This is the second part of a two-paper series that establishes the uniqueness and regularity of a threshold energy wave map that does not scatter in both time directions.
Consider the two-sphere valued equivariant energy critical wave maps equation on 1+2 dimensional Minkowski space, with equivariance class k > 3. It is known that every topologically trivial wave map with energy less than twice that of the unique k-equivariant harmonic map Q scatters in both time directions. We study maps with precisely the threshold energy, i.e., twice the energy of Q.
In the first part of the series we gave a refined construction of a threshold wave map that asymptotically decouples into a superposition of two harmonic maps (bubbles), one of which is concentrating in scale. In this paper, we show that this solution is the unique (up to the natural invariances of the equation) two-bubble wave map. Combined with our earlier work we can now give an exact description of every threshold wave map.
We are concerned with the focusing $L^2$-critical nonlinear Schrödinger equations in $\mathbb{R}^d$ for $d=1,2$. The uniqueness is proved for a large energy class of multi-bubble blow-up solutions, which converge to a sum of $K$ pseudo-conformal blow-up solutions particularly with low rate $(T-t)^{0+}$, as $t\to T$, $1\leq K<\infty$. Moreover, we also prove the uniqueness in the energy class of multi-solitons which converge to a sum of $K$ solitary waves with convergence rate $(1/t)^{2+}$, as $t\to \infty$. The uniqueness class is further enlarged to contain the multi-solitons with even lower …
We derive a weak-strong uniqueness principle for BV solutions to multiphase mean curvature flow of triple line clusters in three dimensions. Our proof is based on the explicit construction of a gradient-flow calibration in the sense of the recent work of Fischer et al. [arXiv:2003.05478v2] for any such cluster. This extends the two-dimensional construction to the three-dimensional case of surfaces meeting along triple junctions.
We study the equation \begin{equation*}\label{P0} (-Δ)^s u = |x|^α u^{\frac{N+2s+2α}{N-2s}}\mbox{ in }\mathbb{R}^N,\tag{P} \end{equation*} where $(-Δ)^s$ is the fractional Laplacian operator with $0 < s < 1$, $α>-2s$ and $N>2s$. We prove the linear non-degeneracy of positive radially symmetric solutions of the equation (\ref{P0}) and, as a consequence, a uniqueness result of those solutions with Morse index equal to one. In particular, the ground state solution is unique. Our non-degeneracy result extends in the radial setting some known theorems done by Dávila, Del Pino and Sire (see \cite[Th…
We consider the energy-critical wave maps equation from 1+2 dimensional Minkowski space into the 2-sphere, in the equivariant case. We prove that if a wave map decomposes, along a sequence of times, into a superposition of at most two rescaled harmonic maps (bubbles) and radiation, then such a decomposition holds for continuous time. If the equivariance degree equals one or two, we deduce, as a consequence of sequential soliton resolution results of Côte, and Jia and Kenig, that any topologically trivial equivariant wave map with energy less than four times the energy of the bubble asymptotica…
We prove the uniqueness of solutions to Dirichlet problem for p-harmonic maps with images in a small geodesic ball of the target manifold. As a consequence, we show that such maps have Hoelder continuous derivatives. This gives an extension of a result by S. Hildebrandt et al concerning harmonic maps.
We prove a sharp criterion on the decay of the tension of almost harmonic maps from degenerating surfaces that ensures that such maps subconverge to a limiting object that is made up entirely of harmonic maps.
