The regularity for nonlinear parabolic systems of p-Laplacian type with critical growth

We study the Hölder regularity of weak solutions to the evolutionary p  -Laplacian system with critical growth on the gradient. We establish a natural criterion for proving that a small solution and its gradient are locally Hölder continuous almost everywhere. Actually our regularity result recovers the classical result in the case p=2$p=2$ [16] and can be applied to study the regularity of the heat flow for m-dimensional H-systems as well as the m-harmonic flow.     

Potential analysis for a class of diffusion equations: A Gaussian bounds approach

We axiomatically develop a potential analysis for a general class of hypoelliptic diffusion equations under the following basic assumptions: doubling condition and segment property for an underlying distance and Gaussian bounds of the fundamental solution. Our analysis is principally aimed to obtain regularity criteria and uniform boundary estimates for the Perron-Wiener solution to the Dirichlet problem. As an example of application, we also derive an exterior cone criterion of boundary regularity and scale-invariant Harnack inequality and Hölder estimate for an important class of operators in non-divergence form with Hölder continuous coefficients, modeled on Hörmander vector fields.     

Reverse Hölder inequalities for singular parabolic equations near the boundary

We show that weak solutions to a singular parabolic partial differential equation globally belong to a higher Sobolev space than assumed a priori. To this end, we prove that the gradients satisfy a reverse Hölder inequality near the boundary. The results extend to singular parabolic systems as well. Motivation for studying reverse Hölder inequalities comes partly from applications to regularity theory.     

A stochastic Lagrangian proof of global existence of the Navier–Stokes equations for flows with small Reynolds number

We consider the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with spatially periodic boundary conditions. If the Reynolds number is small enough we provide an elementary short proof of the existence of global in time Hölder continuous solutions. Our proof uses a stochastic representation formula to obtain a decay estimate for heat flows in Hölder spaces, and a stochastic Lagrangian formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations.     

Obstacle problem for nonlinear parabolic equations

We show the existence of a continuous solution to a nonlinear parabolic obstacle problem with a continuous time-dependent obstacle. The solution is constructed by an adaptation of the Schwarz alternating method. Moreover, if the obstacle is Hölder continuous, we prove that the solution inherits the same property.     

Degenerate two-phase incompressible flow III. Sharp error estimates

Summary. This is the third paper of a series in which we analyze mathematical properties and develop numerical methods for a degenerate elliptic-parabolic partial differential system which describes the flow of two incompressible, immiscible fluids in porous media. In this paper we consider a finite element approximation for this system. The elliptic equation for the pressure and velocity is approximated by a mixed finite element method, while the degenerate parabolic equation for the saturation is approximated by a Galerkin finite element method. A fully discrete approximation is analyzed. Sharp error estimates in energy norms are obtained for this approximation. The error analysis does not use any regularization of the saturation equation; the error estimates are derived directly from the degenerate equation. Also, the analysis does not impose any restriction on the nature of degeneracy. Finally, it respects the minimal regularity on the solution of the differential system. Received March 9, 1998 / Revised version received July 17, 2000 / Published online May 30, 2001     

Regularity of the sample paths of a class of second-order spde's

We study the sample path regularity of the solutions of a class of spde's which are second order in time and that includes the stochastic wave equation. Non-integer powers of the spatial Laplacian are allowed. The driving noise is white in time and spatially homogeneous. Continuing with the work initiated in Dalang and Mueller (Electron. J. Probab. 8 (2003) 1), we prove that the solutions belong to a fractional L²-Sobolev space. We also prove Hölder continuity in time and therefore, we obtain joint Hölder continuity in the time and space variables. Our conclusions rely on a precise analysis of the properties of the stochastic integral used in the rigourous formulation of the spde, as introduced by Dalang and Mueller. For spatial covariances given by Riesz kernels, we show that our results are optimal.     

Free boundary and mixed boundary value problems for quasilinear elliptic equations: tangential oblique derivative and degenerate Dirichlet boundary problems

We present Hölder estimates and Hölder gradient estimates for a class of free boundary problems with tangential oblique derivative boundary conditions provided the oblique vector β does not vanish at any point on the boundary. We also establish the existence result for a general class of quasilinear degenerate problems of this type including nonlinear wave systems and the unsteady transonic small disturbance equation.     

The 1-d stochastic wave equation driven by a fractional Brownian sheet

In this paper, we develop a Young integration theory in dimension 2 which will allow us to solve a non-linear one- dimensional wave equation driven by an arbitrary signal whose rectangular increments satisfy some Hölder regularity conditions, for some Hölder exponent greater than 1/2. This result will be applied to the fractional Brownian sheet.     

Hölder estimates of p-harmonic extension operators

It is now a well-known fact that for 1<p<∞ the p-harmonic functions on domains in metric measure spaces equipped with a doubling measure supporting a (1,p)-Poincaré inequality are locally Hölder continuous. In this note we provide a characterization of domains in such metric spaces for which p-harmonic extensions of Hölder continuous boundary data are globally Hölder continuous. We also provide a link between this regularity property of the domain and the uniform p-fatness of the complement of the domain.     

