arXiv subjects

Giulio Romani

Publications and source records attributed to Giulio Romani.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

On the asymptotic behaviour of the restricted Dirichlet Laplacian of real order $s>0$ on stretching tubes

We study spectral and variational properties of the (possibly) fractional Dirichlet Laplacian $\left(-\Delta_{n+k}\right)^s\!$, $s>0$, on bounded subsets of $\mathbb R^n\times\mathbb R^k$ whose extent in one or more directions becomes much larger than in the remaining ones. We first investigate the asymptotic behaviour of the first eigenvalue on stretching (or thinning) tubes, covering in particular the case of integers $s\geq 2$, for which $\left(-\Delta_{n+k}\right)^s\!$ reduces to a polyharmonic operator. Then we compute the $G$-limit of the rescaled operators, and the $\Gamma$-limit of the corresponding rescaled quadratic forms.

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arXiv2026

Mixed-dispersion Schr\"odinger equations and Gagliardo-Nirenberg inequalities: equivalence between ground states and optimizers

We study a nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with mixed dispersion in the mass competition regime, namely mass-supercritical for the Laplacian and mass-subcritical for the Bilaplacian. In this setting, the existence of a critical value of the mass $c_\varepsilon$, which divides existence and nonexistence of energy ground state solutions, was established in [Bonheure, Cast\'eras, dos Santos, Nascimento, SIAM J. Math. Anal. 50 (2018)]. In this work, we strengthen these results by investigating the relationship between the energy ground states with critical mass, and the optimizers of mixed Gagliardo-Nirenberg-type inequalities. Moreover, we discuss the equivalence between energy and action ground states solutions.

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arXiv2026

A blow-up approach for a priori bounds in semilinear planar elliptic systems: the Brezis-Merle critical case

We establish uniform a priori estimates for solutions of semilinear planar Hamiltonian elliptic systems in a ball with Dirichlet boundary conditions. We consider a broad class of coupled nonlinearities with asymptotic critical behaviour in the sense of Brezis--Merle. The approach we follow is based on a blow-up analysis combined with Liouville--type theorems and integral estimates. Our results extend the scalar theory of uniform a priori bounds to the Hamiltonian case, and solve an open problem in [de Figueiredo D.G., do \'O J.M., Ruf B., Adv. Nonlinear Stud. 6 (2006), no. 2]. We believe that this approach is new in this setting. As a consequence of our a priori estimates, we prove the existence of a positive solution by means of Fixed Point Index theory.

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arXiv2024

Positive solutions with prescribed mass for a planar Choquard equation with critical growth

We study normalised solutions for a Choquard equation in the plane with polynomial Riesz kernel and exponential nonlinearities, which are critical in the sense of Trudinger-Moser. For all prescribed values of the mass, we prove existence of a positive radial solution by a variational argument, which exploits a delicate analysis on the mountain pass level. Under an additional monotonicity assumption on the nonlinearity, such a solution turns out to be also a ground state in $H^1(\mathbb R^2)$. Our work extends the results by Dou, Huang, and Zhong (J Geom Anal 34(10):317, 2024) to the Choquard setting, improving in several directions those by Deng and Yu in (Z Angew Math Phys 74(3):103, 2023).

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arXiv2024

Nonlinear Schr\"odinger-Poisson systems in dimension two: the zero mass case

We provide an existence result for a Schr\"odinger-Poisson system in gradient form, set in the whole plane, in the case of zero mass. Since the setting is limiting for the Sobolev embedding, we admit nonlinearities with subcritical or critical growth in the sense of Trudinger-Moser. In particular, the absence of the mass term requires a nonstandard functional framework, based on homogeneous Sobolev spaces. These features, combined with the logarithmic behaviour of the kernel of the Poisson equation, make the analysis delicate, since standard variational tools cannot be applied. The system is solved by considering the corresponding logarithmic Choquard equation. The existence of a mountain pass-type solution is established by means of a careful analysis of appropriate Cerami sequences, whose boundedness is ensured through a nonstandard variational method, suggested by the subtle nature of the functional geometry involved. As a key tool in our estimates, we also introduce a logarithmic weighted Trudinger-Moser inequality, along with a related Cao-type inequality, both of which hold in our functional setting and are, we believe, of independent interest.

