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Riccardo Montalto

Publications and source records attributed to Riccardo Montalto.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Long-wave instability of periodic shear flows with constant magnetic field for the 2D resistive MHD equations

We investigate the long-wave linear stability and instability of the two-dimensional viscous, resistive Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations, in vorticity-current formulation, on the periodic domain ${\mathbb T}_α\times {\mathbb T} = \Big( {\mathbb R}/(\frac{2 π}α {\mathbb Z}) \times {\mathbb R}/(2 π{\mathbb Z}) \Big)$, around a periodic shear flow $(U(y),0)$ coupled with a constant background magnetic field ${\bf b}=({\rm b}_1,{\rm b}_2)$. It is a non-trivial extension of a recent paper for the Navier-Stokes equations by Colombo, Dolce, Montalto & Ventura to the MHD setting in the spirit of the classical works of Kolmogorov, Meshalkin, Sinai and Yudovich. We establish explicit conditions on the shear flow profile $U(y)$ involving the viscosity $ν$, the resistivity $η$ and the components of the background magnetic field ${\bf b}$ to obtain linear long-wave stability and instability in the regime $α\ll 1$. The proof combines a non-perturbative normal form transformation decoupling the zero Fourier mode from the non-zero modes with sharp asymptotic expansions of the eigenvalues bifurcating from the zero unperturbed eigenvalue with respect to the parameter $α$. As a dynamical consequence, we obtain a splitting of the phase space into unstable and stable subspaces, on which solutions grow or decay exponentially in Sobolev norm.

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arXiv2026

Nonlinear Instability in the 2D Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation

In this paper we analyze the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation (KSE), a model of flame-front propagation, on a two-dimensional square torus of arbitrary size $2 L$ with $L > π$. In this case, the linearized equation at the origin admits a finite number of growing modes, which corresponds to the positive eigenvalues of the linear operator $- Δ^2 - Δ$. The problem of analyzing the long-time behavior of solutions of the 2D KSE in two spatial dimensions remains largely open; the only global existence results are for sufficiently small tori, or for sufficiently anisotropic and thin domains, due to the lack of good a priori estimates. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the instability around growing modes at the nonlinear level. More precisely, we consider the maximal growing mode $λ_0$ and we show that there is a finite dimensional manifold of initial data of size $\varepsilon$ arbitrarily small such that the corresponding solutions become of size $O(1)$ over a time-scale of order ${\rm log}(\varepsilon^{- 1})$. The proof is based on several ingredients such as a sharp quantitative construction of an approximate solution bifurcating from the maximal linearly growing mode, a fixed point argument with exponential weights to construct local in time solutions, and a continuation argument based on sharp energy estimates and para-differential calculus.

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arXiv2026

Time-periodic vortices near translating symmetric dipole patches

We prove the existence of time-periodic solutions of the two-dimensional incompressible Euler equations bifurcating from a translating vortex pair. The reference configuration consists of two symmetric vortex patches of equal strength and opposite sign traveling at constant speed. In a regime of large separation between the vortices, the dynamics may be viewed as a small perturbation of an integrable system. Working in a co-moving frame and using the contour dynamics formulation, we reduce the problem to a nonlinear transport equation for the vortex boundaries. The linearized operator exhibits degeneracies associated with symmetries and transport effects. By combining a Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction, Nash-Moser scheme, and spectral analysis with sharp asymptotic expansions of the eigenvalues in order to overcome the degeneracy, we construct families of non-rigid, time-periodic vortex patch solutions for a large Cantor set of parameters. The analysis reveals that translating dipoles possess a surprisingly rich nearby dynamics, far beyond the classical rigid paradigm usually associated with vortex patch motion. More generally, the approach developed in this work is flexible and robust, and is expected to extend to a broader class of nonlocal PDEs from Fluid Mechanics with degenerate behaviours.

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arXiv2026

The Vanishing Viscosity Limit and Boundary Layers for Symmetric Fluid Flows with Anisotropic Viscosity

We study the vanishing viscosity limit for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with anisotropic viscosity in bounded domains, analyzing certain classes of symmetric flows: plane parallel, pipe parallel and circularly symmetric. By anisotropic viscosity, it is meant here that the viscosity coefficient in the direction normal to the wall is different than that in the direction tangential to the wall. Using boundary layer theory and semigroup techniques, we establish the validity of the vanishing viscosity limit in the energy norm, that is, in $L^2$ in space uniformly in time, for all three classes of flows, with explicit convergence rates. We further obtain higher-order estimates under suitable assumptions on the anisotropic viscosity coefficients. In particular, we consider both the case in which the tangential viscosity coefficient goes to zero faster than the normal one and, conversely, the case when the normal coefficient vanishes faster then the tangential one. Our results extend previous works on isotropic viscosity and provide new examples where the vanishing viscosity limit can be rigorously justified in the anisotropic setting.

