Sharp decay characterization for the incompressible Oldroyd-B model in critical $L^p$ spaces

Abstract

This paper establishes a sharp characterization of temporal decay rates for the incompressible Oldroyd-B model in a critical $L^p$ framework, covering the physically relevant and mathematically delicate case where both the fluid viscosity and the stress tensor damping are absent. We prove that an $L^2$-type condition on the low-frequencies part of the initial data $(u_0, \tau_0)$ is almost both necessary and sufficient for obtaining optimal upper and lower bounds on the temporal decay of solutions in critical Besov spaces. A key contribution is a new decomposition of the stress tensor into its incompressible and compressible parts, combined with the introduction of an effective tensor to handle the loss of regularity in the high-frequencies velocity field. This is the first result to reveal such precise two-sided asymptotics for the incompressible Oldroyd-B model without viscosity or damping.