Approximation of Flat <Emphasis Type="Italic">W</Emphasis><Superscript>2,2</Superscript> Isometric Immersions by Smooth Ones

Let \({S\subset\mathbb{R}^2}\) be a bounded Lipschitz domain and denote by \({W^{2,2}_{\text{iso}}(S; \mathbb{R}^3)}\) the set of mappings \({u\in W^{2,2}(S;\mathbb{R}^3)}\) which satisfy \({(\nabla u)^T(\nabla u) = Id}\) almost everywhere. Under an additional regularity condition on the boundary \({\partial S}\) (which is satisfied if \({\partial S}\) is piecewise continuously differentiable), we prove that the strong W ^2,2 closure of \({W^{2,2}_{\text{iso}}(S; \mathbb{R}^3)\cap C^{\infty}(\overline{S};\mathbb{R}^3)}\) agrees with \({W^{2,2}_{\text{iso}}(S; \mathbb{R}^3)}\).     

Gradient Bounds for Elliptic Problems Singular at the Boundary

Let Ω be a bounded smooth domain in \({{R}^N, N \geqq 2}\), and let us denote by d(x) the distance function d(x, ?Ω). We study a class of singular Hamilton–Jacobi equations, arising from stochastic control problems, whose simplest model is

$ - \alpha \Delta u+ u + \frac{\nabla u \cdot B (x)}{d (x)}+ c(x) |\nabla u|^2=f (x) \quad {\rm in}\,\Omega, $

where f belongs to \({W^{1,\infty}_{\rm loc} (\Omega)}\) and is (possibly) singular at \({\partial \Omega, c\in W^{1,\infty} (\Omega)}\) (with no sign condition) and the field \({B\in W^{1,\infty} (\Omega)^N}\) has an outward direction and satisfies \({B\cdot \nu\geqq \alpha}\) at ?Ω (ν is the outward normal). Despite the singularity in the equation, we prove gradient bounds up to the boundary and the existence of a (globally) Lipschitz solution. We show that in some cases this is the unique bounded solution. We also discuss the stability of such estimates with respect to α, as α vanishes, obtaining Lipschitz solutions for first order problems with similar features. The main tool is a refined weighted version of the classical Bernstein method to get gradient bounds; the key role is played here by the orthogonal transport component of the Hamiltonian.

     

Steady Nearly Incompressible Vector Fields in Two-Dimension: Chain Rule and Renormalization

Given bounded vector field \({b : {\mathbb{R}^{d}} \to {\mathbb{R}^{d}}}\), scalar field \({u : {\mathbb{R}^{d}} \to {\mathbb{R}}}\), and a smooth function \({\beta : {\mathbb{R}} \to {\mathbb{R}}}\), we study the characterization of the distribution \({{\rm div}(\beta(u)b)}\) in terms of div b and div(ub). In the case of BV vector fields b (and under some further assumptions), such characterization was obtained by L. Ambrosio, C. De Lellis and J. Malý, up to an error term which is a measure concentrated on the so-called tangential set of b. We answer some questions posed in their paper concerning the properties of this term. In particular, we construct a nearly incompressible BV vector field b and a bounded function u for which this term is nonzero. For steady nearly incompressible vector fields b (and under some further assumptions), in the case when d = 2, we provide complete characterization of div(\({\beta(u)b}\)) in terms of div b and div(ub). Our approach relies on the structure of level sets of Lipschitz functions on \({{\mathbb{R}^{2}}}\) obtained by G. Alberti, S. Bianchini and G. Crippa. Extending our technique, we obtain new sufficient conditions when any bounded weak solution u of \({\partial_t u + b \cdot \nabla u=0}\) is renormalized, that is when it also solves \({\partial_t \beta(u) + b \cdot \nabla \beta(u)=0}\) for any smooth function \({\beta \colon{\mathbb{R}} \to {\mathbb{R}}}\). As a consequence, we obtain new a uniqueness result for this equation.     

