Existence of approximate current-vortex sheets near the onset of instability

The paper is concerned with the free boundary problem for 2D current-vortex sheets in ideal incompressible magneto-hydrodynamics near the transition point between the linearized stability and instability. In order to study the dynamics of the discontinuity near the onset of the instability, Hunter and Thoo have introduced an asymptotic quadratically nonlinear integro-differential equation for the amplitude of small perturbations of the planar discontinuity. The local-in-time existence of smooth solutions to the Cauchy problem for such amplitude equation was already proven, under a suitable stability condition. However, the solution found there has a loss of regularity (of order two) from the initial data. In the present paper, we are able to obtain an existence result of solutions with optimal regularity, in the sense that the regularity of the initial data is preserved in the motion for positive times

Two-Dimensional Vortex Sheets for the Nonisentropic Euler Equations: Nonlinear Stability

We show the short-time existence and nonlinear stability of vortex sheets for the nonisentropic compressible Euler equations in two spatial dimensions, based on the weakly linear stability result of Morando--Trebeschi (2008) [20]. The missing normal derivatives are compensated through the equations of the linearized vorticity and entropy when deriving higher-order energy estimates. The proof of the resolution for this nonlinear problem follows from certain \emph{a priori} tame estimates on the effective linear problem {in the usual Sobolev spaces} and a suitable Nash--Moser iteration scheme.Comment: to appear in: J. Differential Equations 2018. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1707.0267

Well-posedness of the linearized problem for contact MHD discontinuities

We study the free boundary problem for contact discontinuities in ideal compressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). They are characteristic discontinuities with no flow across the discontinuity for which the pressure, the magnetic field and the velocity are continuous whereas the density and the entropy may have a jump. Under the Rayleigh-Taylor sign condition $[\partial p/\partial N]<0$ on the jump of the normal derivative of the pressure satisfied at each point of the unperturbed contact discontinuity, we prove the well-posedness in Sobolev spaces of the linearized problem for 2D planar MHD flows.Comment: 40 page

Characteristic boundary value problems: estimates from H1 to L2

Motivated by the study of certain non linear free-boundary value problems for hyperbolic systems of partial differential equations arising in Magneto-Hydrodynamics, in this paper we show that an a priori estimate of the solution to certain boundary value problems, in the conormal Sobolev space H1_tan, can be transformed into an L2 a priori estimate of the same problem

Well-posedness of the linearized plasma-vacuum interface problem in ideal incompressible MHD

We study the free boundary problem for the plasma-vacuum interface in ideal incompressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). In the vacuum region the magnetic field is described by the div-curl system of pre-Maxwell dynamics, while at the interface the total pressure is continuous and the magnetic field is tangent to the boundary. Under a suitable stability condition satisfied at each point of the plasma-vacuum interface, we prove the well-posedness of the linearized problem in Sobolev spaces

Structural stability of shock waves in 2D compressible elastodynamics

We study the two-dimensional structural stability of shock waves in a compressible isentropic inviscid elastic fluid in the sense of the local-in-time existence and uniqueness of discontinuous shock front solutions of the equations of compressible elastodynamics in two space dimensions. By the energy method based on a symmetrization of the wave equation and giving an a priori estimate without loss of derivatives for solutions of the constant coefficients linearized problem we find a condition sufficient for the uniform stability of rectilinear shock waves. Comparing this condition with that for the uniform stability of shock waves in isentropic gas dynamics, we make the conclusion that the elastic force plays stabilizing role. In particular, we show that, as in isentropic gas dynamics, all compressive shock waves are uniformly stable for convex equations of state. Moreover, for some particular deformations (and general equations of state), by the direct test of the uniform Kreiss-Lopatinski condition we show that the stability condition found by the energy method is not only sufficient but also necessary for uniform stability. As is known, uniform stability implies structural stability of corresponding curved shock waves.Comment: 32 page

Nonlinear stability and existence of two-dimensional compressible current-vortex sheets

We are concerned with nonlinear stability and existence of two-dimensional current-vortex sheets in ideal compressible magnetohydrodynamics. This is a nonlinear hyperbolic initial-boundary value problem with characteristic free boundary. It is well-known that current-vortex sheets may be at most weakly (neutrally) stable due to the existence of surface waves solutions that yield a loss of derivatives in the energy estimate of the solution with respect to the source terms. We first identify a sufficient condition ensuring the weak stability of the linearized current-vortex sheets problem. Under this stability condition for the background state, we show that the linearized problem obeys an energy estimate in anisotropic weighted Sobolev spaces with a loss of derivatives. Based on the weakly linear stability results, we then establish the local-in-time existence and nonlinear stability of current-vortex sheets by a suitable Nash-Moser iteration, provided the stability condition is satisfied at each point of the initial discontinuity. This result gives a new confirmation of the stabilizing effect of sufficiently strong magnetic fields on Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities.Comment: The paper has been accepted for publication in "Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis