On the critical dissipative quasi-geostrophic equation

The 2D quasi-geostrophic (QG) equation is a two dimensional model of the 3D incompressible Euler equations. When dissipation is included in the model then solutions always exist if the dissipation's wave number dependence is super-linear. Below this critical power the dissipation appears to be insufficient. For instance, it is not known if the critical dissipative QG equation has global smooth solutions for arbitrary large initial data. In this paper we prove existence and uniqueness of global classical solutions of the critical dissipative QG equation for initial data that have small $L^\infty$ norm. The importance of an $L^{\infty}$ smallness condition is due to the fact that $L^{\infty}$ is a conserved norm for the non-dissipative QG equation and is non-increasing on all solutions of the dissipative QG., irrespective of size.Comment: 12 page

Boltzmann entropy of a Newtonian Universe

A dynamical estimate is given for the Boltzmann entropy of the Universe, under the simplifying assumptions provided by Newtonian cosmology. We first model the cosmological fluid as the probability fluid of a quantum-mechanical system. Next, following current ideas about the emergence of spacetime, we regard gravitational equipotentials as isoentropic surfaces. Therefore gravitational entropy is proportional to the vacuum expectation value of the gravitational potential in a certain quantum state describing the matter contents of the Universe. The entropy of the matter sector can also be computed. While providing values of the entropy that turn out to be somewhat higher than existing estimates, our results are in perfect compliance with the upper bound set by the holographic principle.Comment: 15 page