Lipschitz continuity of solutions to drift-diffusion equations in the presence of nonlocal terms

Abstract

We analyze the propagation of Lipschitz continuity of solutions to various linear and nonlinear drift-diffusion systems, with and without incompressibility constraints. Diffusion is assumed to be either fractional or classical. Such equations model the incompressible Navier-Stokes systems, generalized viscous Burgers-Hilbert equation and various active scalars. We derive conditions that guarantee the propagation of Lipschitz regularity by the incompressible NSE in the form of a non-local, one dimensional viscous Burgers-type inequality. We show the analogous inequality is always satisfied for the generalized viscous Burgers-Hilbert equation, in any spatial dimension, leading to global regularity. We also obtain a regularity criterion for the Navier-Stokes equation with fractional dissipation $(-\Delta)^{\alpha}$, regardless of the power of the Laplacian $\alpha\in(0,1]$, in terms of H\"older-type assumptions on the solution. Such a criterion appears to be the first of its kind when $\alpha\in(0,1)$. The assumptions are critical when $\alpha\in[1/2,1]$, but sub-critical when $\alpha\in(0,1/2)$. Furthermore, we prove a partial regularity result under supercritical assumptions, which is upgraded to a regularity criterion if we consider the pressure-less drift-diffusion problem when $\alpha\in(1/2,1]$. That is, a certain H\"older super-criticality barrier is broken when considering a drift-diffusion equation without incompressibility constraints (no pressure term), which to our knowledge was never done before. Depending on the scenario, our results either improve on, generalize or provide different proofs to previously known regularity results for such models. The technique we use builds upon the evolution of moduli of continuity as introduced by Kiselev, Nazarov, Volberg and Shterenberg.