On the trend to global equilibrium in spatially inhomogeneous entropy‐dissipating systems: The linear Fokker‐Planck equation

We study the long‐time behavior of kinetic equations in which transport and spatial confinement (in an exterior potential or in a box) are associated with a (degenerate) collision operator acting only in the velocity variable. We expose a general method, based on logarithmic Sobolev inequalities and the entropy, to overcome the well‐known problem, due to the degeneracy in the position variable, of the existence of infinitely many local equilibria. This method requires that the solution be somewhat smooth. In this paper, we apply it to the linear Fokker‐Planck equation and prove decay to equilibrium faster than O(t^−1/ϵ) for all ϵ > 0. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Second-order in time schemes for gradient flows in Wasserstein and geodesic metric spaces

The time discretization of gradient flows in metric spaces uses variants of the celebrated implicit Euler-type scheme of Jordan, Kinderlehrer, and Otto [9]. We propose in this Note a different approach, which allows us to construct two second-order in time numerical schemes. In a metric space framework, we show that the schemes are well defined and prove the convergence for one of them under some regularity assumptions. For the particular case of a Fokker–Planck gradient flow in the Wasserstein space, we obtain (theoretically and numerically) the second-order convergence.     

Homogenized Diffusion Limit of a Vlasov–Poisson–Fokker–Planck Model

The approximation by diffusion and homogenization of the initial-boundary value problem of the Vlasov–Poisson–Fokker–Planck model is studied for a given velocity field with spatial macroscopic and microscopic variations. The L¹-contraction property of the Fokker–Planck operator and a two-scale Hybrid-Hilbert expansion are used to prove the convergence towards a homogenized Drift–Diffusion equation and to exhibit a rate of convergence.     

On a Drift–Diffusion System for Semiconductor Devices

In this note, we study a fractional Poisson–Nernst–Planck equation modeling a semiconductor device. We prove several decay estimates for the Lebesgue and Sobolev norms in one, two and three dimensions. We also provide the first term of the asymptotic expansion as \({t\rightarrow\infty}\).     

Linearized quantum and relativistic Fokker–Planck–Landau equations

After a recent work on spectral properties and dispersion relations of the linearized classical Fokker–Planck–Landau operator [8], we establish in this paper analogous results for two more realistic collision operators: The first one is the Fokker–Planck–Landau collision operator obtained by relativistic calculations of binary interactions, and the second is a collision operator (of Fokker–Planck–Landau type) derived from the Boltzmann operator in which quantum effects have been taken into account. We apply Sobolev–Poincaré inequalities to establish the spectral gap of the linearized operators. Furthermore, the present study permits the precise knowledge of the behaviour of these linear Fokker–Planck–Landau operators including the transport part. Relations between the eigenvalues of these operators and the Fourier‐space variable in a neighbourhood of 0 are then investigated. This study is a first natural step when one looks for solutions near equilibrium and their hydrodynamic limit for the full non‐linear problem in all space in the spirit of several works [3, 6, 20, 2] on the non‐linear Boltzmann equation. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Uniqueness for Solutions of Fokker–Planck Equations on Infinite Dimensional Spaces

We develop a general technique to prove uniqueness of solutions for Fokker–Planck equations on infinite dimensional spaces. We illustrate this method by implementing it for Fokker–Planck equations in Hilbert spaces with Kolmogorov operators with irregular coefficients and both non-degenerate or degenerate second order part.     

Wright–Fisher–type equations for opinion formation,large time behavior and weighted logarithmic-Sobolev inequalities

We study the rate of convergence to equilibrium of the solution of a Fokker–Planck type equation introduced in [19] to describe opinion formation in a multi-agent system. The main feature of this Fokker–Planck equation is the presence of a variable diffusion coefficient and boundaries, which introduce new challenging mathematical problems in the study of its long-time behavior.     

Instability in a Vlasov–Fokker–Planck binary mixture

This paper is concerned with a kinetic model of a Vlasov–Fokker–Planck system used to describe the evolution of two species of particles interacting through a potential and a thermal reservoir at given temperature. We prove that at low temperature, the homogeneous equilibrium is dynamically unstable under certain perturbations. Our work is motivated by a problem arising in [4].     

Sobolev type embeddings in the limiting case

We use interpolation methods to prove a new version of the limiting case of the Sobolev embedding theorem, which includes the result of Hansson and Brezis-Wainger for W _n ^k/k as a special case. We deal with generalized Sobolev spaces W _A ^k , where instead of requiring the functions and their derivatives to be in L_n/k, they are required to be in a rearrangement invariant space A which belongs to a certain class of spaces “close” to L_n/k. We also show that the embeddings given by our theorem are optimal, i.e., the target spaces into which the above Sobolev spaces are shown to embed cannot be replaced by smaller rearrangement invariant spaces. This slightly sharpens and generalizes an, earlier optimality result obtained by Hansson with respect to the Riesz potential operator. In memory of Gene Fabes. Acknowledgements and Notes This research was supported by Technion V.P.R. Fund-M. and C. Papo Research Fund.     

Weighted estimates for the <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-plane transform of radial functions on euclidean spaces

We discuss the L ^p − L ^q mapping property of k-plane transforms acting on radial functions in certain weighted L ^p spaces with power weight. We show that for all admissible power weights it is not always possible to get strong (p, q) boundedness of the k-plane transform. However, we prove the best possible estimates with respect to the Lorentz norms.     

Besov–Lipschitz and Mean Besov–Lipschitz Spaces of Holomorphic Functions on the Unit Ball

We give several characterizations of holomorphic mean Besov–Lipschitz spaces on the unit ball in ${\mathbb C^N} $ and appropriate Besov–Lipschitz spaces and prove the equivalences between them. Equivalent norms on the mean Besov–Lipschitz spaces involve different types of L ^p -moduli of continuity, while in characterizations of Hardy–Sobolev spaces we use not only the radial derivative but also the gradient. The characterization in terms of the best approximation by polynomials is also given.     

