Eulerian and Lagrangian solutions of the continuity equation


Gianluca Crippa, University of Basel. 25 janvier 2018 11:00 edp
Abstract:

It is well known that the motion of an incompressible fluid can be described in Eulerian variables (as a solution of a PDE, namely the continuity equation), or alternatively in Lagrangian variables (as a flow of an ODE). The classical DiPerna-Lions-Ambrosio theory ensures well-posedness and provides structural properties for solutions of the continuity equation, under suitable regularity assumptions on the velocity field and integrability assumptions on the solution. In my talk I will focus on the ``Lagrangianity'' of solutions, that is, on the property of being transported by an ODE flow, hence addressing the question whether an Eulerian solution is automatically a Lagrangian solution. After a brief summary of the DiPerna-Lions-Ambrosio theory, I will present two examples which are outside of the assumptions of such a theory, and in which nevertheless we can prove the Lagrangianity of solutions. The first one concerns vanishing viscosity solutions of the two-dimensional Euler equations, where we can use suitable duality methods (joint work with Stefano Spirito). The second example involves general continuity equations, and requires the proof of a new Lipschitz extension lemma (joint work with Laura Caravenna).