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arXiv2026

Quasi-resonant normal form and quadratic lifespan for 3D gravity-capillary water waves

We study the long-time dynamics of small-amplitude solutions to the three-dimensional gravity-capillary water waves equations for an inviscid and irrotational fluid with periodic boundary conditions. We prove that, for almost all values of the surface tension parameter, solutions with initial size $\varepsilon$ exist and remain small over time intervals of order $\varepsilon^{-2}$. A major difficulty arises from the loss of derivatives caused by the quasilinear nature of the equations combined with severe quadratic and cubic small-divisor interactions in high space dimensions. Classical normal form methods applied to 3D water waves system typically fail to prevent derivative loss due to the accumulation of near-resonances. To overcome this obstruction, we develop a new analytical strategy that combines a sharp frequency partition with a quasi-resonant normal form transformation acting only on selected interaction scales. Our microlocal analysis reveals that the potentially dangerous interactions terms exhibit a block-diagonal structure, which stems from both the geometric properties of the quasi-resonant frequency sets and the Hamiltonian structure of the water waves system. As a consequence, these operators preserve Sobolev norms and do not produce energy growth. This structural insight, together with the quasi-resonant normal-form transformation, allows us to prevent derivative-loss mechanisms while avoiding the accumulation of harmful small denominators.

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arXiv2026

Long time dynamics close to large amplitude quasi-periodic traveling waves in two dimensional forced rotating fluids

In this paper we consider the $β$-plane equation with a smooth external force which is a quasi-periodic traveling wave of large amplitude $O(λ^{α- 1})$, $1 < α< 2$, and with large speed of propagation of size $O(λ)$. In a previous paper, the second and the third author proved the existence of quasi-periodic traveling wave solutions of large amplitude of order $O(λ^θ)$, for some $θ> 0$. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the long time dynamics for smooth initial data close to these traveling wave solutions. In particular, we shall prove that, for initial data sufficiently close to a fixed traveling wave solution (in the $H^s$ topology), the corresponding solution remains close to the traveling wave solution for arbitrary long time (independent of the size of the traveling wave solution). As a consequence, we prove that there are open sets of large initial for which one has almost global existence, namely such that the corresponding solution remains of the same size of the initial datum for arbitrary long time (independent of the size of the initial data). The proof combines several ingredients: an analysis of the linearized PDE at any traveling wave solution via normal form methods, a sharp analysis of the transformed nonlinear problem under the change of coordinates that diagonalizes the linearized equation and energy estimates.

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arXiv2025

Long-wave instability of periodic shear flows for the 2D Navier-Stokes equations

In 1959, Kolmogorov proposed to study the instability of the shear flow $(\sin(y),0)$ in the vanishing viscosity regime in tori $\mathbb{T}_α\times \mathbb{T}$. This question was later resolved by Meshalkin and Sinai. We extend the problem to general shear flows $(U(y),0)$ and show that every $U(y)$ exhibits long-wave instability whenever $\|\partial_y^{-1} U\|_{L^2} > ν$ and $α\ll ν$, with $ν$ being the kinematic viscosity. This instability mechanism confirms previous findings by Yudovich in 1966, supported also by several numerical results, and is established through two independent approaches: one via the construction of Kato's isomorphism and one via normal forms. Unlike in many other applications of the latter methods, both proofs deal with the presence of a delicate term in the linearized operator that becomes singular as $α$ approaches $0$.

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arXiv2025

Time Quasi-Periodic Three-dimensional Traveling Gravity Water Waves

Starting with the pioneering computations of Stokes in 1847, the search of traveling waves in fluid mechanics has always been a fundamental topic, since they can be seen as building blocks to determine the long time dynamics (which is a widely open problem). In this paper we prove the existence of time quasi-periodic traveling wave solutions for three-dimensional pure gravity water waves in finite depth, on flat tori, with an arbitrary number of speeds of propagation. These solutions are global in time, they do not reduce to stationary solutions in any moving reference frame and they are approximately given by finite sums of Stokes waves traveling with rationally independent speeds of propagation. This is a very hard small divisors problem for Partial Differential Equations due to the fact that one deals with a dispersive quasi-linear PDE in higher dimension with a very complicated geometry of the resonances. Our result is the first KAM (Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser) result for an autonomous, dispersive, quasi-linear PDE in dimension greater than one and it is the first example of global solutions, which do not reduce to steady ones in any moving reference frame, for 3D water waves equations on compact domains.

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arXiv2024

Large amplitude quasi-periodic traveling waves in two dimensional forced rotating fluids

We establish the existence of quasi-periodic traveling wave solutions for the $β$-plane equation on $\mathbb{T}^2$ with a large quasi-periodic traveling wave external force. These solutions exhibit large sizes, which depend on the frequency of oscillations of the external force. Due to the presence of small divisors, the proof relies on a nonlinear Nash-Moser scheme tailored to construct nonlinear waves of large size. To our knowledge, this is the first instance of constructing quasi-periodic solutions for a quasilinear PDE in dimensions greater than one, with a 1-smoothing dispersion relation that is highly degenerate - indicating an infinite-dimensional kernel for the linear principal operator. This degeneracy challenge is overcome by preserving the traveling-wave structure, the conservation of momentum and by implementing normal form methods for the linearized system with sublinear dispersion relation in higher space dimension.

