions of uniformly elliptic equations with periodic coefficients. These estimates are optimal in terms of the minimal length scale on which they are valid, and are at least "almost" optimal in the prefactor constants--up to, at most, an iterated logarithm of the initial doubling ratio.
In these lectures we present some useful techniques to study quantitative properties of solutions of elliptic PDEs. Our aim is to outline a proof of a recent result on propagation of smallness. The ideas are also useful in the study of the zero sets of eigenfunctions of Laplace-Beltrami operator and we discuss the connection. Some basic facts about second order elliptic PDEs in divergent form are collected in the Appendix at the end of the notes.
We prove that a solution of an elliptic operator with periodic coefficients behaves on large scales like an analytic function, in the sense of approximation by polynomials with periodic corrections. Equivalently, the constants in the large-scale $C^{k,1}$ estimate scale exponentially in $k$, just as for the classical estimate for harmonic functions. As a consequence, we characterize entire solutions of periodic, uniformly elliptic equations which exhibit growth like $O(\exp(δ|x|))$ for small~$δ>0$. The large-scale analyticity also implies quantitative unique continuation results, namely a thre…
We give stability estimates in the Cauchy problem for general partial differential equation of the elliptic type similar to the Helmholtz equation. We do not impose any (pseudo)convexity assumptions on the domain or the operator. These conditional stability estimates are getting close to Lipschitz ones when the wave number/frequency is growing. We split solution into low and high frequency parts and impose constraints on the high frequency part only. We give logarithmic bounds on this high frequency part. Proofs use energy estimates and the FBI transform.
In this paper, we obtain new Carleman estimates for a class of variable coefficient degenerate elliptic operators whose constant coefficient model at one point is the so called Baouendi-Grushin operator. This generalizes the results obtained by the two of us with Garofalo in [9] where similar estimates were established for the "constant coefficient" Baouendi-Grushin operator. Consequently, we obtain: (i) a Bourgain-Kenig type quantitative uniqueness result in the variable coefficient setting; (ii) and a strong unique continuation property for a class of degenerate sublinear equations. We also …
Quantitative unique continuation principles for multiscale structures are an important ingredient in a number applications, e.g. random Schrödinger operators and control theory. We review recent results and announce new ones regarding quantitative unique continuation principles for partial differential equations with an underlying multiscale structure. They concern Schrödinger and second order elliptic operators. An important feature is that the estimates are scale free and with quantitative dependence on parameters. These unique continuation principles apply to functions satisfying certain `r…
We obtain unique continuation results for Schrodinger equations with time dependent gradient vector potentials. This result with an appropriate modification also yields unique continuation properties for solutions of certain nonlinear Schrodinger equations.
In this paper we prove strong unique continuation for the following degenerate elliptic equation \begin{equation}\label{e0} Δ_zu +|z|^2\partial_t^2u = Vu,\quad (z,t) \in \mathbb{R}^N \times \mathbb{R} \end{equation} where the potential $V$ satisfies either of the following growth assumptions \begin{align} & |V(z,t)| \leq \frac{f(ρ(z,t))}{ρ(z,t)^2},\ \text{where $f$ satisfies the Dini integrability condition as in (1.3)} \\ & \text{or when } \notag \\ & |V(z,t)| \leq C\frac{ψ(z,t)^ε}{ρ(z,t)^2},\ \text{for some $ε>0$ with $ψ$ as in (2.6) and $N$ even.} \notag \end{align} This extends some of the…
In this paper we describe some recent works on quantitative unique continuation for elliptic, parabolic and dispersive equations. The elliptic results are joint work with J.Bourgain, while the remainder of the works discussed are joint works with L.Escauriaza, G.Ponce and L.Vega.
We establish a strong unique continuation property for stochastic parabolic equations. Our method is based on a suitable stochastic version of Carleman estimate. As far as we know, this is the first result for strong unique continuation property of stochastic partial differential equations.
In this paper, Hardy's uncertainty principle and unique continuation properties of abstract Schrödinger equations in vector-valued classes are obtained
In this paper, we derive a local unique continuation property for stochastic hyperbolic equations without boundary conditions. This result is proved by a global Carleman estimate.
In this paper we establish some new $L^{2}-L^{2}$ Carleman estimates for the Baouendi-Grushin operators $\mathscr{B}_γ$, in (1.1) below. We apply such estimates to obtain: (i) an extension of the Bourgain-Kenig quantitative unique continuation; (ii) the strong unique continuation property for some degenerate sublinear equations.
This paper deals with the unique continuation of solutions for a one-dimensional anomalous diffusion equation with Caputo derivative of order $α\in(0,1)$. Firstly, the uniqueness of solutions to a lateral Cauchy problem for the anomalous diffusion equation is given via the Theta function method, from which we further verify the unique continuation principle.
We obtain a unique continuation result for fractional Schrödinger operators with potential in Morrey spaces. This is based on Carleman inequalities for fractional Laplacians.
This work is devoted to the strong unique continuation problem for second order parabolic equations with nonsmooth coefficients. Introduction and bibliography have been revised.