Regularity of weak solution to Maxwell's equations and applications to microwave heating

In this paper we first study the regularity of weak solution for time-harmonic Maxwell's equations in a bounded anisotropic medium Ω. It is shown that the weak solution to the linear degenerate system, , is Hölder continuous under the minimum regularity assumptions on the complex coefficients γ(x) and ξ(x). We then study a coupled system modeling a microwave heating process. The dynamic interaction between electric and temperature fields is governed by Maxwell's equations coupled with an equation of heat conduction. The electric permittivity, electric conductivity and magnetic permeability are assumed to be dependent of temperature. It is shown that under certain conditions the coupled system has a weak solution. Moreover, regularity of weak solution is studied. Finally, existence of a global classical solution is established for a special case where the electric wave is assumed to be propagating in one direction.     

Existence and uniqueness analysis of a detached shock problem for the potential flow

We study a problem for two-dimensional steady potential and isentropic Euler equations in a bounded domain, where an artificial detached shock interacts with a wedge. Using the stream function, we obtain a free boundary problem for the subsonic state and the detached artificial shock curve and we prove that such configuration admits a unique solution in certain weighted Hölder spaces. The proof is based on various Hölder and Schauder estimates for second-order elliptic equations and fixed point theorems. Moreover, we pose an energy principle and remark that the physical attached shock is the minimizer of the energy functional.     

Solution to the initial boundary-value problem for the regularized Buckley-Leverett system

We solve the initial boundary-value problem for the regularized Buckley-Leverett system, which describes the flow of two immiscible incompressible fluids through a porous medium. This is the case of the flow of water and oil in an oil reservoir. The system is formed by a hyperbolic equation and an elliptic equation coupled by a vector field which represents the total velocity of the mixture. The regularization is done by means of a filter acting on the velocity field. We consider the critical situation in which we inject pure water into the reservoir. At this critical value for the water saturation, the spatial components of the characteristics of the hyperbolic equation vanish and this motivates the use of a new technique to prove the achievement of the boundary condition for the hyperbolic equation. We treat the case of a horizontal plane reservoir. We also prove that the time averages of the saturation component of the solution converge to one, as the time interval increases indefinitely, for almost all points of the reservoir, with a rate of convergence which depends only on the flux function.     

Global solutions and asymptotic behavior for a parabolic degenerate coupled system arising from biology

In this paper we will focus on a parabolic degenerate system with respect to unknown functions u and w on a bounded domain of the two dimensional Euclidean space. This system appears as a mathematical model for some biological processes. Global existence and uniqueness of a nonnegative classical Hölder continuous solution are proved. The last part of the paper is devoted to the study of the asymptotic behavior of the solutions.     

Regularity of minimizers of some integral functionals with degenerate integrands

In this paper we study qualitative properties of minimizers for a class of integral functionals, defined in a weighted space. In particular we obtain boundedness and Hölder regularity for the minimizers by using a modified Moser method with a special test function.     

Hölder continuity of solutions of supercritical dissipative hydrodynamic transport equations

We examine the regularity of weak solutions of quasi-geostrophic (QG) type equations with supercritical (α<1/2$\alpha <1/2$) dissipation α(−Δ)${(-\mathrm{\Delta })}^{\alpha }$. This study is motivated by a recent work of Caffarelli and Vasseur, in which they study the global regularity issue for the critical (α=1/2$\alpha =1/2$) QG equation [L. Caffarelli, A. Vasseur, Drift diffusion equations with fractional diffusion and the quasi-geostrophic equation, arXiv: math.AP/0608447, 2006]. Their approach successively increases the regularity levels of Leray–Hopf weak solutions: from L²$L^2$ to L^∞$L^{\infty }$, from L^∞$L^{\infty }$ to Hölder (Cδ$C^{\delta }$, δ>0$\delta >0$), and from Hölder to classical solutions. In the supercritical case, Leray–Hopf weak solutions can still be shown to be L^∞$L^{\infty }$, but it does not appear that their approach can be easily extended to establish the Hölder continuity of L^∞$L^{\infty }$ solutions. In order for their approach to work, we require the velocity to be in the Hölder space C1−2α$C^{1-2\alpha }$. Higher regularity starting from Cδ$C^{\delta }$ with δ>1−2α$\delta >1-2\alpha$ can be established through Besov space techniques and will be presented elsewhere [P. Constantin, J. Wu, Regularity of Hölder continuous solutions of the supercritical quasi-geostrophic equation, Ann. Inst. H. Poincaré Anal. Non Linéaire, in press].     

Optimal interior partial regularity for nonlinear elliptic systems with Dini continuous coefficient

In this article, we consider nonlinear elliptic systems of divergence type with Dini continuous coefficients. The authors use a new method introduced by Duzaar and Grotowski, to prove partial regularity for weak solutions, based on a generalization of the technique of harmonic approximation and directly establish the optimal Hölder exponent for the derivative of a weak solution on its regular set.     

Hölder regularity for weak solutions to divergence form degenerate quasilinear parabolic systems

In this paper, we establish Hölder regularity of weak solutions to the diagonal divergence form degenerate quasilinear parabolic system related to Hörmander type vector fields by deriving a parabolic Poincaré inequality and the higher integrability of gradients of weak solutions.     

Measure-theoretic pressure for subadditive potentials

By using the definition of topological pressure for subadditive potentials, we introduce a new definition of measure-theoretic pressure for ergodic measures of subadditive potentials on a compact metric space. Under some assumption, we show that this definition has a similar formalism to the definition of measure-theoretic pressure for ergodic measures of additive potentials on a compact metric space. As an application, assume that the subadditive potential is Hölder continuous, then for an expansive homeomorphism with the specification property, we study the relationship between the measure-theoretic pressure and the periodic points.