On Landis’ Conjecture in the Plane

In this paper we prove a quantitative form of Landis’ conjecture in the plane. Precisely, let W(z) be a measurable real vector-valued function and V(z) ≥0 be a real measurable scalar function, satisfying ‖W‖ _{L ^∞(R ²)} ≤ 1 and ‖V‖ _{L ^∞(R ²)} ≤ 1. Let u be a real solution of Δu ? ?(Wu) ? Vu = 0 in R ². Assume that u(0) = 1 and |u(z)| ≤exp (C ₀|z|). Then u satisfies inf _{|z 0| =R}  sup _{|z?z 0| <1}|u(z)| ≥exp (?CRlog R), where C depends on C ₀. In addition to the case of the whole plane, we also establish a quantitative form of Landis’ conjecture defined in an exterior domain.     

Distance Functions and Almost Global Solutions of Eikonal Equations

Consider a function u defined on  ⁿ , except, perhaps, on a closed set of potential singularities . Suppose that u solves the eikonal equation ‖Du‖ = 1 in the pointwise sense on  ⁿ \, where Du denotes the gradient of u and ‖·‖ is a norm on  ⁿ with the dual norm ‖·‖_?. For a class of norms which includes the standard p-norms on  ⁿ , 1 < p < ∞, we show that if  has Hausdorff 1-measure zero and n ≥ 2, then u is either affine or a “cone function,” that is, a function of the form u(x) = a ± ‖x ? z‖_?.     

Divergence of Infinite-Variance Nonradial Solutions to the 3D NLS Equation

We consider solutions u(t) to the 3d NLS equation i? _t u + Δu + |u|² u = 0 such that ‖xu(t)‖ _{L ²}  = ∞ and u(t) is nonradial. Denoting by M[u] and E[u], the mass and energy, respectively, of a solution u, and by Q(x) the ground state solution to ?Q + ΔQ + |Q|² Q = 0, we prove the following: if M[u]E[u] < M[Q]E[Q] and ‖u ₀‖ _{L ²} ‖?u ₀‖ _{L ²}  > ‖Q‖ _{L ²} ‖?Q‖ _{L ²} , then either u(t) blows-up in finite positive time or u(t) exists globally for all positive time and there exists a sequence of times t _n  → + ∞ such that ‖?u(t _n )‖ _{L ²}  → ∞. Similar statements hold for negative time.     

Minimizing the L ∞ Norm of the Gradient with an Energy Constraint

ABSTRACT

The variational problem in L ^∞ considered is to minimize F(u) = ‖Du‖ _{L ^∞(Ω)} subject to ∈ t _Ω |Du|² dx ≤ E for given E > 0. It is proven that a constrained minimizer exists and satisfies an Aronsson-Euler equation in the viscosity sense which depends on a parameter Λ_∞ ≥ 0. This parameter splits Ω into two parts. In one part the minimizer satisfies the infinity laplace equation and in the remaining part the minimizer is the solution of the elasto-plastic torsion problem with constraint ‖Du‖ _{L ^∞}  ≤ Λ_∞.     

Interior numerical approximation of boundary value problems with a distributional data

We study the approximation properties of a harmonic function u ∈ H^1?k(Ω), k > 0, on a relatively compact subset A of Ω, using the generalized finite element method (GFEM). If Ω = ??, for a smooth, bounded domain ??, we obtain that the GFEM‐approximation u_S ∈ S of u satisfies ‖u ? u_S‖ ≤ Ch^γ‖u‖, where h is the typical size of the “elements” defining the GFEM‐space S and γ ≥ 0 is such that the local approximation spaces contain all polynomials of degree k + γ. The main technical ingredient is an extension of the classical super‐approximation results of Nitsche and Schatz (Applicable Analysis 2 (1972), 161–168; Math Comput 28 (1974), 937–958). In addition to the usual “energy” Sobolev spaces H¹(??), we need also the duals of the Sobolev spaces H^m(??), m ∈ ?₊. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2006     

Longtime behavior for a nonlinear wave equation arising in elasto‐plastic flow

The paper studies the longtime behavior of solutions to the initial boundary value problem (IBVP) for a nonlinear wave equation arising in elasto‐plastic flow u_tt?div{|?u|^m?1?u}?λΔu_t+Δ²u+g(u)=f(x). It proves that under rather mild conditions, the dynamical system associated with above‐mentioned IBVP possesses a global attractor, which is connected and has finite Hausdorff and fractal dimension in the phase spaces X₁=H(Ω) × L²(Ω) and X=(H³(Ω)∩H(Ω)) × H(Ω), respectively. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the Structure of ∞-Harmonic Maps

