arXiv subjects

Nestor Guillen

Publications and source records attributed to Nestor Guillen.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

From the free boundary condition for Hele-Shaw to a fractional parabolic equation

We propose a method to determine the smoothness of sufficiently flat solutions of one phase Hele-Shaw problems. The novelty is the observation that under a flatness assumption the free boundary --represented by the hodograph transform of the solution- solves a nonlinear integro-differential equation. This nonlinear equation is linearized to a (nonlocal) parabolic equation with bounded measurable coefficients, for which regularity estimates are available. This fact is used to prove a regularity result for the free boundary of a weak solution near points where the solution looks sufficiently flat. More concretely, flat means that in a parabolic neighborhood of the point the solution lies between the solutions corresponding to two parallel flat fronts a small distance apart --a condition that only depends on the the local behavior of the solution. In a neighborhood of such a point, the free boundary is given by the graph of a function whose spatial gradient enjoys a universal Hölder estimate in both space and time.

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arXiv2016

Pointwise estimates and regularity in geometric optics and other Generated Jacobian Equations

The study of reflector surfaces in geometric optics necessitates the analysis of certain nonlinear equations of Monge-Ampère type known as generated Jacobian equations. These equations, whose general existence theory has been recently developed by Trudinger go beyond the framework of optimal transport. We obtain pointwise estimates for weak solutions of such equations under a condition analogous to the A3w condition of Ma, Trudinger and Wang. Estimates of this type have played an important role in the regularity theory for optimal transport maps and were previously unknown in this context, including the important case of the near field reflector problem.

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arXiv2015

Mean curvature, threshold dynamics, and phase field theory on finite graphs

In the continuum, close connections exist between mean curvature flow, the Allen-Cahn (AC) partial differential equation, and the Merriman-Bence-Osher (MBO) threshold dynamics scheme. Graph analogues of these processes have recently seen a rise in popularity as relaxations of NP-complete combinatorial problems, which demands deeper theoretical underpinnings of the graph processes. The aim of this paper is to introduce these graph processes in the light of their continuum counterparts, provide some background, prove the first results connecting them, illustrate these processes with examples and identify open questions for future study. We derive a graph curvature from the graph cut function, the natural graph counterpart of total variation (perimeter). This derivation and the resulting curvature definition differ from those in earlier literature, where the continuum mean curvature is simply discretized, and bears many similarities to the continuum nonlocal curvature or nonlocal means formulation. This new graph curvature is not only relevant for graph MBO dynamics, but also appears in the variational formulation of a discrete time graph mean curvature flow. We prove estimates showing that the dynamics are trivial for both MBO and AC evolutions if the parameters (the time-step and diffuse interface scale, respectively) are sufficiently small (a phenomenon known as "freezing" or "pinning") and also that the dynamics for MBO are nontrivial if the time step is large enough. These bounds are in terms of graph quantities such as the spectrum of the graph Laplacian and the graph curvature. Adapting a Lyapunov functional for the continuum MBO scheme to graphs, we prove that the graph MBO scheme converges to a stationary state in a finite number of iterations. Variations on this scheme have recently become popular in the literature as ways to minimize (continuum) nonlocal total variation.

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arXiv2015

Neumann Homogenization via Integro-Differential Operators

In this note we describe how the Neumann homogenization of fully nonlinear elliptic equations can be recast as the study of nonlocal (integro-differential) equations involving elliptic integro-differential operators on the boundary. This is motivated by a new integro-differential representation for nonlinear operators with a comparison principle which we also introduce. In the simple case that the original domain is an infinite strip with almost periodic Neumann data, this leads to an almost periodic homogenization problem involving a fully nonlinear integro-differential operator on the Neumann boundary. This method gives a new proof-- which was left as an open question in the earlier work of Barles- Da Lio- Lions- Souganidis (2008)- of the result obtained recently by Choi-Kim-Lee (2013), and we anticipate that it will generalize to other contexts.

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arXiv2014

Estimates for radial solutions of the homogeneous Landau equation with Coulomb potential

Motivated by the question of existence of global solutions, we obtain pointwise upper bounds for radially symmetric and monotone solutions to the homogeneous Landau equation with Coulomb potential. The estimates say that blow up in the $L^\infty$-norm at a finite time $T$ can occur only if the $L^{3/2}$-norm of the solution concentrates for times close to $T$. The bounds are obtained using the comparison principle for the Landau equation and for the associated mass function. This method provides long-time existence results for the isotropic version of the Landau equation with Coulomb potential, recently introduced by Krieger and Strain.