Asymptotics of the Solutions of the Random Schrödinger Equation

We consider solutions of the Schrödinger equation with a weak time-dependent random potential. It is shown that when the two-point correlation function of the potential is rapidly decaying, then the Fourier transform \({\hat\zeta_\epsilon(t,\xi)}\) of the appropriately scaled solution converges point-wise in ξ to a stochastic complex Gaussian limit. On the other hand, when the two-point correlation function decays slowly, we show that the limit of \({\hat\zeta_\epsilon(t,\xi)}\) has the form \({\hat\zeta_0(\xi){\rm exp}(iB_\kappa(t,\xi))}\) where B _κ (t, ξ) is a fractional Brownian motion.     

Uniqueness of Positive Ground State Solutions of the Logarithmic Schrödinger Equation

We prove the uniqueness of positive ground state solutions of the problem \({ {\frac {d^{2}u}{dr^{2}}} + {\frac {n-1}{r}}{\frac {du}{dr}} + u \ln(|u|) = 0}\), \({u(r) > 0~\forall r \ge 0}\), and \({(u(r),u'(r)) \to (0, 0)}\) as \({r \to \infty}\). This equation is derived from the logarithmic Schrödinger equation \({{\rm i}\psi_{t} = {\Delta} \psi + u \ln \left(|u|^{2}\right)}\), and also from the classical equation \({{\frac {\partial u}{\partial t}} = {\Delta} u +u \left(|u|^{p-1}\right) -u}\). For each \({n \ge 1}\), a positive ground state solution is \({ u_{0}(r) = \exp \left(-{\frac{r^2}{4}} + {\frac{n}{2}}\right),~0 \le r < \infty}\). We combine \({u_{0}(r)}\) with energy estimates and associated Ricatti equation estimates to prove that, for each \({n \in \left[1, 9 \right]}\), \({u_{0}(r)}\) is the only positive ground state. We also investigate the stability of \({u_{0}(r)}\). Several open problems are stated.     

Exponential Decay of the Vorticity in the Steady-State Flow of a Viscous Liquid Past a Rotating Body

We construct a Sobolev homeomorphism in dimension \({n \geqq 4,\,f \in W^{1,1}((0, 1)^n,\mathbb{R}^n)}\) such that \({J_f = {\rm det} Df > 0}\) on a set of positive measure and J _f  < 0 on a set of positive measure. It follows that there are no diffeomorphisms (or piecewise affine homeomorphisms) f _k such that \({f_k\to f}\) in \({W^{1,1}_{\rm loc}}\).     

Influence of hydrodynamic slip on convective transport in flow past a circular cylinder

The presence of a finite tangential velocity on a hydrodynamically slipping surface is known to reduce vorticity production in bluff body flows substantially while at the same time enhancing its convection downstream and into the wake. Here, we investigate the effect of hydrodynamic slippage on the convective heat transfer (scalar transport) from a heated isothermal circular cylinder placed in a uniform cross-flow of an incompressible fluid through analytical and simulation techniques. At low Reynolds (\({\textit{Re}}\ll 1\)) and high Péclet (\({\textit{Pe}}\gg 1\)) numbers, our theoretical analysis based on Oseen and thermal boundary layer equations allows for an explicit determination of the dependence of the thermal transport on the non-dimensional slip length \(l_s\). In this case, the surface-averaged Nusselt number, Nu transitions gradually between the asymptotic limits of \(Nu \sim {\textit{Pe}}^{1/3}\) and \(Nu \sim {\textit{Pe}}^{1/2}\) for no-slip (\(l_s \rightarrow 0\)) and shear-free (\(l_s \rightarrow \infty \)) boundaries, respectively. Boundary layer analysis also shows that the scaling \(Nu \sim {\textit{Pe}}^{1/2}\) holds for a shear-free cylinder surface in the asymptotic limit of \({\textit{Re}}\gg 1\) so that the corresponding heat transfer rate becomes independent of the fluid viscosity. At finite \({\textit{Re}}\), results from our two-dimensional simulations confirm the scaling \(Nu \sim {\textit{Pe}}^{1/2}\) for a shear-free boundary over the range \(0.1 \le {\textit{Re}}\le 10^3\) and \(0.1\le {\textit{Pr}}\le 10\). A gradual transition from the lower asymptotic limit corresponding to a no-slip surface, to the upper limit for a shear-free boundary, with \(l_s\), is observed in both the maximum slip velocity and the Nu. The local time-averaged Nusselt number \(Nu_{\theta }\) for a shear-free surface exceeds the one for a no-slip surface all along the cylinder boundary except over the downstream portion where unsteady separation and flow reversal lead to an appreciable rise in the local heat transfer rates, especially at high \({\textit{Re}}\) and Pr. At a Reynolds number of \(10^3\), the formation of secondary recirculating eddy pairs results in appearance of additional local maxima in \(Nu_{\theta }\) at locations that are in close proximity to the mean secondary stagnation points. As a consequence, Nu exhibits a non-monotonic variation with \(l_s\) increasing initially from its lowermost value for a no-slip surface and then decreasing before rising gradually toward the upper asymptotic limit for a shear-free cylinder. A non-monotonic dependence of the spanwise-averaged Nu on \(l_s\) is observed in three dimensions as well with the three-dimensional wake instabilities that appear at sufficiently low \(l_s\), strongly influencing the convective thermal transport from the cylinder. The analogy between heat transfer and single-component mass transfer implies that our results can directly be applied to determine the dependency of convective mass transfer of a single solute on hydrodynamic slip length in similar configurations through straightforward replacement of Nu and \({\textit{Pr}}\) with Sherwood and Schmidt numbers, respectively.     