math.AP↗
arXiv2024

Quadratic lifespan for the sublinear $α$-SQG sharp front problem

In this paper we consider the generalized surface quasi-geostrophic $α$-SQG equations, in the "sublinear regime" $α\in (0, 1)$ and we study the stability of vortex patches close to vortex discs. We shall prove that for regular, Sobolev initial vortex patches $\varepsilon$-close to a vortex disc, the solutions stay $\varepsilon$-close to a vortex disc for a time interval of order $O(\varepsilon^{- 2})$. The proof is based on a paradifferential Birkhoff normal form reduction, implemented in the case where the dispersion relation is sublinear.

math.AP↗
arXiv2024

Large amplitude traveling waves for the non-resistive MHD system

We prove the existence of large amplitude bi-periodic traveling waves (stationary in a moving frame) of the two-dimensional non-resistive Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) system with a traveling wave external force with large velocity speed $λ(ω_1, ω_2)$ and of amplitude of order $O(λ^{1^+})$ where $λ\gg 1$ is a large parameter. For most values of $ω= (ω_1, ω_2)$ and for $λ\gg 1$ large enough, we construct bi-periodic traveling wave solutions of arbitrarily large amplitude as $λ\to + \infty$. More precisely, we show that the velocity field is of order $O(λ^{0^+})$, whereas the magnetic field is close to a constant vector as $λ\to + \infty$. Due to the presence of small divisors, the proof is based on a nonlinear Nash-Moser scheme adapted to construct nonlinear waves of large amplitude. The main difficulty is that the linearized equation at any approximate solution is an unbounded perturbation of large size of a diagonal operator and hence the problem is not perturbative. The invertibility of the linearized operator is then performed by using tools from micro-local analysis and normal forms together with a sharp analysis of high and low frequency regimes w.r. to the large parameter $λ\gg 1$. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first result in which global in time, large amplitude solutions are constructed for the 2D non-resistive MHD system with periodic boundary conditions and also the first existence results of large amplitude quasi-periodic solutions for a nonlinear PDE in higher space dimension.

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arXiv2023

Space quasi-periodic steady Euler flows close to the inviscid Couette flow

We prove the existence of steady \emph{space quasi-periodic} stream functions, solutions for the Euler equation in vorticity-stream function formulation in the two dimensional channel ${\mathbb R}\times [-1,1]$. These solutions bifurcate from a prescribed shear equilibrium near the Couette flow, whose profile induces finitely many modes of oscillations in the horizontal direction for the linearized problem. Using a Nash-Moser implicit function iterative scheme, near such equilibrium we construct small amplitude, space reversible stream functions slightly deforming the linear solutions and retaining the horizontal quasi-periodic structure. These solutions exist for most values of the parameters characterizing the shear equilibrium. As a by-product, the streamlines of the nonlinear flow exhibit Kelvin's cat eye-like trajectories arising from the finitely many stagnation lines of the shear equilibrium.

math.AP↗
arXiv2022

Almost global existence for some Hamiltonian PDEs with small Cauchy data on general tori

In this paper we prove a result of almost global existence for some abstract nonlinear PDEs on flat tori and apply it to some concrete equations, namely a nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a convolution potential, a beam equation and a quantum hydrodinamical equation. We also apply it to the stability of plane waves in NLS. The main point is that the abstract result is based on a nonresonance condition much weaker than the usual ones, which rely on the celebrated Bourgain's Lemma which provides a partition of the "resonant sites" of the Laplace operator on irrational tori.

math.AP↗
arXiv2022

A KAM approach to the inviscid limit for the 2D Navier-Stokes equations

In this paper we investigate the inviscid limit $ν\to 0$ for time-quasi-periodic solutions of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations on the two-dimensional torus ${\mathbb T}^2$, with a small time-quasi-periodic external force. More precisely, we construct solutions of the forced Navier Stokes equation, bifurcating from a given time quasi-periodic solution of the incompressible Euler equations and admitting vanishing viscosity limit to the latter, uniformly for all times and independently of the size of the external perturbation. Our proof is based on the construction of an approximate solution, up to an error of order $O(ν^2)$ and on a fixed point argument starting with this new approximate solution. A fundamental step is to prove the invertibility of the linearized Navier Stokes operator at a quasi-periodic solution of the Euler equation, with smallness conditions and estimates which are uniform with respect to the viscosity parameter. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first positive result for the inviscid limit problem that is global and uniform in time and it is the first KAM result in the framework of the singular limit problems.

math.AP↗
arXiv2021

Spectral asymptotics of all the eigenvalues of Schrödinger operators on flat tori

We study Schrödinger operators with Floquet boundary conditions on flat tori obtaining a spectral result giving an asymptotic expansion of all the eigenvalues. The expansion is in $λ^{-δ}$ with $δ\in(0,1)$ for most of the eigenvalues $λ$ (stable eigenvalues), while it is a "directional expansion" for the remaining eigenvalues (unstable eigenvalues). The proof is based on a structure theorem which is a variant of the one proved in \cite{PS10,PS12} and on a new iterative quasimode argument.

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