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arXiv2014

Global well-posedness for the homogeneous Landau equation

Global well-posedness and exponential decay to equilibrium are proved for the homogeneous Landau equation from kinetic theory. The initial distribution is only assumed to be bounded and decaying sufficiently fast at infinity. In particular, discontinuous initial configurations that might be far from equilibrium are covered. Despite the lack of a comparison principle for the equation, the proof of existence relies on barrier arguments and parabolic regularity theory. Uniqueness and decay to equilibrium are then obtained through weighted integral inequalities. Although the focus is on the spatially homogeneous case with Coulomb potential, the methods introduced here may be applied elsewhere in nonlinear kinetic theory.

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arXiv2013

Quasistatic Droplet percolation

We consider the Hele-Shaw problem in a randomly perforated domain with zero Neumann boundary conditions. A homogenization limit is obtained as the characteristic scale of the domain goes to zero. Specifically, we prove that the solutions as well as their free boundaries converge uniformly to those corresponding to a homogeneous and anisotropic Hele-Shaw problem set in $\mathbb{R}^d$. The main challenge when deriving a limit lies in controlling the oscillations of the free boundary, this is overcome first by extending De Giorgi-Nash-Moser type estimates to perforated domains and second by proving the almost surely non-degenerate growth of the solution near its free boundary.

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arXiv2013

The local geometry of maps with c-convex potentials

We identify a condition for regularity of optimal transport maps that requires only three derivatives of the cost function, for measures given by densities that are only bounded above and below. This new condition is equivalent to the weak Ma-Trudinger-Wang condition when the cost is $C^4$. Moreover, we only require (non-strict) c-convexity of the support of the target measure, removing the hypothesis of strong c-convexity in a previous result of Figalli, Kim, and McCann, but at the added cost of assuming compact containment of the supports of both the source and target measures.

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arXiv2012

Aleksandrov-Bakelman-Pucci Type Estimates For Integro-Differential Equations

In this work we provide an Aleksandrov-Bakelman-Pucci type estimate for a certain class of fully nonlinear elliptic integro-differential equations, the proof of which relies on an appropriate generalization of the convex envelope to a nonlocal, fractional-order setting and on the use of Riesz potentials to interpret second derivatives as fractional order operators. This result applies to a family of equations involving some nondegenerate kernels and as a consequence provides some new regularity results for previously untreated equations. Furthermore, this result also gives a new comparison theorem for viscosity solutions of such equations which only depends on the $L^\infty$ and $L^n$ norms of the right hand side, in contrast to previous comparison results which utilize the continuity of the right hand side for their conclusions. These results appear to be new even for the linear case of the relevant equations.

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arXiv2011

Regularity for non-local almost minimal boundaries and applications

We introduce a notion of non-local almost minimal boundaries similar to that introduced by Almgren in geometric measure theory. Extending methods developed recently for non-local minimal surfaces we prove that flat non-local almost minimal boundaries are smooth. This can be viewed as a non-local version of the Almgren-De Giorgi-Tamanini regularity theory. The main result has several applications, among these $C^{1,α}$ regularity for sets with prescribed non-local mean curvature in $L^p$ and regularity of solutions to non-local obstacle problems.

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arXiv2010

Five lectures on optimal transportation: Geometry, regularity and applications

In this series of lectures we introduce the Monge-Kantorovich problem of optimally transporting one distribution of mass onto another, where optimality is measured against a cost function c(x,y). Connections to geometry, inequalities, and partial differential equations will be discussed, focusing in particular on recent developments in the regularity theory for Monge-Ampere type equations. An application to microeconomics will also be described, which amounts to finding the equilibrium price distribution for a monopolist marketing a multidimensional line of products to a population of anonymous agents whose preferences are known only statistically.

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arXiv2009

Optimal regularity for the Signorini problem

We prove under general assumptions that solutions of the thin obstacle or Signorini problem in any space dimension achieve the optimal regularity $C^{1,1/2}$. This improves the known optimal regularity results by allowing the thin obstacle to be defined in an arbitrary $C^{1,β}$ hypersurface, $β>1/2$, additionally, our proof covers any linear elliptic operator in divergence form with smooth coefficients. The main ingredients of the proof are a version of Almgren's monotonicity formula and the optimal regularity of global solutions.

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