Symmetrization for Linear and Nonlinear Fractional Parabolic Equations of Porous Medium Type

We establish symmetrization results for the solutions of the linear fractional diffusion equation $\partial_t u +(-\Delta)^{\sigma/2}u=f$ and itselliptic counterpart $h v +(-\Delta)^{\sigma/2}v=f$, $h>0$, using the concept of comparison of concentrations. The results extend to the nonlinear version, $\partial_t u+(-\Delta)^{\sigma/2}A(u)=f$, but only when A:\re_+\to\re_+ is a concave function. In the elliptic case, complete symmetrization results are proved for $\,B(v)+(-\Delta)^{\sigma/2}v=f$ \ when $B(v)$ is a convex nonnegative function for $v>0$ with $B(0)=0$, and partial results when $B$ is concave. Remarkable counterexamples are constructed for the parabolic equation when $A$ is convex, resp. for the elliptic equation when $B$ is concave. Such counterexamples do not exist in the standard diffusion case $\sigma=2$.Comment: 42 pages, 1 figur

A Priori Estimates for Fractional Nonlinear Degenerate Diffusion Equations on bounded domains

We investigate quantitative properties of the nonnegative solutions $u(t,x)\ge 0$ to the nonlinear fractional diffusion equation, $\partial_t u + {\mathcal L} (u^m)=0$, posed in a bounded domain, $x\in\Omega\subset {\mathbb R}^N$ with $m>1$ for $t>0$. As ${\mathcal L}$ we use one of the most common definitions of the fractional Laplacian $(-\Delta)^s$, $0<s<1$, in a bounded domain with zero Dirichlet boundary conditions. We consider a general class of very weak solutions of the equation, and obtain a priori estimates in the form of smoothing effects, absolute upper bounds, lower bounds, and Harnack inequalities. We also investigate the boundary behaviour and we obtain sharp estimates from above and below. The standard Laplacian case $s=1$ or the linear case $m=1$ are recovered as limits. The method is quite general, suitable to be applied to a number of similar problems