## Seminars and Colloquia by Series

Series: PDE Seminar
Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 006 , , Penn State University , , Organizer: Yao Yao
In 1904, Prandtl introduced his famous boundary layer theory to describe the behavior of solutions of incompressible Navier Stokes equations near a boundary in the inviscid limit. His Ansatz was that the solution of Navier Stokes can be described as a solution of Euler, plus a boundary layer corrector, plus a vanishing error term in $L^\infty$. In this talk, I will present a recent joint work with E. Grenier (ENS Lyon), proving that, for a class of regular solutions of Navier Stokes equations, namely for shear profiles that are unstable to Rayleigh equations, this Prandtl's Ansatz is false. In addition, for shear profiles that are monotone and stable to Rayleigh equations, the Prandtl's asymptotic expansions are invalid.
Series: PDE Seminar
Tuesday, February 27, 2018 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 006 , , University of Toronto , , Organizer: Yao Yao
Black holes are predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity, and now we have ample observational evidence for their existence. However theoretically there are many unanswered questions about how black holes come into being. In this talk, with tools from hyperbolic PDE, quasilinear elliptic equations, geometric analysis and dynamical systems, we will prove that, through a nonlinear focusing effect, initially low-amplitude and diffused gravitational waves can give birth to a black hole region in our universe. This result extends the 1965 Penrose’s singularity theorem and it also proves a conjecture of Ashtekar on black-hole thermodynamics. Open problems and new directions will also be discussed.
Series: PDE Seminar
Tuesday, February 20, 2018 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 006 , , Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II , , Organizer: Yao Yao
We prove the existence and the linear stability of Cantor families of small amplitude time quasi-periodic standing water wave solutions - i.e. periodic and even in the space variable x - of a bi-dimensional ocean with finite depth under the action of pure gravity. Such a result holds for all the values of the depth parameter in a Borel set of asymptotically full measure. This is a small divisor problem. The main difficulties are the quasi-linear nature of the gravity water waves equations and the fact that the linear frequencies grow just in a sublinear way at infinity. To overcome these problems, we first reduce the linearized operators obtained at each approximate quasi-periodic solution along the Nash-Moser iteration to constant coefficients up to smoothing operators, using pseudo-differential changes of variables that are quasi-periodic in time. Then we apply a KAM reducibility scheme that requires very weak Melnikov non-resonance conditions (which lose derivatives both in time and space), which we are able to verify for most values of the depth parameter using degenerate KAM theory arguments. This is a joint work with P. Baldi, M. Berti and R. Montalto.
Series: PDE Seminar
Tuesday, February 13, 2018 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 006 , , Princeton University , , Organizer: Yao Yao
The SQG equation models the formation of fronts of hot and cold air. In a different direction this system was proposed as a 2D model for the 3D incompressible Euler equations. At the linear level, the equations are dispersive. As of today, it is not known if this equation can produce singularities. In this talk I will discuss some recent work on the global solutions of the SQG equation and related models for small data. Joint work with Diego Cordoba and Alex Ionescu.
Series: PDE Seminar
Tuesday, February 6, 2018 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 006 , Albert Fathi , Georgia Tech , , Organizer: Yao Yao
This is a joint work with Piermarco Cannarsa and Wei Cheng. We study the properties of the set S of non-differentiable points of viscosity solutions of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, for a Tonelli Hamiltonian. The main surprise is the fact that this set is locally arc connected—it is even locally contractible. This last property is far from generic in the class of semi-concave functions. We also “identify” the connected components of this set S. This work relies on the idea of Cannarsa and Cheng to use the positive Lax-Oleinik operator to construct a global propagation of singularities (without necessarily obtaining uniqueness of the propagation).
Series: PDE Seminar
Tuesday, January 30, 2018 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 006 , Getachew K. Befekadu , University of Florida , Organizer: Yao Yao
In this talk, we present the asymptotics of exit problem for controlled Markov diffusion processes with random jumps and vanishing diffusion terms, where the random jumps are introduced in order to modify the evolution of the controlled diffusions by switching from one mode of dynamics to another. That is, depending on the state-position and state-transition information, the dynamics of the controlled diffusions randomly switches between the different drift and diffusion terms. Here, we specifically investigate the asymptotic exit problem concerning such controlled Markov diffusion processes in two steps: (i) First, for each controlled diffusion model, we look for an admissible Markov control process that minimizes the principal eigenvalue for the corresponding infinitesimal generator with zero Dirichlet boundary conditions -- where such an admissible control process also forces the controlled diffusion process to remain in a given bounded open domain for a longer duration. (ii) Then, using large deviations theory, we determine the exit place and the type of distribution at the exit time for the controlled Markov diffusion processes coupled with random jumps and vanishing diffusion terms. Moreover, the asymptotic results at the exit time also allow us to determine the limiting behavior of the Dirichlet problem for the corresponding system of elliptic PDEs containing a small vanishing parameter. Finally, we briefly discuss the implication of our results.
Series: PDE Seminar
Wednesday, December 13, 2017 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 005 , , King's College London , , Organizer: Yao Yao
In a recent work Sideris constructed a finite-parameter family of compactly supported affine solutions to the free boundary compressible Euler equations satisfying the physical vacuum condition.  The support of these solutions expands at a linear rate in time. We show that if the adiabatic exponent gamma belongs to the interval(1, 5/3] then these affine motions are globally-in-time nonlinearly stable. If time permits we shall also discuss several classes of global solutions to the compressible Euler-Poisson system. This is a joint work with Juhi Jang.
Series: PDE Seminar
Tuesday, November 28, 2017 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 006 , , University of Central Florida , , Organizer: Yao Yao
Geometric tangential analysis refers to a constructive systematic approach based on the concept that a problem which enjoys greater regularity can be “tangentially" accessed by certain classes of PDEs. By means of iterative arguments, the method then imports regularity, properly corrected through the path used to access the tangential equation, to the original class. The roots of this idea likely go back to the foundation of De Giorgi’s geometric measure theory of minimal surfaces, and accordingly, it is present in the development of the contemporary theory of free boundary problems. This set of ideas also plays a decisive role in Caffarelli’s work on fully non-linear elliptic PDEs, and subsequently in his studies on Monge-Ampere equations from the 1990’s. In recent years, however, geometric tangential methods have been significantly enhanced, amplifying their range of applications and providing a more user-friendly platform for advancing these endeavors. In this talk, I will discuss some fundamental ideas supporting (modern) geometric tangential methods and will exemplify their power through select examples.
Series: PDE Seminar
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 006 , Luis Vega , University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU , , Organizer: Yao Yao
The aim of talk is threefold. First, we solve the cubic nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation on the real line with initial data a sum of Dirac deltas. Secondly, we show a Talbot effect for the same equation. Finally, we prove an intermittency phenomena for a class of singular solutions of the binormal flow, that is used as a model for the vortex filaments dynamics in 3-D fluids and superfluids. If time permits some questions concerning the transfer of energy and momentum will be also considered.
Series: PDE Seminar
Tuesday, November 7, 2017 - 15:00 , Location: Skiles 006 , , Illinois Institute of Technology , , Organizer: Yao Yao
Almost all biological activities involve transport and distribution of ions and charged particles. The complicated coupling and competition between different ionic solutions in various biological environments give the intricate specificity and selectivity in these systems. In this talk, I will introduce several extended general diffusion systems motivated by the study of ion channels and ionic solutions in biological cells. In particular, I will focus on the interactions between different species, the boundary effects and in many cases, the thermal effects.