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arXiv2024

Choquard equations with critical exponential nonlinearities in the zero mass case

We investigate Choquard equations in $\mathbb R^N$ driven by a weighted $N$-Laplace operator and with polynomial kernel and zero mass. Since the setting is limiting for the Sobolev embedding, we work with nonlinearities which may grow up to the critical exponential. We establish existence of a positive solution by variational methods, completing the analysis in [Romani, ArXiv preprint 2023], where the case of a logarithmic kernel was considered.

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arXiv2023

Nonlocal Schr\"odinger-Poisson systems in $\mathbb R^N$: the fractional Sobolev limiting case

We study the existence of positive solutions for nonlocal systems in gradient form and set in the whole $\mathbb R^N$. A quasilinear fractional Schr\"odinger equation, where the leading operator is the $\frac Ns$-fractional Laplacian, is coupled with a higher-order and possibly fractional Poisson equation. For both operators the dimension $N\geq 2$ corresponds to the limiting case of the Sobolev embedding, hence we consider nonlinearities with exponential growth. Since standard variational tools cannot be applied due to the sign changing logarithmic Riesz kernel of the Poisson equation, we employ a variational approximating procedure for an auxiliary Choquard equation, where the Riesz kernel is uniformly approximated by polynomial kernels. Qualitative properties of solutions such as symmetry, regularity and decay are also established. Our results extend and complete the analysis carried out in the planar case in [D. Cassani, Z. Liu, G. Romani. arxiv:2305.15274].

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arXiv2023

Schr\"odinger-Poisson systems with zero mass in the Sobolev limiting case

We study the existence of positive solutions for a class of systems which strongly couple a quasilinear Schr\"odinger equation driven by a weighted $N$-Laplace operator and without the mass term, and a higher-order fractional Poisson equation. Since the system is considered in $\mathbb R^N$, the limiting case for the Sobolev embedding, we consider nonlinearities with exponential growth. Existence is proved relying on the study of a corresponding Choquard equation in which the Riesz kernel is a sign-changing logarithm. This is in turn solved by means of a variational approximating procedure for an auxiliary Choquard equation where the logarithm is uniformly approximated by polynomial kernels.

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arXiv2023

Nonlocal planar Schr\"odinger-Poisson systems in the fractional Sobolev limiting case

We study the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation for the $s-$fractional $p-$Laplacian strongly coupled with the Poisson equation in dimension two and with $p=\frac2s$, which is the limiting case for the embedding of the fractional Sobolev space $W^{s,p}(\mathbb{R}^2)$. We prove existence of solutions by means of a variational approximating procedure for an auxiliary Choquard equation in which the uniformly approximated sign-changing logarithmic kernel competes with the exponential nonlinearity. Qualitative properties of solutions such as symmetry and decay are also established by exploiting a suitable moving planes technique.

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arXiv2023

Symmetry and uniqueness for a hinged plate problem in a ball

In this paper we address some questions about symmetry, radial monotonicity, and uniqueness for a semilinear fourth-order boundary value problem in the ball of $\mathbb R^2$ deriving from the Kirchhoff-Love model of deformations of thin plates. We first show the radial monotonicity for a wide class of biharmonic problems. The proof of uniqueness is based on ODE techniques and applies to the whole range of the boundary parameter. For an unbounded subset of this range we also prove symmetry of the ground states by means of a rearrangement argument which makes use of Talenti's comparison principle. This paper complements the analysis in [G. Romani, Anal. PDE 10 (2017), no. 4, 943-982], where existence and positivity issues have been investigated.