We consider the energy-critical wave maps equation $\mathbb R^{1+2} \to \mathbb S^2$ in the equivariant case, with equivariance degree $k \geq 2$. It is known that initial data of energy $ < 8kπ$ and topological degree zero leads to global solutions that scatter in both time directions. We consider the threshold case of energy $8kπ$. We prove that the solution is defined for all time and either scatters in both time directions, or converges to a superposition of two harmonic maps in one time direction and scatters in the other time direction. In the latter case, we describe the asymptotic beha…
This is the first part of a two-paper series that establishes the uniqueness and regularity of a threshold energy wave map that does not scatter in both time directions. Consider the two-sphere valued equivariant energy critical wave maps equation on 1+2 dimensional Minkowski space, with equivariance class k>3. It is known that every topologically trivial wave map with energy less than twice that of the unique k-equivariant harmonic map Q scatters in both time directions. We study maps with precisely the threshold energy, i.e., twice the energy of Q. In this paper, we give a refined constructi…
We prove the uniqueness of homogeneous blow-up limits of maps minimizing the modified Ericksen energy for nematic liquid crystals in a planar domain. The proof is based on the Weiss monotonicity formula, and a blow-up argument, originally due to Allard and Almgren \cite{AA} for minimal surfaces, and L. Simon \cite{SL} for energy-minimizing maps into analytic targets, which exploits the integrability of certain Jacobi fields.
We explore geometric aspects of bubble convergence for harmonic maps. More precisely, we show that the formation of bubbles is characterised by the local excess of curvature on the target manifold. We give a universal estimate for curvature concentration masses at each bubble point and show that there is no curvature loss in the necks. Our principal hypothesis is that the target manifold is Kaehler.
We consider the harmonic map heat flow for maps from the plane taking values in the sphere, under equivariant symmetry. It is known that solutions to the initial value problem can exhibit bubbling along a sequence of times -- the solution decouples into a superposition of harmonic maps concentrating at different scales and a body map that accounts for the rest of the energy. We prove that this bubble decomposition is unique and occurs continuously in time. The main new ingredient in the proof is the notion of a collision interval motivated by the authors' recent work on the soliton resolution …
In dimensions $d\geq 4$, we prove that the Schrödinger map initial-value problem admits global (in time) solutions for smooth data with small norm in the critical Sobolev space.
We prove that the solutions to the initial-value problem for 2-dimensional Schrödinger maps are unique in $C_tL_x^{\infty} \cap L_t^{\infty} (\dot{H}^1_x\cap \dot{H}^2_x)$. For the proof, we follow McGahagan's argument with improving its technical part, combining Yudovich's argument.
In this paper we study compactness and quantization properties of sequences of 1/2-harmonic maps $u_k\colon\R\to {\cal{S}}^{m-1}$ such that $|u_k|_{\dot H^{1/2}(\R,{\cal{S}}^{m-1})}\le C.$ More precisely we show that there exist a weak 1/2-harmonic map $u_\infty\colon\R\to {\cal{S}}^{m-1}$, a possible empty set ${a_1,...,a_\ell}$ in $\R$ such that up to subsequences $$(|(-Δ)^{1/4}u_k|^2 \rightharpoonup |(-Δ)^{1/4}u_{\infty}|^2)dx+\sum_{i=1}^{\ell}λ_i δ_{a_i}, in Radon measure,$$ as $k\to +\infty$, with $λ_i\ge 0.$ The convergence of $u_k$ to $u_\infty$ is strong in $\dot W^{1/2,p}_{loc}(\R\set…
We consider wave maps from $\mathbb R^{2+1}$ to a $C^\infty$-smooth Riemannian manifold, $\mathcal N$. Such maps can exhibit energy concentration, and at points of concentration, it is known that the map (suitably rescaled and translated) converges weakly to a harmonic map, known as a bubble. We give an example of a wave map which exhibits a type of non-uniqueness of bubbling. In particular, we exhibit a continuum of different bubbles at the origin, each of which arise as the weak limit along a different sequence of times approaching the blow-up time. This is the first known example of non-uni…
The purpose of this paper is to show that in a finite dimensional metric space with Alexandrov's curvature bounded below, Monge's transport problem for the quadratic cost admits a unique solution.
