We investigate the effect of linear diffusion and interactions with the domain boundary on swarm equilibria by analyzing critical points of the associated energy functional. Through this process we uncover two properties of energy minimization that depend explicitly on the spatial domain: (i) unboundedness from below of the energy due to an imbalance between diffusive and aggregative forces depends explicitly on a certain volume filling property of the domain, and (ii) metastable mass translation occurs in domains without sufficient symmetry. From the first property, we present a sharp condition for existence (resp. non-existence) of global minimizers in a large class of domains, analogous to results in free space, and from the second property, we identify that external forces are necessary to confine the swarm and grant existence of global minimizers in general domains. We also introduce a numerical method for computing critical points of the energy and give examples to motivate further research.
We consider the aggregation equation $ρ_{t}-\nabla\cdot(ρ\nabla K\astρ) =0$ in $\mathbb{R}^{n}$, where the interaction potential $K$ incorporates short-range Newtonian repulsion and long-range power-law attraction. We study the global well-posedness of solutions and investigate analytically and numerically the equilibrium solutions. We show that there exist unique equilibria supported on a ball of $\mathbb{R}^n$. By using the method of moving planes we prove that such equilibria are radially symmetric and monotone in the radial coordinate. We perform asymptotic studies for the limiting cases w…
For the interaction energy with repulsive-attractive potentials, we give generic conditions which guarantee the radial symmetry of the local minimizers in the infinite Wasserstein distance. As a consequence, we obtain the uniqueness of local minimizers in this topology for a class of interaction potentials. We introduce a novel notion of concavity of the interaction potential allowing us to show certain fractal-like behavior of the local minimizers. We provide a family of interaction potentials such that the support of the associated local minimizers has no isolated points and any superlevel s…
We consider an aggregation model for two interacting species. The coupling between the species is via their velocities, that incorporate self- and cross-interactions. Our main interest is categorizing the possible steady states of the considered model. Notably, we identify their regions of existence and stability in the parameter space. For assessing the stability we use a combination of variational tools (based on the gradient flow formulation of the model and the associated energy), and linear stability analysis (perturbing the boundaries of the species' supports). We rely on numerical inves…
In this paper, global-in-time existence and blow up results are shown for a reaction-diffusion equation appearing in the theory of aggregation phenomena (including chemotaxis). Properties of the corresponding steady-state problem are also presented. Moreover, the stability around constant equilibria and the non-existence of non-constant solutions are studied in certain cases.
We analyze under which conditions equilibration between two competing effects, repulsion modeled by nonlinear diffusion and attraction modeled by nonlocal interaction, occurs. 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 symmetrization 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…
We study the existence of doubly connected rotating patches for the inviscid surface quasi- geostrophic equation left open in \cite{HHH}. By using the approach proposed by \cite{CCGS} we also prove that close to the annulus the boundaries are actually analytic curves.
We report on recent progress in the study of evolution processes involving degenerate parabolic equations what may exhibit free boundaries. The equations we have selected follow to recent trends in diffusion theory: considering anomalous diffusion with long-range effects, which leads to fractional operators or other operators involving kernels with large tails; and the combination of diffusion and aggregation effects, leading to delicate long-term equilibria whose description is still incipient.
We study an intrinsic model for collective behaviour on the hyperbolic space $\bbh^\dm$. We investigate the equilibria of the aggregation equation (or equivalently, the critical points of the associated interaction energy) for interaction potentials that include Newtonian repulsion. By using the method of moving planes, we establish the radial symmetry and the monotonicity of equilibria supported on geodesic balls of $\bbh^\dm$. We find several explicit forms of equilibria and show that one such equilibrium is a global energy minimizer. We also consider more general potentials and utilize a te…
We study how a general steady configuration of finitely-many point vortices, with Newtonian interaction or generalized surface quasi-geostrophic interactions, can be desingularized into a steady configuration of vortex patches. The configurations can be uniformly rotating, uniformly translating, or completely stationary. Using a technique first introduced by Hmidi and Mateu \cite{Hmidi-Mateu} for vortex pairs, we reformulate the problem for the patch boundaries so that it no longer appears singular in the point-vortex limit. Provided the point vortex equilibrium is non-degenerate in a natural …
We consider a continuum aggregation model with nonlinear local repulsion given by a degenerate power-law diffusion with general exponent. The steady states and their properties in one dimension are studied both analytically and numerically, suggesting that the quadratic diffusion is a critical case. The focus is on finite-size, monotone and compactly supported equilibria. We also investigate numerically the long time asymptotics of the model by simulations of the evolution equation. Issues such as metastability and local/ global stability are studied in connection to the gradient flow formulat…
In this paper, we study the equilibria of an anisotropic, nonlocal aggregation equation with nonlinear diffusion which does not possess a gradient flow structure. Here, the anisotropy is induced by an underlying tensor field. Anisotropic forces cannot be associated with a potential in general and stationary solutions of anisotropic aggregation equations generally cannot be regarded as minimizers of an energy functional. We derive equilibrium conditions for stationary line patterns in the setting of spatially homogeneous tensor fields. The stationary solutions can be regarded as the minimizers …
We consider an aggregation model with nonlinear diffusion in domains with boundaries and investigate the zero diffusion limit of its solutions. We establish the convergence of weak solutions for fixed times, as well as the convergence of energy minimizers in this limit. Numerical simulations that support the analytical results are presented. A second key scope of the numerical studies is to demonstrate that adding small nonlinear diffusion rectifies a flaw of the plain aggregation model in domains with boundaries, which is to evolve into unstable equilibria (non-minimizers of the energy).
We consider an aggregation model that consists of an active transport equation for the macroscopic population density, where the velocity has a nonlocal functional dependence on the density, modelled via an interaction potential. We set up the model on general Riemannian manifolds and provide a framework for constructing interaction potentials which lead to equilibria that are constant on their supports. We consider such potentials for two specific cases (the two-dimensional sphere and the two-dimensional hyperbolic space) and investigate analytically and numerically the long-time behaviour an…
We study critical surfaces for a surface energy which contains the squared $L^2$ norm of the difference of the mean curvature $H$ and the spontaneous curvature $c_o$, coupled to the elastic energy of the boundary curve. We investigate the existence of equilibria with $H\equiv -c_o$. When $c_o \ge 0$ we characterize those cases where the infimum of this energy is finite for topological annuli and we find the minimizer in the cases that it exists. Results for topological discs are also given.
In this paper we provide sharp criteria for linear stability or instability of equilibria of collisionless plasmas in the presence of boundaries. Specifically, we consider the relativistic Vlasov-Maxwell system with specular reflection at the boundary for the particles and with the perfectly conducting boundary condition for the electromagnetic field. Here we initiate our investigation in the simple geometry of radial and longitudinal symmetry.
We propose fully discrete, implicit-in-time finite-volume schemes for a general family of non-linear and non-local Fokker-Planck equations with a gradient-flow structure, usually known as aggregation-diffusion equations, in any dimension. The schemes enjoy the positivity-preservation and energy-dissipation properties, essential for their practical use. The first-order scheme verifies these properties unconditionally for general non-linear diffusions and interaction potentials, while the second-order scheme does so provided a CFL condition holds. Sweeping dimensional splitting permits the effic…