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arXiv2022

Perturbed eigenvalues of polyharmonic operators in domains with small holes

We study singular perturbations of eigenvalues of the polyharmonic operator on bounded domains under removal of small interior compact sets. We consider both homogeneous Dirichlet and Navier conditions on the external boundary, while we impose homogeneous Dirichlet conditions on the boundary of the removed set. To this aim, we develop a notion of capacity which is suitable for our higher-order context, and which permits to obtain a description of the asymptotic behaviour of perturbed simple eigenvalues in terms of a capacity of the removed set, in dependence of the respective normalized eigenfunction. Then, in the particular case of a subset which is scaling to a point, we apply a blow-up analysis to detect the precise convergence rate, which turns out to depend on the order of vanishing of the eigenfunction. In this respect, an important role is played by Hardy-Rellich inequalities in order to identify the appropriate functional space containing the limiting profile. Remarkably, for the biharmonic operator this turns out to be the same, regardless of the boundary conditions prescribed on the exterior boundary.

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arXiv2021

A quasilinear transmission problem with application to Maxwell equations with a divergence-free $\mathcal D$-field

Maxwell equations in the absence of free charges require initial data with a divergence free displacement field $\mathcal D$. In materials in which the dependence $\mathcal D=\mathcal D(\mathcal E)$ is nonlinear the quasilinear problem $\nabla\cdot\mathcal D(\mathcal E)=0$ is hence to be solved. In many applications, e.g. in the modelling of wave-packets, an approximative asymptotic ansatz of the electric field $\mathcal E$ is used, which satisfies this divergence condition at $t=0$ only up to a small residual. We search then for a small correction of the ansatz to enforce $\nabla\cdot\mathcal D(\mathcal E)=0$ at $t=0$ and choose this correction in the form of a gradient field. In the usual case of a power type nonlinearity in $\mathcal D(\mathcal E)$ this leads to the sum of the Laplace and $p$-Laplace operators. We also allow for the medium to consist of two different materials so that a transmission problem across an interface is produced. We prove the existence of the correction term for a general class of nonlinearities and provide regularity estimates for its derivatives, independent of the $L^2$-norm of the original ansatz. In this way, when applied to the wave-packet setting, the correction term is indeed asymptotically smaller than the original ansatz. We also provide numerical experiments to support our analysis.

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arXiv2020

Justification of the Asymptotic Coupled Mode Approximation of Out-of-Plane Gap Solitons in Maxwell Equations

In periodic media gap solitons with frequencies inside a spectral gap but close to a spectral band can be formally approximated by a slowly varying envelope ansatz. The ansatz is based on the linear Bloch waves at the edge of the band and on effective coupled mode equations (CMEs) for the envelopes. We provide a rigorous justification of such CME asymptotics in two-dimensional photonic crystals described by the Kerr nonlinear Maxwell system. We use a Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction procedure and a nested fixed point argument in the Bloch variables. The theorem provides an error estimate in $H^2(\mathbb R^2)$ between the exact solution and the envelope approximation. The results justify the formal and numerical CME-approximation in [Dohnal and D\"orfler, Multiscale Model. Simul., p. 162-191, 11 (2013)].

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arXiv2020

Eigenvalue Bifurcation in Doubly Nonlinear Problems with an Application to Surface Plasmon Polaritons

We consider a class of generally non-self-adjoint eigenvalue problems which are nonlinear in the solution as well as in the eigenvalue parameter ("doubly" nonlinear). We prove a bifurcation result from simple isolated eigenvalues of the linear problem using a Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction and provide an expansion of both the nonlinear eigenvalue and the solution. We further prove that if the linear eigenvalue is real and the nonlinear problem $\mathcal P\mathcal T$-symmetric, then the bifurcating nonlinear eigenvalue remains real. These general results are then applied in the context of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), i.e. localized solutions for the nonlinear Maxwell's equations in the presence of one or more interfaces between dielectric and metal layers. We obtain the existence of transverse electric SPPs in certain $\mathcal P\mathcal T$-symmetric configurations.

