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Cyril Imbert

Publications and source records attributed to Cyril Imbert.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

De Giorgi's regularity theory for elliptic, parabolic and kinetic equations

This book presents a comprehensive regularity theory for solutions of elliptic, parabolic, and kinetic equations. The foundation of this theory was laid by E. De Giorgi's groundbreaking resolution of Hilbert's nineteenth problem in 1956. The innovative tools he developed to tackle this problem proved to be remarkably versatile. In 1957, just one year later, J. Nash independently developed analogous techniques for parabolic equations, concurrently with De Giorgi's research. By the year 2000, these techniques had been extended to address elliptic and parabolic equations featuring integral diffusion, such as the fractional Laplacian. More recently, the theory has evolved to encompass kinetic equations, accommodating both local and integral diffusions. This book aims to present these results in a unified and coherent manner, beginning with the classical elliptic framework and progressing through to the most recent advancements in kinetic equations.

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arXiv2025

Fisher information for solutions of the Boltzmann equation

This note reviews a recent contribution about the Fisher information for the space-homogeneous Boltzmann equation by L. Silvestre, C. Villani and the author (arXiv, 2024). This classical functional from information theory is shown to be nonincreasing along the flow of the non-linear PDE for all physically relevant particle interactions. The proof consists in establishing a new functional inequality on the sphere of Log-Sobolev type. This new a priori estimate on solutions yields global-in-time well posedness of the equation, in particular in the case of very singular interactions, a left open question up to this work. L'information de Fisher des solutions de l'{\'e}quation de Boltzmann R{\'e}sum{\'e}.

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arXiv2025

Conditional appearance of decay for the non-cutoff Boltzmann equation in a bounded domain

This work is concerned with the generation of decay estimates in the velocity variable for solutions of the space-inhomogeneous Boltzmann equation without cutoff on a bounded spatial domain for hard and moderately soft potentials. We work with suitable weak solutions, provided that mass, energy and entropy density functions are under control. The following boundary conditions are treated: in-flow, bounce-back, specular reflection, diffuse reflection and Maxwell reflection. The notion of weak solutions relies on a family of Truncated Convex Inequalities that is inspired by the one recently introduced through F.~Golse, L.~Silvestre and the first author (2023) in the spatially homogeneous case. We show that the solutions generate some amount (up to $d+1$) of pointwise polynomial velocity decay. In case of moderately soft potentials, we show that it is not possible to generate a decay higher than $d+2$ if the energy is bounded.

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arXiv2024

Gehring's Lemma for kinetic Fokker-Planck equations

In this article, we establish a "Gehring lemma" for a real function satisfying a reverse H\"older inequality on all "kinetic cylinders" contained in a large one: it asserts that the integrability degree of the function improves under such an assumption. The kinetic cylinders are derived from the non-commutative group of invariances of the Kolmogorov equation. Our contributions here are (1) the extension of Gehring's Lemma to this kinetic (hypoelliptic) scaling used to generate the cylinders, (2) the localisation of the lemma in this hypoelliptic context (using ideas from the elliptic theory), (3) the streamlining of a short and quantitative proof. We then use this lemma to establish that the velocity gradient of weak solutions to linear kinetic equations of Fokker-Planck type with rough coefficients have Lebesgue integrability strictly greater than two, while the natural energy estimate merely ensures that it is square integrable. Our argument here is new but relies on Poincar\'e-type inequalities established in previous works.

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arXiv2024

On the monotonicity of the Fisher information for the Boltzmann equation

We prove that the Fisher information is monotone decreasing in time along solutions of the space-homogeneous Boltzmann equation for a large class of collision kernels covering all classical interactions derived from systems of particles. For general collision kernels, a sufficient condition for the monotonicity of the Fisher information along the flow is related to the best constant for an integro-differential inequality for functions on the sphere, which belongs in the family of the Log-Sobolev inequalities. As a consequence, we establish the existence of global smooth solutions to the space-homogeneous Boltzmann equation in the main situation of interest where this was not known, namely the regime of very soft potentials. This is opening the path to the completion of both the classical program of qualitative study of space-homogeneous Boltzmann equation, initiated by Carleman, and the program of using the Fisher information in the study of the Boltzmann equation, initiated by McKean. From the proofs and discussion emerges a strengthened picture of the links between kinetic theory, information theory and log-Sobolev inequalities.

