Blowup of small data solutions for a quasilinear wave equation in two space dimensions

For the quasilinear wave equation \partial_t^2u - \Delta u = u_t u_{tt}, we analyze the long-time behavior of classical solutions with small (not rotationally invariant) data. We give a complete asymptotic expansion of the lifespan and describe the solution close to the blowup point. It turns out that this solution is a ``blowup solution of cusp type,'' according to the terminology of the author.Comment: 31 pages, published versio

Carleman estimates for elliptic operators with jumps at an interface: Anisotropic case and sharp geometric conditions

We consider a second-order selfadjoint elliptic operator with an anisotropic diffusion matrix having a jump across a smooth hypersurface. We prove the existence of a weight-function such that a Carleman estimate holds true. We moreover prove that the conditions imposed on the weight function are necessary.Comment: 43 page

Semilinear geometric optics with boundary amplification

We study weakly stable semilinear hyperbolic boundary value problems with highly oscillatory data. Here weak stability means that exponentially growing modes are absent, but the so-called uniform Lopatinskii condition fails at some boundary frequency $\beta$ in the hyperbolic region. As a consequence of this degeneracy there is an amplification phenomenon: outgoing waves of amplitude O(\eps^2) and wavelength \eps give rise to reflected waves of amplitude O(\eps), so the overall solution has amplitude O(\eps). Moreover, the reflecting waves emanate from a radiating wave that propagates in the boundary along a characteristic of the Lopatinskii determinant. An approximate solution that displays the qualitative behavior just described is constructed by solving suitable profile equations that exhibit a loss of derivatives, so we solve the profile equations by a Nash-Moser iteration. The exact solution is constructed by solving an associated singular problem involving singular derivatives of the form \partial_{x'}+\beta\frac{\partial_{\theta_0}}{\eps}, $x'$ being the tangential variables with respect to the boundary. Tame estimates for the linearization of that problem are proved using a first-order calculus of singular pseudodifferential operators constructed in the companion article \cite{CGW2}. These estimates exhibit a loss of one singular derivative and force us to construct the exact solution by a separate Nash-Moser iteration. The same estimates are used in the error analysis, which shows that the exact and approximate solutions are close in $L^\infty$ on a fixed time interval independent of the (small) wavelength \eps. The approach using singular systems allows us to avoid constructing high order expansions and making small divisor assumptions

Smooth type II blow up solutions to the four dimensional energy critical wave equation

International audienceWe exhibit $\mathcal C^{\infty}$ type II blow up solutions to the focusing energy critical wave equation in dimension $N=4$. These solutions admit near blow up time a decomposiiton u(t,x)=\frac{1}{\lambda^{\frac{N-2}{2}}(t)}(Q+\e(t))(\frac{x}{\lambda(t)}) \ \ \mbox{with} \ \ \|\e(t),\pa_t\e(t)\|_{\dot{H}^1\times L^2}\ll1 where $Q$ is the extremizing profile of the Sobolev embedding $\dot{H}^1\to L^{2^*}$, and a blow up speed $$\lambda(t)=(T-t)e^{-\sqrt{|\log (T-t)|}(1+o(1))} \ \ \mbox{as} \ \ t\to T.$

Space Propagation of Instabilities in Zakharov Equations

In this paper we study an initial boundary value problem for Zakharov's equations, describing the space propagation of a laser beam entering in a plasma. We prove a strong instability result and prove that the mathematical problem is ill-posed in Sobolev spaces. We also show that it is well posed in spaces of analytic functions. Several consequences for the physical consistency of the model are discussed.Comment: 39

Asymptotic pointwise behavior for systems of semilinear wave equations in three space dimensions

In connection with the weak null condition, Alinhac introduced a sufficient condition for global existence of small amplitude solutions to systems of semilinear wave equations in three space dimensions. We introduce a slightly weaker sufficient condition for the small data global existence, and we investigate the asymptotic pointwise behavior of global solutions for systems satisfying this condition. As an application, the asymptotic behavior of global solutions under the Alinhac condition is also derived.Comment: 56 pages, the final versio