Local and Global Behaviour of Solutions to Nonlinear Equations with Natural Growth Terms

In this paper we study the Dirichlet problem

$\left\{\begin{array}{lll}-\Delta_p{u} = \sigma |u|^{p-2}u + \omega \quad {\rm in}\;\Omega,\\ u = 0 \qquad\quad\qquad\quad\;\qquad{\rm on}\;\partial\Omega,\end{array}\right.$

, where σ and ω are nonnegative Borel measures, and \({\Delta_p{u} = \nabla \cdot (\nabla{u} \, |\nabla{u}|^{p-2})}\) is the p-Laplacian. Here \({\Omega \subseteq \mathbf{R}^n}\) is either a bounded domain, or the entire space. Our main estimates concern optimal pointwise bounds of solutions in terms of two local Wolff’s potentials, under minimal regularity assumed on σ and ω. In addition, analogous results for equations modeled by the k-Hessian in place of the p-Laplacian will be discussed.

     

Focusing Quantum Many-body Dynamics: The Rigorous Derivation of the 1D Focusing Cubic Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation

We consider the dynamics of N bosons in 1D. We assume that the pair interaction is attractive and given by \({N^{\beta-1}V(N^{\beta}.) where }\) where \({\int V \leqslant 0}\). We develop new techniques in treating the N-body Hamiltonian so that we overcome the difficulties generated by the attractive interaction and establish new energy estimates. We also prove the optimal 1D collapsing estimate which reduces the regularity requirement in the uniqueness argument by half a derivative. We derive rigorously the 1D focusing cubic NLS with a quadratic trap as the \({N \rightarrow \infty}\) limit of the N-body dynamic and hence justify the mean-field limit and prove the propagation of chaos for the focusing quantum many-body system.     

The Viscosity Method for the Homogenization of Soft Inclusions

In this paper, we consider periodic soft inclusions T _ε with periodicity ε, where the solution, u _ε , satisfies semi-linear elliptic equations of non-divergence in \({\Omega_{\epsilon}=\Omega\setminus \overline{T}_\epsilon}\) with Neumann data on \({\partial T^{\mathfrak a}}\). The difficulty lies in the non-divergence structure of the operator where the standard energy method, which is based on the divergence theorem, cannot be applied. The main object is to develop a viscosity method to find the homogenized equation satisfied by the limit of u _ε , referred to as u, as ε approaches to zero. We introduce the concept of a compatibility condition between the equation and the Neumann condition on the boundary for the existence of uniformly bounded periodic first correctors. The concept of a second corrector is then developed to show that the limit, u, is the viscosity solution of a homogenized equation.     