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arXiv2024

Germs for scalar conservation laws: the Hamilton-Jacobi equation point of view

We prove that the entropy solution to a scalar conservation law posed on the real line with a flux that is discontinuous at one point (in the space variable) coincides with the derivative of the solution to a Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) equation whose Hamiltonian is discontinuous. Flux functions (Hamiltonians) are not assumed to be convex in the state (gradient) variable. The proof consists in proving the convergence of two numerical schemes. We rely on the theory developed by B.~Andreianov, K.~H.~Karlsen and N.~H.~Risebro (\textit{Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal.}, 2011) for such scalar conservation laws and on the viscosity solution theory developed by the authors (\textit{arxiv}, 2023) for the corresponding HJ equation. This study allows us to characterise certain germs introduced in the AKR theory (namely maximal and complete ones) and relaxation operators introduced in the viscosity solution framework.

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arXiv2024

Weak solutions to Kolmogorov-Fokker-Planck equations: regularity, existence and uniqueness

We prove existence, uniqueness and regularity of weak solutions of Kolmogorov--Fokker--Planck equations with either local or non-local diffusion in the velocity variable and rough diffusion coefficients or kernels. Our results cover the Cauchy problem and allow a broad class of source terms under minimal assumptions. The core of the analysis is a set of sharp kinetic embeddings \`a la Lions and transfer-of-regularity results \`a la Bouchut--H\''ormander. We formulate these tools in a homogeneous, scale-invariant form, available for a large range of regularity parameters.

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arXiv2024

Fundamental solutions to Kolmogorov-Fokker-Planck equations with rough coefficients: existence, uniqueness, upper estimates

We show the existence and uniqueness of fundamental solution operators to Kolmo\-gorov-Fokker-Planck equations with rough (measurable) coefficients and local or integral diffusion on finite and infinite time strips. In the local case, that is to say when the diffusion operator is of differential type, we prove $\L^2$ decay using Davies' method and the conservation property. We also prove that the existence of a generalized fundamental solution with the expected pointwise Gaussian upper bound is equivalent to Moser's $\L^2-\L^\infty$ estimates for local weak solutions to the equation and its adjoint. When coefficients are real, this gives the existence and uniqueness of such a generalized fundamental solution and a new and natural way to obtain pointwise decay.

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arXiv2024

Local regularity for the space-homogeneous Landau equation with very soft potentials

This paper deals with the space-homogenous Landau equation with very soft potentials, including the Coulomb case. This nonlinear equation is of parabolic type with diffusion matrix given by the convolution product of the solution with the matrix $a_{ij} (z)=|z|^γ(|z|^2 δ_{ij} - z_iz_j)$ for $γ\in [-3,-2)$. We derive local truncated entropy estimates and use them to establish two facts. Firstly, we prove that the set of singular points (in time and velocity) for the weak solutions constructed as in [C. Villani, Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 143 (1998), 273-307] has zero $\mathscr{P}^{m_\ast}$ parabolic Hausdorff measure with $m_\ast:= \frac72 |2+γ|$. Secondly, we prove that if such a weak solution is axisymmetric, then it is smooth away from the symmetry axis. In particular, radially symmetric weak solutions are smooth away from the origin.

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arXiv2024

The twin blow-up method for Hamilton-Jacobi equations in higher dimension

In this paper, we show how to extend the twin blow-up method recently developped by the authors (Comptes Rendus. Math., 2024), in order to obtain a new comparison principle for an evolution coercive Hamilton-Jacobi equation posed in a domain of an Euclidian space of any dimension and supplemented with a boundary condition. The method allows dealing with the case where tangential variables and the variable corresponding to the normal gradient of the solution are strongly coupled at the boundary. We elaborate on a method introduced by P.-L. Lions and P. Souganidis (Atti Accad. Naz. Lincei, 2017). Their argument relies on a single blow-up procedure after rescaling the semi-solutions to be compared while two simultaneous blow-ups are performed in this work, one for each variable of the classical doubling variable technique. A one-sided Lipschitz estimate satisfied by a combination of the two blow-up limits plays a key role.

