Sharp regularity estimates for $0$-order $p$-Laplacian evolution problems

Abstract

We study regularity properties of solutions to nonlinear and nonlocal evolution problems driven by the so-called \emph{$0$-order fractional $p-$Laplacian} type operators: $$ \partial_t u(x,t)=\mathcal{J}_p u(x,t):=\int_{\mathbb{R}^n} J(x-y)|u(y,t)-u(x,t)|^{p-2}(u(y,t)-u(x,t))\,dy\,, $$ where $n\ge 1$, $p>1$, $J\colon\mathbb{R}^n\to\mathbb{R}$ is a bounded nonnegative function with compact support, $J(0)>0$ and normalized such that $\|J\|_{\mathrm{L}^1(\mathbb{R}^n)}=1$, but not necessarily smooth. We deal with Cauchy problems on the whole space, and with Dirichlet and Neumann problems on bounded domains. Beside complementing the existing results about existence and uniqueness theory, we focus on sharp regularity results in the whole range $p\in (1,\infty)$. When $p>2$, we find an unexpected $\mathrm{L}^q-\mathrm{L}^\infty$ regularization: the surprise comes from the fact that this result is false in the linear case $p=2$. We show next that bounded solutions automatically gain higher time regularity, more precisely that $u(x,\cdot)\in C^p_t$. We finally show that solutions preserve the regularity of the initial datum up to certain order, that we conjecture to be optimal ($p$-derivatives in space). When $p>1$ is integer we can reach $C^\infty$ regularity (gained in time, preserved in space) and even analyticity in time. The regularity estimates that we obtain are quantitative and constructive (all computable constants), and have a local character, allowing us to show further properties of the solutions: for instance, initial singularities do not move with time. We also study the asymptotic behavior for large times of solutions to Dirichlet and Neumann problems. Our results are new also in the linear case and are sharp when $p$ is integer. We expect them to be optimal for all $p>1$, supporting this claim with some numerical simulations.