Global Well-Posedness for Navier–Stokes Equations with Small Initial Value in $${B^{0}_{n,\infty}(\Omega)}$$

We prove global well-posedness for instationary Navier–Stokes equations with initial data in Besov space \({B^{0}_{n,\infty}(\Omega)}\) in whole and half space, and bounded domains of \({{\mathbb R}^{n}}\), \({n \geq 3}\). To this end, we prove maximal \({L^{\infty}_{\gamma}}\) -regularity of the sectorial operators in some Banach spaces and, in particular, maximal \({L^{\infty}_{\gamma}}\) -regularity of the Stokes operator in little Nikolskii spaces \({b^{s}_{q,\infty}(\Omega)}\), \({s \in (-1, 2)}\), which are of independent significance. Then, based on the maximal regularity results and \({b^{s_{1}}_{q_{1},\infty}-B^{s_{2}}_{q_{2,1}}}\) estimates of the Stokes semigroups, we prove global well-posedness for Navier–Stokes equations under smallness condition on \({\|u_{0}\|_{B^{0}_{n,\infty}(\Omega)}}\) via a fixed point argument using Banach fixed point theorem.     

Multiple Brake Orbits and Homoclinics in Riemannian Manifolds

Let (M, g) be a complete Riemannian manifold, \({\Omega\subset M}\) an open subset whose closure is homeomorphic to an annulus. We prove that if ?Ω is smooth and it satisfies a strong concavity assumption, then there are at least two distinct geodesics in \({\overline\Omega=\Omega\cup\partial\Omega}\) starting orthogonally to one connected component of ?Ω and arriving orthogonally onto the other one. Using the results given in Giambò et al. (Adv Differ Equ 10:931–960, 2005), we then obtain a proof of the existence of two distinct homoclinic orbits for an autonomous Lagrangian system emanating from a nondegenerate maximum point of the potential energy, and a proof of the existence of two distinct brake orbits for a class of Hamiltonian systems. Under a further symmetry assumption, the result is improved by showing the existence of at least dim(M) pairs of geometrically distinct geodesics as above, brake orbits and homoclinic orbits. In our proof we shall use recent deformation results proved in Giambò et al. (Nonlinear Anal Ser A: Theory Methods Appl 73:290–337, 2010).     

Topological Pressure of Generic Points for Amenable Group Actions

Let (X, G) be a G-action topological dynamical system (t.d.s. for short), where G is a countably infinite discrete amenable group. In this paper, we study the topological pressure of the sets of generic points. We show that when the system satisfies the almost specification property, for any G-invariant measure \(\mu \) and any continuous map \(\varphi \),

$$\begin{aligned} P\left( X_{\mu },\varphi ,\{F_n\}\right) = h_{\mu }(X)+\int \varphi d\mu , \end{aligned}$$

where \(\{F_n\}\) is a Følner sequence, \(X_{\mu }\) is the set of generic points of \(\mu \) with respect to (w.r.t. for short) \(\{F_n\}\), \(P(X_{\mu },\varphi ,\{F_n\})\) is the topological pressure of \(X_{\mu }\) for \(\varphi \) w.r.t. \(\{F_n\}\) and \(h_{\mu }(X)\) is the measure-theoretic entropy.

     

Impermeability Through a Perforated Domain for the Incompressible two dimensional Euler Equations

We study the asymptotic behavior of the motion of an ideal incompressible fluid in a perforated domain. The porous medium is composed of inclusions of size \({\varepsilon}\) separated by distances \({d_{\varepsilon}}\) and the fluid fills the exterior. If the inclusions are distributed on the unit square, the asymptotic behavior depends on the limit of \({\frac{d_{\varepsilon}}\varepsilon}\) when \({\varepsilon}\) goes to zero. If \({\frac{d_{\varepsilon}}\varepsilon \to \infty}\), then the limit motion is not perturbed by the porous medium, namely, we recover the Euler solution in the whole space. If, on the contrary, \({\frac{d_{\varepsilon}}\varepsilon \to 0}\), then the fluid cannot penetrate the porous region, namely, the limit velocity verifies the Euler equations in the exterior of an impermeable square. If the inclusions are distributed on the unit segment then the behavior depends on the geometry of the inclusion: it is determined by the limit of \({\frac{d_{\varepsilon}}{\varepsilon^{2+\frac1\gamma}}}\) where \({\gamma \in (0,\infty]}\) is related to the geometry of the lateral boundaries of the obstacles. If \({\frac{d_{\varepsilon}}{\varepsilon^{2+\frac1\gamma}} \to \infty}\), then the presence of holes is not felt at the limit, whereas an impermeable wall appears if this limit is zero. Therefore, for a distribution in one direction, the critical distance depends on the shape of the inclusions; in particular, it is equal to \({\varepsilon^{3}}\) for balls.     