We study a class of weakly conformal $3$-harmonic maps, called associative Smith maps, from $3$-manifolds into $7$-manifolds that parametrize associative $3$-folds in Riemannian $7$-manifolds equipped with $\mathrm{G}_2$-structures. Associative Smith maps are solutions of a conformally invariant nonlinear first order PDE system, called the Smith equation, that may be viewed as a $\mathrm{G}_2$-analogue of the Cauchy-Riemann system for $J$-holomorphic curves. In this paper, we show that associative Smith maps enjoy many of the same analytic properties as $J$-holomorphic curves in symplectic geo…
We prove existence and uniqueness of minimizers for a family of energy functionals that arises in Elasticity and involves polyconvex integrands over a certain subset of displacement maps. This work extends previous results by Awi and Gangbo to a larger class of integrands. First, we study these variational problems over displacements for which the determinant is positive. Second, we consider a limit case in which the functionals are degenerate. In that case, the set of admissible displacements reduces to that of incompressible displacements which are measure preserving maps. Finally, we establ…
In this paper, we study the behavior of a sequence of harmonic maps from surfaces with uniformly bounded energy on the generalized neck domain. The generalized neck domain is a union of ghost bubbles and annular neck domains, which connects non-trivial bubbles. An upper bound of the energy density is proved and we use it to study the limit of the nullity and index of the sequence.
In this paper, we establish the uniqueness of heat flow of harmonic maps into (N, h) that have sufficiently small renormalized energies, provided that N is either a unit sphere $S^{k-1}$ or a compact Riemannian homogeneous manifold without boundary. For such a class of solutions, we also establish the convexity property of the Dirichlet energy for $t\ge t_0>0$ and the unique limit property at time infinity. As a corollary, the uniqueness is shown for heat flow of harmonic maps into any compact Riemannian manifold N without boundary whose gradients belong to $L^q_t L^l_x$ for $q>2$ and $l>n$ sa…
In this paper, we study the problem of uniqueness of tangent cone for minimizing extrinsic biharmonic maps. Following the celebrated result of Simon, we prove that if the target manifold is a compact analytic submanifold in R p and if there is one tangent map whose singularity set consists of the origin only, then this tangent map is unique.
We consider the Cauchy problem for wave maps u: \R times M \to N for Riemannian manifolds, (M, g) and (N, h). We prove global existence and uniqueness for initial data that is small in the critical Sobolev norm in the case (M, g) = (\R^4, g), where g is a small perturbation of the Euclidean metric. The proof follows the method introduced by Statah and Struwe for proving global existence and uniqueness of small data wave maps u : \R \times \R^d \to N in the critical norm, for d at least 4. In our argument we employ the Strichartz estimates for variable coefficient wave equations established by …
Nonexistence of blow-up solutions with smooth radiation for energy-critical equivariant wave maps
Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité（巴黎数学研究所，索邦大学，巴黎西岱大学）；School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学数学科学学院）
We study the new geometric flow that was introduced in [11] that evolves a pair of map and (domain) metric in such a way that it changes appropriate initial data into branched minimal immersions. In the present paper we focus on the existence theory as well as the issue of uniqueness of solutions. We establish that a (weak) solution exists for as long as the metrics remain in a bounded region of moduli space, i.e. as long as the flow does not collapse a closed geodesic in the domain manifold to a point. Furthermore, we prove that this solution is unique in the class of all weak solutions with …
We prove that tangent cones to 2-dimensional calibrated cycles are unique. Using this result we prove a rate of convergence for the mass of the blow-up of a calibrated integral 2-cycle towards the limiting density. With the same techniques, we can also prove such a rate for J-holomorphic maps between almost complex manifolds and deduce the uniqueness of their tangent maps.