Let H ∈ C ²(? ^N×n ), H ≥ 0. The PDE system arises as the Euler-Lagrange PDE of vectorial variational problems for the functional E _∞(u, Ω) = ‖H(Du)‖ _{L ^∞(Ω)} defined on maps u: Ω ? ? ⁿ  → ? ^N . (1) first appeared in the author's recent work. The scalar case though has a long history initiated by Aronsson. Herein we study the solutions of (1) with emphasis on the case of n = 2 ≤ N with H the Euclidean norm on ? ^N×n , which we call the “∞-Laplacian”. By establishing a rigidity theorem for rank-one maps of independent interest, we analyse a phenomenon of separation of the solutions to phases with qualitatively different behaviour. As a corollary, we extend to N ≥ 2 the Aronsson-Evans-Yu theorem regarding non existence of zeros of |Du| and prove a maximum principle. We further characterise all H for which (1) is elliptic and also study the initial value problem for the ODE system arising for n = 1 but with H(·, u, u′) depending on all the arguments.     

On the Robin Boundary Condition for Laplace's Equation in Lipschitz Domains

Abstract

Let Ω be a bounded Lipschitz domain in ? ⁿ , n ≥ 3 with connected boundary. We study the Robin boundary condition ?u/?N + bu = f ∈ L ^p (?Ω) on ?Ω for Laplace's equation Δu = 0 in Ω, where b is a non-negative function on ?Ω. For 1 < p < 2 + ?, under suitable compatibility conditions on b, we obtain existence and uniqueness results with non-tangential maximal function estimate ‖(?u)*‖ _p  ≤ C‖f‖ _p , as well as a pointwise estimate for the associated Robin function. Moreover, the solution u is represented by a single layer potential.     

Solutions of the Cheeger problem via torsion functions

The Cheeger problem for a bounded domain Ω⊂RN, N>1 consists in minimizing the quotients |∂E|/|E| among all smooth subdomains E⊂Ω and the Cheeger constant h(Ω) is the minimum of these quotients. Let be the p-torsion function, that is, the solution of torsional creep problem −Δp?p=1 in Ω, ?p=0 on ∂Ω, where Δpu:=div(|∇u|^p−2∇u) is the p-Laplacian operator, p>1. The paper emphasizes the connection between these problems. We prove that . Moreover, we deduce the relation limp→¹⁺‖?p_‖L¹(Ω)?CNlimp→¹⁺‖?p_‖L^∞(Ω) where CN is a constant depending only of N and h(Ω), explicitely given in the paper. An eigenfunction u∈BV(Ω)∩L^∞(Ω) of the Dirichlet 1-Laplacian is obtained as the strong L¹ limit, as p→¹⁺, of a subsequence of the family {?p/‖?p_‖L¹(Ω)}_p>1. Almost all t-level sets Et of u are Cheeger sets and our estimates of u on the Cheeger set |E₀| yield |B₁|hN(B₁)?|E₀|hN(Ω), where B₁ is the unit ball in RN. For Ω convex we obtain u=|E₀|⁻¹χE₀.     

Inverse Problems for Time-Dependent Singular Heat Conductivities: Multi-Dimensional Case

We consider an inverse boundary value problem for the heat equation ? _t u = div (γ? _x u) in (0, T) × Ω, u = f on (0, T) × ?Ω, u| _t=0 = u ₀, in a bounded domain Ω ? ? ⁿ , n ≥ 2, where the heat conductivity γ(t, x) is piecewise constant and the surface of discontinuity depends on time: γ(t, x) = k ² (x ∈ D(t)), γ(t, x) = 1 (x ∈ Ω?D(t)). Fix a direction e* ∈ 𝕊 ^n?1 arbitrarily. Assuming that ?D(t) is strictly convex for 0 ≤ t ≤ T, we show that k and sup {e*·x; x ∈ D(t)} (0 ≤ t ≤ T), in particular D(t) itself, are determined from the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map : f → ?_ν u(t, x)|_{(0, T)×?Ω}. The knowledge of the initial data u ₀ is not used in the proof. If we know min_0≤t≤T (sup _x∈D(t) x·e*), we have the same conclusion from the local Dirichlet-to-Neumann map. Numerical examples of stationary and moving circles inside the unit disk are shown. The results have applications to nondestructive testing. Consider a physical body consisting of homogeneous material with constant heat conductivity except for a moving inclusion with different conductivity. Then the location and shape of the inclusion can be monitored from temperature and heat flux measurements performed at the boundary of the body. Such a situation appears for example in blast furnaces used in ironmaking.     

A basic inequality for the Stokes operator related to the Navier boundary condition

We show that ‖Au+Δu_‖L²(Ωε)?C(ε‖∇u_‖L²(Ωε)+‖u_‖L²(Ωε)), where Ωε is a thin domain in R³ of depth ε, the vector field u belongs to the domain of A, which is the Stokes operator for divergence-free vector fields on Ωε satisfying the Navier boundary condition.