Resolvent Estimates for High-Contrast Elliptic Problems with Periodic Coefficients

We study the asymptotic behaviour of the resolvents \({(\mathcal{A}^\varepsilon+I)^{-1}}\) of elliptic second-order differential operators \({{\mathcal{A}}^\varepsilon}\) in \({\mathbb{R}^d}\) with periodic rapidly oscillating coefficients, as the period \({\varepsilon}\) goes to zero. The class of operators covered by our analysis includes both the “classical” case of uniformly elliptic families (where the ellipticity constant does not depend on \({\varepsilon}\)) and the “double-porosity” case of coefficients that take contrasting values of order one and of order \({\varepsilon^2}\) in different parts of the period cell. We provide a construction for the leading order term of the “operator asymptotics” of \({(\mathcal{A}^\varepsilon+I)^{-1}}\) in the sense of operator-norm convergence and prove order \({O(\varepsilon)}\) remainder estimates.     

On the Global Regularity of the Two-Dimensional Density Patch for Inhomogeneous Incompressible Viscous Flow

Regarding P.-L. Lions’ open question in Oxford Lecture Series in Mathematics and its Applications, Vol. 3 (1996) concerning the propagation of regularity for the density patch, we establish the global existence of solutions to the two-dimensional inhomogeneous incompressible Navier–Stokes system with initial density given by \({(1 - \eta){\bf 1}_{{\Omega}_{0}} + {\bf 1}_{{\Omega}_{0}^{c}}}\) for some small enough constant \({\eta}\) and some \({W^{k+2,p}}\) domain \({\Omega_{0}}\), with initial vorticity belonging to \({L^{1} \cap L^{p}}\) and with appropriate tangential regularities. Furthermore, we prove that the regularity of the domain \({\Omega_0}\) is preserved by time evolution.     

Long-time Dynamics of Resonant Weakly Nonlinear CGL Equations

Consider a weakly nonlinear CGL equation on the torus \(\mathbb {T}^d\):

$$\begin{aligned} u_t+i\Delta u=\epsilon [\mu (-1)^{m-1}\Delta ^{m} u+b|u|^{2p}u+ ic|u|^{2q}u]. \end{aligned}$$

(*)

Here \(u=u(t,x)\), \(x\in \mathbb {T}^d\), \(0<\epsilon <<1\), \(\mu \geqslant 0\), \(b,c\in \mathbb {R}\) and \(m,p,q\in \mathbb {N}\). Define \(I(u)=(I_{\mathbf {k}},\mathbf {k}\in \mathbb {Z}^d)\), where \(I_{\mathbf {k}}=v_{\mathbf {k}}\bar{v}_{\mathbf {k}}/2\) and \(v_{\mathbf {k}}\), \(\mathbf {k}\in \mathbb {Z}^d\), are the Fourier coefficients of the function \(u\) we give. Assume that the equation \((*)\) is well posed on time intervals of order \(\epsilon ^{-1}\) and its solutions have there a-priori bounds, independent of the small parameter. Let \(u(t,x)\) solve the equation \((*)\). If \(\epsilon \) is small enough, then for \(t\lesssim {\epsilon ^{-1}}\), the quantity \(I(u(t,x))\) can be well described by solutions of an effective equation:

$$\begin{aligned} u_t=\epsilon [\mu (-1)^{m-1}\Delta ^m u+ F(u)], \end{aligned}$$

where the term \(F(u)\) can be constructed through a kind of resonant averaging of the nonlinearity \(b|u|^{2p}+ ic|u|^{2q}u\).