Whitney’s jets for Sobolev functions

We present two fundamental facts from the jet theory for Sobolev spaces W ^{m, p} . One of these facts is that the formal differentiation of the k-jets theory is compatible with the pointwise definition of Sobolev (m − 1)-jet spaces on regular subsets of the Euclidean spaces ℝⁿ. The second result describes the Sobolev imbedding operator of Sobolev jet spaces increasing the order of integrability of Sobolev functions up to the critical Sobolev exponent. Published in Ukrains’kyi Matematychnyi Zhurnal, Vol. 59, No. 3, pp. 345–358, March, 2007.     

Approximation by polynomials and smooth functions in Sobolev spaces with respect to measures

The density of polynomials is straightforward to prove in Sobolev spaces W^k,p((a,b)), but there exist only partial results in weighted Sobolev spaces; here we improve some of these theorems. The situation is more complicated in infinite intervals, even for weighted L^p spaces; besides, in the present paper we have proved some other results for weighted Sobolev spaces in infinite intervals.     

[3, 3] Padé approximation method for solving space fractional Fokker–Planck equations

The fractional Fokker–Planck equation has been used in various areas of engineering and physics. In this paper, we proposed a novel numerical scheme for solving the space fractional Fokker–Planck equation with the help of the [3, 3] Padé approximation. It is proved that the numerical method is unconditionally stable in view of the matrix analysis method. Finally, a numerical example is proposed to prove the effectiveness of the numerical scheme.     

On the periodic KdV equation in weighted Sobolev spaces

We prove well-posedness results for the initial value problem of the periodic KdV equation as well as Kam type results in classes of high regularity solutions. More precisely, we consider the problem in weighted Sobolev spaces, which comprise classical Sobolev spaces, Gevrey spaces, and analytic spaces. We show that the initial value problem is well posed in all spaces with subexponential decay of Fourier coefficients, and ‘almost well posed’ in spaces with exponential decay of Fourier coefficients.     

On the rates of decay to equilibrium in degenerate and defective Fokker–Planck equations

We establish sharp long time asymptotic behaviour for a family of entropies to defective Fokker–Planck equations and show that, much like defective finite dimensional ODEs, their decay rate is an exponential multiplied by a polynomial in time. The novelty of our study lies in the amalgamation of spectral theory and a quantitative non-symmetric hypercontractivity result, as opposed to the usual approach of the entropy method.     

Some equivalent definitions of high order Sobolev spaces on stratified groups and generalizations to metric spaces

Recently, in the article [LW], the authors use the notion of polynomials in metric spaces of homogeneous type (in the sense of Coifman-Weiss) to prove a relationship between high order Poincaré inequalities and representation formulas involving fractional integrals of high order, assuming only that is a doubling measure and that geodesics exist. Motivated by this and by recent work in [H], [FHK], [KS] and [FLW] about first order Sobolev spaces in metric spaces, we define Sobolev spaces of high order in such metric spaces . We prove that several definitions are equivalent if functions of polynomial type exist. In the case of stratified groups, where polynomials do exist, we show that our spaces are equivalent to the Sobolev spaces defined by Folland and Stein in [FS]. Our results also give some alternate definitions of Sobolev spaces in the classical Euclidean case. Received: 10 February 1999 / Published online: 1 February 2002     

Exponential decay of non‐linear wave equation with a viscoelastic boundary condition

We study in this paper the global existence and exponential decay of solutions of the non‐linear unidimensional wave equation with a viscoelastic boundary condition. We prove that the dissipation induced by the memory effect is strong enough to secure global estimates, which allow us to show existence of global smooth solution for small initial data. We also prove that the solution decays exponentially provided the resolvent kernel of the relaxation function, k decays exponentially. When k decays polynomially, the solution decays polynomially and with the same rate. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Convergence to equilibrium for linear spatially homogeneous Boltzmann equation with hard and soft potentials: A semigroup approach in L1‐spaces

We investigate the large time behavior of solutions to the spatially homogeneous linear Boltzmann equation from a semigroup viewpoint. Our analysis is performed in some (weighted) L¹‐spaces. We deal with both the cases of hard and soft potentials (with angular cut‐off). For hard potentials, we provide a new proof of the fact that, in weighted L¹‐spaces with exponential or algebraic weights, the solutions converge exponentially fast towards equilibrium. Our approach uses weak‐compactness arguments combined with recent results of the second author on positive semigroups in L¹‐spaces. For soft potentials, in L¹‐spaces, we exploit the convergence to ergodic projection for perturbed substochastic semigroup to show that, for very general initial datum, solutions to the linear Boltzmann equation converges to equilibrium in large time. Moreover, for a large class of initial data, we also prove that the convergence rate is at least algebraic. Notice that, for soft potentials, no exponential rate of convergence is expected because of the absence of spectral gap.     

Solvability of some overdetermined elliptic system in a domain with corners π/n

In the paper we prove the existence and uniqueness of solutions of the overdetermined elliptic system where b, ω are given functions, in a domain Ω C R³ with corners π/n, n = 2, 3, … The proof is divided on two steps, we construct a solution for the Laplace equation in a dihedral angle π/n, using the method of reflection and we get an estimate in the norms of the Sobolev spaces in some neighbourhood of the edge. In the dihedral angle system (A) reduces to the Dirichlet and Neumann problems for the Laplace equation. In the next step we prove the existence of solutions in the Sobolev spaces W_p^l(Ω) using the existence of generalized solutions of (A).