Regularity and blow up for active scalars

We review some recent results for a class of fluid mechanics equations called active scalars, with fractional dissipation. Our main examples are the surface quasi-geostrophic equation, the Burgers equation, and the Cordoba-Cordoba-Fontelos model. We discuss nonlocal maximum principle methods which allow to prove existence of global regular solutions for the critical dissipation. We also recall what is known about the possibility of finite time blow up in the supercritical regime.Comment: 33 page

Regularity of H\"older continuous solutions of the supercritical quasi-geostrophic equation

We present a regularity result for weak solutions of the 2D quasi-geostrophic equation with supercritical ($\alpha< 1/2$) dissipation $(-\Delta)^\alpha$ : If a Leray-Hopf weak solution is H\"{o}lder continuous $\theta\in C^\delta({\mathbb R}^2)$ with $\delta>1-2\alpha$ on the time interval $[t_0, t]$, then it is actually a classical solution on $(t_0,t]$