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arXiv2019

Differences between fundamental solutions of general higher order elliptic operators and of products of second order operators

We study fundamental solutions of elliptic operators of order $2m\geq4$ with constant coefficients in large dimensions $n\ge 2m$, where their singularities become unbounded. For compositions of second order operators these can be chosen as convolution products of positive singular functions, which are positive themselves. As soon as $n\geq3$, the polyharmonic operator $(-\Delta)^m$ may no longer serve as a prototype for the general elliptic operator. It is known from examples of [V.G. Maz'ya, S. A. Nazarov, Math. Notes 39 (1986); Transl. of Mat. Zametki 39 (1986)] and [E.B. Davies, Journal Differ. Equations 135 (1997)] that in dimensions $n\ge 2m+3$ fundamental solutions of specific operators of order $2m\geq4$ may change sign near their singularities: there are ``positive'' as well as ``negative'' directions along which the fundamental solution tends to $+\infty$ and $-\infty$ respectively, when approaching its pole. In order to understand this phenomenon systematically we first show that existence of a ``positive'' direction directly follows from the ellipticity of the operator. We establish an inductive argument by space dimension which shows that sign change in some dimension implies sign change in any larger dimension for suitably constructed operators. Moreover, we deduce for $n=2m$, $n=2m+2$ and for all odd dimensions an explicit closed expression for the fundamental solution in terms of its symbol. From such formulae it becomes clear that the sign of the fundamental solution for such operators depends on the dimension. Indeed, we show that we have even sign change for a suitable operator of order $2m$ in dimension $n=2m+2$. On the other hand we show that in the dimensions $n=2m$ and $n=2m+1$ the fundamental solution of any such elliptic operator is always positive around its singularity.

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arXiv2018

A-priori bounds for a quasilinear problem in critical dimension

We establish uniform a-priori bounds for solutions of the quasilinear problem $-\Delta_Nu=f(u)$ in $\Omega$, with $u=0$ on $\partial\Omega$, where $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^N$ is a bounded smooth and convex domain, and $f$ is a positive superlinear and subcritical function in the sense of the Trudinger-Moser inequality. The typical growth of $f$ is thus exponential. Finally, a generalization of the result for nonhomogeneous nonlinearities is given. Using a blow-up approach, this paper completes the results in [Damascelli-Pardo, Nonlinear Anal. Real World Appl. 41 (2018)] and [Lorca-Ruf-Ubilla, J. Differential Equations 246 no. 5 (2009)], enlarging the class of nonlinearities for which the uniform a-priori bound applies.

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arXiv2017

Uniform bounds for higher-order semilinear problems in conformal dimension

We establish uniform a-priori estimates for solutions of the semilinear Dirichlet problem \begin{equation} \begin{cases} (-\Delta)^m u=h(x,u)\quad&\mbox{in }\Omega,\\ u=\partial_nu=\cdots=\partial_n^{m-1}u=0\quad&\mbox{on }\partial\Omega, \end{cases} \end{equation} where $h$ is a positive superlinear and subcritical nonlinearity in the sense of the Trudinger-Moser-Adams inequality, either when $\Omega$ is a ball or, provided an energy control on solutions is prescribed, when $\Omega$ is a smooth bounded domain. The analogue problem with Navier boundary conditions is also studied. Finally, as a consequence of our results, existence of a positive solution is shown by degree theory.

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arXiv2017

Positivity for fourth-order semilinear problems related to the Kirchhoff-Love functional

We study the ground states of the following generalization of the Kirchhoff-Love functional, $$J_σ(u)=\int_Ω\dfrac{(Δu)^2}{2} - (1-σ)\int_Ωdet(\nabla^2u)-\int_ΩF(x,u),$$ where $Ω$ is a bounded convex domain in $\mathbb{R}^2$ with $C^{1,1}$ boundary and the nonlinearities involved are of sublinear type or superlinear with power growth. These critical points correspond to least-energy weak solutions to a fourth-order semilinear boundary value problem with Steklov boundary conditions depending on $σ$. Positivity of ground states is proved with different techniques according to the range of the parameter $σ\in\mathbb{R}$ and we also provide a convergence analysis for the ground states with respect to $σ$. Further results concerning positive radial solutions are established when the domain is a ball.

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