Let $(X,d,m)$ be a proper, non-branching, metric measure space. We show existence and uniqueness of optimal transport maps for cost written as non-decreasing and strictly convex functions of the distance, provided $(X,d,m)$ satisfies a new weak property concerning the behavior of $m$ under the shrinking of sets to points, see Assumption 1. This in particular covers spaces satisfying the measure contraction property. We also prove a stability property for Assumption 1: If $(X,d,m)$ satisfies Assumption 1 and $\tilde m = g\cdot m$, for some continuous function $g >0$, then also $(X,d,\tilde m)$ …
We study harmonic maps from degenerating Riemann surfaces with uniformly bounded energy and show the so-called generalized energy identity. We find conditions that are both necessary and sufficient for the compactness in $W^{1,2}$ and $C^{0}$ modulo bubbles of sequences of such maps.
In this article, we prove energy quantization for approximate (intrinsic and extrinsic) biharmonic maps into spheres where the approximate map is in $L \log L$. Moreover, we demonstrate that if the $L\log L$ norm of the approximate maps does not concentrate, the image of the bubbles are connected without necks.
We analyse the asymptotic behaviour of solutions of the Teichmüller harmonic map flow from cylinders, and more generally of `almost minimal cylinders', in situations where the maps satisfy a Plateau-boundary condition for which the three-point condition degenerates. We prove that such a degenerating boundary condition forces the domain to stretch out as a boundary bubble forms. Our main result then establishes that for prescribed boundary curves that satisfy Douglas' separation condition, these boundary bubbles will not only be harmonic but will themselves be branched minimal immersions. Toget…
We prove the energy identity for min-max sequences of the Sacks-Uhlenbeck and the biharmonic approximation of harmonic maps from surfaces into general target manifolds. The proof relies on Hopf-differential type estimates for the two approximations and on estimates for the concentration radius of bubbles.
We study Dirac-harmonic maps from degenerating spin surfaces with uniformly bounded energy and show the so-called generalized energy identity in the case that the domain converges to a spin surface with only Neveu-Schwarz type nodes. We find condition that is both necessary and sufficient for the $W^{1,2} \times L^{4}$ modulo bubbles compactness of a sequence of such maps.
In the present work, we consider the evolution of two fluids separated by a sharp interface in the presence of surface tension - like, for example, the evolution of oil bubbles in water. Our main result is a weak-strong uniqueness principle for the corresponding free boundary problem for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equation: As long as a strong solution exists, any varifold solution must coincide with it. In particular, in the absence of physical singularities the concept of varifold solutions - whose global in time existence has been shown by Abels [2] for general initial data - does not…
In this note, we show that the solution to the Dirichlet problem for the minimal surface system in any codimension is unique in the space of distance-decreasing maps. This follows as a corollary of the following stability theorem: if a minimal submanifold $Σ$ is the graph of a (strictly) distance-decreasing map, then $Σ$ is (strictly) stable. It is known that a minimal graph of codimension one is stable without assuming the distance-decreasing condition. We give another criterion for the stability in terms of the two-Jacobians of the map which in particular covers the codimension one case. All…
We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of minimisers of the Ginzburg-Landau functional for $\mathbb{R}^n$-valued maps under a suitable convexity assumption on the potential and for $H^{1/2} \cap L^\infty$ boundary data that is non-negative in a fixed direction $e\in \mathbb{S}^{n-1}$. Furthermore, we show that, when minimisers are not unique, the set of minimisers is generated from any of its elements using appropriate orthogonal transformations of $\mathbb{R}^n$. We also prove corresponding results for harmonic maps
Every harmonic map is an intrinsic bi-harmonic map as an absolute minimizer of the intrinsic bi-energy functional, therefore intrinsic bi-harmonic map and its heat flow are more geometrically natural to study, but they are also considerably more difficult analytically than the extrinsic counterparts due to the lack of coercivity for the intrinsic bi-energy. In this paper, we show an energy convexity and thus uniqueness for weakly intrinsic bi-harmonic maps from the unit $4$-ball $B_1 \subset \mathbf{R}^4$ into the sphere $\mathbf{S}^n$. This is a higher-order analogue of the energy convexity a…