Based on a variant of frequency function, we improve the vanishing order of solutions for Schrödinger equations which describes quantitative behavior of strong uniqueness continuation property. For the first time, we investigate the quantitative uniqueness of higher order elliptic equations and show the vanishing order of solutions. Furthermore, strong unique continuation is established for higher order elliptic equations using this variant of frequency function.
We consider a time-dependent structured population model equation and establish a Carleman estimate. We apply the Carleman estimate to prove the unique continuation which means that Cauchy data on any lateral boundary determine the solution uniquely.
This paper concerns about the weak unique continuation property of solutions of a general system of differential equation/inequality with a second order strongly elliptic system as its leading part. We put not only some natural assumption which called {\sl basic assumptions}, but also some technical assumptions which we called {\sl further assumptions}. It is shown as usual by first applying the Holmgren transform to this inequality and then establishing a Carleman estimate for the leading part of the transformed inequality. The Carleman estimate given via a partition of unity and Carleman est…
Asymptotics of solutions to relativistic fractional elliptic equations with Hardy type potentials is established in this paper. As a consequence, unique continuation properties are obtained.
We consider the weighted eigenvalue problem for a general non-local pseudo-differential operator, depending on a bounded weight function. For such problem, we prove that strict (decreasing) monotonicity of the eigenvalues with respect to the weight function is equivalent to the unique continuation property of eigenfunctions. In addition, we discuss some unique continuation results for the special case of the fractional Laplacian.
In this paper we study unique continuation theorems for magnetic Schrödinger equation via Carleman estimates. We use integration by parts techniques in order to show these estimates. We consider electric and magnetic potentials with strong singularities at the origin and some decay at infinity.
We prove the unique continuation property for the differential inequality $|(-Δ)^{α/2}u|\leq|V(x)u|$, where $0<α<n$ and $V\in L_{\textrm{loc}}^{n/α,\infty}(\mathbb{R}^n)$, $n\geq3$.
In this survey we discuss the frequency function method so as to study the problem of unique continuation for elliptic partial differential equations. The methods used in the note were mainly introduced by Garofalo and Lin.
In this paper, we prove the unique continuation property for the weak solution of the plate equation with non-smooth coefficients. Then, we apply this result to study the global attractor for the semilinear plate equation with a localized damping.
We obtain a global unique continuation result for the differential inequality $|(i\partial_t+Δ)u|\leq|V(x)u|$ in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$. This is the first result on global unique continuation for the Schrödinger equation with time-independent potentials $V(x)$ in $\mathbb{R}^{n}$. Our method is based on a new type of Carleman estimates for the operator $i\partial_t+Δ$ on $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$. As a corollary of the result, we also obtain a new unique continuation result for some parabolic equations.
We consider elliptic differential operators on either the entire Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^d$ or on subsets consisting of a cube $Λ_L$ of integer length $L$. For eigenfunctions of the operator, and more general solutions of elliptic differential quations, we derive several quantitative unique continuation results. The first result is of local nature and estimates the vanishing order of a solution. The second is a sampling result and compares the $L^2$-norm of a solution over a union of equidistributed $δ$-balls in space with the $L^2$-norm on the entire space. In the case where the space $\m…
In this paper, we establish space like strong unique continuation property (sucp) for uniformly parabolic sublinear equations under appropriate structural assumptions. Our main result Theorem 1.1 constitutes the parabolic counterpart of the strong unique continuation result recently established by Ruland in [Ru] for analogous elliptic sublinear equations. Similar to that in [Ru], this is accomplished via a new $L^{2}-L^{2}$ type Carleman estimate for a class of sublinear parabolic operators.
We prove the following unique continuation result: if a solution to the level set equation for mean curvature flow in a mean-convex domain agrees to infinite order at the point where it attains its maximum with the solution for a ball, then it agrees everywhere and the domain is a ball.
Assuming that the Lamé moduli $μ$, $λ$ are $C^{\tiny{1}}$ and $n\geq2$, we prove quantitative estimates of a weak sense of strong unique continuation for thesolutions of the n-dimensional Lamé system of the form of three spheres inequalities.
In this paper, we establish a Hölder-type quantitative estimate of unique continuation for solutions to the heat equation with Coulomb potentials in either a bounded convex domain or a $C^2$-smooth bounded domain. The approach is based on the frequency function method, as well as some parabolic-type Hardy inequalities.
We establish a unique continuation property for stochastic heat equations evolving in a bounded domain $G$. Our result shows that the value of the solution can be determined uniquely by means of its value on an arbitrary open subdomain of $G$ at any given positive time constant. Further, when $G$ is convex and bounded, we also give a quantitative version of the unique continuation property. As applications, we get an observability estimate for stochastic heat equations, an approximate result and a null controllability result for a backward stochastic heat equation.
This article deals with the weak and strong unique continuation principle for fractional Schrödinger equations with scaling-critical and rough potentials via Carleman estimates. Our methods allow to apply the results to variable coefficient versions of fractional Schrödinger equations.
In this note we obtain a unique continuation result for the differential inequality $|\bar{\partial}u|\leq|Vu|$, where $\bar{\partial}=(i\partial_y+\partial_x)/2$ denotes the Cauchy-Riemann operator and $V(x,y)$ is a function in $L^2(\mathbb{R}^2)$.