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arXiv2023

Coercive Hamilton-Jacobi equations in domains: the twin blow-ups method

In this note, we consider an evolution coercive Hamilton-Jacobi equation posed in a domain and supplemented with a boundary condition. We are interested in proving a comparison principle in the case where the time and the (normal) gradient variables are strongly coupled at the boundary. We elaborate on a method introduced by P.-L. Lions and P. Souganidis (Atti Accad. Naz. Lincei, 2017) to extend their comparison principle to more general boundary conditions and to Hamiltonians that are not globally Lipschitz continuous in the time variable. Their argument relies on a single blow-up procedure after rescaling the semi-solutions to be compared. We refer to our technique as the twin blow-ups method since two blow-ups are performed simultaneously, one for each variable of the doubling variable method. The Lipschitz regularity of the regularized subsolution provides a key Lipschitz inequality satisfied by the two blow-up limits, that are a priori allowed to be infinite. For expository reasons, the result is presented here in the framework of space dimension one and the general case is treated in a companion paper.

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arXiv2023

Non-convex coercive Hamilton-Jacobi equations: Guerand's relaxation revisited

This work is concerned with Hamilton-Jacobi equations of evolution type posed in domains and supplemented with boundary conditions. Hamiltonians are coercive but are neither convex nor quasiconvex. We analyse boundary conditions when understood in the sense of viscosity solutions. This analysis is based on the study of boundary conditions of evolution type. More precisely, we give a new formula for the relaxed boundary conditions derived by J. Guerand (J. Differ. Equations, 2017). This new point of view unveils a connection between the relaxation operator and the classical Godunov flux from the theory of conservation laws. We apply our methods to two classical boundary value problems. It is shown that the relaxed Neumann boundary condition is expressed in terms of Godunov's flux while the relaxed Dirichlet boundary condition reduces to an obstacle problem at the boundary associated with the lower non-increasing envelope of the Hamiltonian.

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arXiv2021

Log-transform and the weak Harnack inequality for kinetic Fokker-Planck equations

This article deals with kinetic Fokker-Planck equations with essentially bounded coefficients. A weak Harnack inequality for non-negative super-solutions is derived by considering their Log-transform and following S. N. Kruzhkov (1963). Such a result rests on a new weak Poincar{é} inequality sharing similarities with the one introduced by W. Wang and L. Zhang in a series of works about ultraparabolic equations (2009, 2011, 2017). This functional inequality is combined with a classical covering argument recently adapted by L. Silvestre and the second author (2020) to kinetic equations.

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arXiv2021

Global regularity estimates for the Boltzmann equation without cut-off

We derive $C^\infty$ a priori estimates for solutions of the inhomogeneous Boltzmann equation without cut-off, conditional to point-wise bounds on their mass, energy and entropy densities. We also establish decay estimates for large velocities, for all derivatives of the solution.

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arXiv2020

Regularity for the Boltzmann equation conditional to macroscopic bounds

The Boltzmann equation is a nonlinear partial differential equation that plays a central role in statistical mechanics. From the mathematical point of view, the existence of global smooth solutions for arbitrary initial data is an outstanding open problem. In the present article, we review a program focused on the type of particle interactions known as non-cutoff. It is dedicated to the derivation of a priori estimates in $C^\infty$, depending only on physically meaningful conditions. We prove that the solution will stay uniformly smooth provided that its mass, energy and entropy densities remain bounded, and away from vacuum.

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arXiv2020

The Schauder estimate in kinetic theory with application to a toy nonlinear model

This article is concerned with the Schauder estimate for linear kinetic Fokker-Planck equations with Hölder continuous coefficients. This equation has an hypoelliptic structure. As an application of this Schauder estimate, we prove the global well-posedness of a toy nonlinear model in kinetic theory. This nonlinear model consists in a non-linear kinetic Fokker-Planck equation whose steady states are Maxwellian and whose diffusion in the velocity variable is proportional to the mass of the solution.

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arXiv2020

Gaussian lower bounds for the Boltzmann equation without cut-off

The study of positivity of solutions to the Boltzmann equation goes back to Carleman (1933), and the initial argument of Carleman was developed byPulvirenti-Wennberg (1997), the second author and Briant (2015). The appearance of a lower bound with Gaussian decay had however remained an open question for long-range interactions (the so-called non-cutoff collision kernels). We answer this question and establish such Gaussian lower bound for solutions to the Boltzmann equation without cutoff, in the case of hard and moderately soft potentials, with spatial periodic conditions, and under the sole assumption that hydrodynamic quantities (local mass, local energy and local entropy density) remain bounded. The paper is mostly self-contained, apart from the uniform upper bound on the solution established by the third author (2016).

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