Long time behaviour of viscous scalar conservation laws

This paper is concerned with the stability of stationary solutions of the conservation law $\partial_t u + \mathrm{div}_y A(y,u) -\Delta_y u=0$, where the flux $A$ is periodic with respect to its first variable. Essentially two kinds of asymptotic behaviours are studied here: the case when the equation is set on $\R$, and the case when it is endowed with periodic boundary conditions. In the whole space case, we first prove the existence of viscous stationary shocks - also called standing shocks - which connect two different periodic stationary solutions to one another. We prove that standing shocks are stable in $L^1$, provided the initial disturbance satisfies some appropriate boundedness conditions. We also extend this result to arbitrary initial data, but with some restrictions on the flux $A$. In the periodic case, we prove that periodic stationary solutions are always stable. The proof of this result relies on the derivation of uniform $L^\infty$ bounds on the solution of the conservation law, and on sub- and super-solution techniques.Comment: 36 page

Mathematical study of degenerate boundary layers: A Large Scale Ocean Circulation Problem

This paper is concerned with a complete asymptoticanalysis as $\mathfrak{E} \to 0$ of the stationary Munk equation $\partial\_x\psi-\mathfrak{E} \Delta^2 \psi=\tau$ in a domain $\Omega\subset \mathbf{R}^2$, supplemented with boundaryconditions for $\psi$ and $\partial\_n \psi$. This equation is a simplemodel for the circulation of currents in closed basins, the variables$x$ and $y$ being respectively the longitude and the latitude. A crudeanalysis shows that as $\mathfrak{E} \to 0$, the weak limit of $\psi$ satisfiesthe so-called Sverdrup transport equation inside the domain, namely$\partial\_x \psi^0=\tau$, while boundary layers appear in the vicinity ofthe boundary.These boundary layers, which are the main center of interest of thepresent paper, exhibit several types of peculiar behaviour. First, thesize of the boundary layer on the western and eastern boundary, whichhad already been computed by several authors, becomes formally verylarge as one approaches northern and southern portions of the boudary,i.e. pieces of the boundary on which the normal is vertical. Thisphenomenon is known as geostrophic degeneracy. In order to avoid suchsingular behaviour, previous studies imposed restrictive assumptionson the domain $\Omega$ and on the forcing term $\tau$. Here, we provethat a superposition of two boundary layers occurs in the vicinity ofsuch points: the classical western or eastern boundary layers, andsome northern or southern boundary layers, whose mathematicalderivation is completely new. The size of northern/southern boundarylayers is much larger than the one of western boundary layers($\mathfrak{E}^{1/4}$ vs. $\mathfrak{E}^{1/3}$). We explain in detail how the superpositiontakes place, depending on the geometry of the boundary.Moreover, when the domain $\Omega$ is not connex in the $x$ direction,$\psi^0$ is not continuous in $\Omega$, and singular layers appear inorder to correct its discontinuities. These singular layers areconcentrated in the vicinity of horizontal lines, and thereforepenetrate the interior of the domain $\Omega$. Hence we exhibit some kindof boundary layer separation. However, we emphasize that we remainable to prove a convergence theorem, so that the singular layerssomehow remain stable, in spite of the separation.Eventually, the effect of boundary layers is non-local in severalaspects. On the first hand, for algebraic reasons, the boundary layerequation is radically different on the west and east parts of theboundary. As a consequence, the Sverdrup equation is endowed with aDirichlet condition on the East boundary, and no condition on the Westboundary. Therefore western and eastern boundary layers have in factan influence on the whole domain $\Omega$, and not only near theboundary. On the second hand, the northern and southern boundary layerprofiles obey a propagation equation, where the space variable $x$plays the role of time, and are therefore not local.Comment: http://www.ams.org/books/memo/1206/memo1206.pd

Well-posedness of the Stokes-Coriolis system in the half-space over a rough surface

This paper is devoted to the well-posedness of the stationary $3$d Stokes-Coriolis system set in a half-space with rough bottom and Dirichlet data which does not decrease at space infinity. Our system is a linearized version of the Ekman boundary layer system. We look for a solution of infinite energy in a space of Sobolev regularity. Following an idea of G\'erard-Varet and Masmoudi, the general strategy is to reduce the problem to a bumpy channel bounded in the vertical direction thanks a transparent boundary condition involving a Dirichlet to Neumann operator. Our analysis emphasizes some strong singularities of the Stokes-Coriolis operator at low tangential frequencies. One of the main features of our work lies in the definition of a Dirichlet to Neumann operator for the Stokes-Coriolis system with data in the Kato space $H^{1/2}_{uloc}$.Comment: 64 page

Stability of periodic stationary solutions of scalar conservation laws with space-periodic flux

This article investigates the long-time behaviour of parabolic scalar conservation laws of the type $\partial_t u + \mathrm{div}_yA(y,u) - \Delta_y u=0$, where $y\in\mathbb R^N$ and the flux $A$ is periodic in $y$. More specifically, we consider the case when the initial data is an $L^1$ disturbance of a stationary periodic solution. We show, under polynomial growth assumptions on the flux, that the difference between $u$ and the stationary solution vanishes for large times in $L^1$ norm. The proof uses a self-similar change of variables which is well-suited for the analysis of the long time behaviour of parabolic equations. Then, convergence in self-similar variables follows from arguments from dynamical systems theory. One crucial point is to obtain compactness in $L^1$ on the family of rescaled solutions; this is achieved by deriving uniform bounds in weighted $L^2$ spaces.Comment: 37 page