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Serena Dipierro

Publications and source records attributed to Serena Dipierro.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
arXiv2018

On a Minkowski geometric flow in the plane: evolution of curves with lack of scale invariance

We consider a planar geometric flow in which the normal velocity is a nonlocal variant of the curvature. The flow is not scaling invariant and in fact has different behaviors at different spatial scales, thus producing phenomena that are different with respect to both the classical mean curvature flow and the fractional mean curvature flow. In particular, we give examples of neckpinch singularity formation, and we discuss convexity properties of the evolution. We also take into account traveling waves for this geometric flow, showing that a new family of $C^{1,1}$ and convex traveling sets arises in this setting.

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arXiv2018

A simple mathematical model inspired by the Purkinje cells: from delayed travelling waves to fractional diffusion

Recently, several experiments have demonstrated the existence of fractional diffusion in the neuronal transmission occurringin the Purkinje cells, whose malfunctioning is known to be related to the lack of voluntary coordination and the appearance of tremors. Also, a classical mathematical feature is that (fractional) parabolic equations possess smoothing effects, in contrast with the case of hyperbolic equations, which typically exhibit shocks and discontinuities. In this paper, we show how a simple toy-model of a highly ramified structure, somehow inspired by that of the Purkinje cells, may produce a fractional diffusion via the superposition of travelling waves that solve a hyperbolic equation. This could suggest that the high ramification of the Purkinje cells might have provided an evolutionary advantage of "smoothing" the transmission of signals and avoiding shock propagations (at the price of slowing a bit such transmission). Although an experimental confirmation of the possibility of such evolutionary advantage goes well beyond the goals of this paper, we think that it is intriguing, as a mathematical counterpart, to consider the time fractional diffusion as arising from the superposition of delayed travelling waves in highly ramified transmission media. The case of a travelling concave parabola with sufficiently small curvature is explicitly computed. The new link that we propose between time fractional diffusion and hyperbolic equation also provides a novelty with respect to the usual paradigm relating time fractional diffusion with parabolic equations in the limit. This paper is written in such a way as to be of interest to both biologists and mathematician alike. In order to accomplish this aim, both complete explanations of the objects considered and detailed lists of references are provided.

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arXiv2018

Wellposedness of a nonlinear peridynamic model

We consider an evolution equation inspired by a model in peridynamics, with a singular pairwise interaction force term, and we give global in time existence, uniqueness and stability results for the Cauchy problem.

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arXiv2018

Rigidity results for elliptic boundary value problems: stable solutions for quasilinear equations with Neumann or Robin boundary conditions

We provide a general approach to the classification results of stable solutions of (possibly nonlinear) elliptic problems with Robin conditions. The method is based on a geometric formula of Poincaré type, which is inspired by a classical work of Sternberg and Zumbrun and which gives an accurate description of the curvatures of the level sets of the stable solutions. {F}rom this, we show that the stable solutions of a quasilinear problem with Neumann data are necessarily constant. As a byproduct of this, we obtain an alternative proof of a celebrated result of Casten and Holland, and Matano. In addition, we will obtain as a consequence a new proof of a result recently established by Bandle, Mastrolia, Monticelli and Punzo.

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arXiv2018

Minimizers of the p-oscillation functional

We define a family of functionals, called p-oscillation functionals, that can be interpreted as discrete versions of the classical total variation functional for p=1 and of the p-Dirichlet functionals for p>1. We introduce the notion of minimizers and prove existence of solutions to the Dirichlet problem. Finally we provide a description of Class A minimizers (i.e. minimizers under compact perturbations) in dimension 1.

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arXiv2018

Minimizers for nonlocal perimeters of Minkowski type

We study a nonlocal perimeter functional inspired by the Minkowski content, whose main feature is that it interpolates between the classical perimeter and the volume functional. This problem is related by a generalized coarea formula to a Dirichlet energy functional in which the energy density is the local oscillation of a function. These two nonlocal functionals arise in concrete applications, since the nonlocal character of the problems and the different behaviors of the energy at different scales allow the preservation of details and irregularities of the image in the process of removing white noises, thus improving the quality of the image without losing relevant features. In this paper, we provide a series of results concerning existence, rigidity and classification of minimizers, compactness results, isoperimetric inequalities, Poincaré-Wirtinger inequalities and density estimates. Furthermore, we provide the construction of planelike minimizers for this generalized perimeter under a small and periodic volume perturbation.

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arXiv2018

Rigidity results in Diffusion Markov Triples

We consider stable solutions of semilinear equations in a very general setting. The equation is set on a Polish topological space endowed with a measure and the linear operator is induced by a carré du champs (equivalently, the equation is set in a diffusion Markov triple). Under suitable curvature dimension conditions, we establish that stable solutions with integrable carré du champs are necessarily constant (weaker conditions characterize the structure of the carré du champs and carré du champ itéré). The proofs are based on a geometric Poincaré formula in this setting. From the general theorems established, several previous results are obtained as particular cases and new ones are provided as well.

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arXiv2017

A three-dimensional symmetry result for a phase transition equation in the genuinely nonlocal regime

We consider bounded solutions of the nonlocal Allen-Cahn equation $$ (-Δ)^s u=u-u^3\qquad{\mbox{ in }}{\mathbb{R}}^3,$$ under the monotonicity condition $\partial_{x_3}u>0$ and in the genuinely nonlocal regime in which~$s\in\left(0,\frac12\right)$. Under the limit assumptions $$ \lim_{x_n\to-\infty} u(x',x_n)=-1\quad{\mbox{ and }}\quad \lim_{x_n\to+\infty} u(x',x_n)=1,$$ it has been recently shown that~$u$ is necessarily $1$D, i.e. it depends only on one Euclidean variable. The goal of this paper is to obtain a similar result without assuming such limit conditions. This type of results can be seen as nonlocal counterparts of the celebrated conjecture formulated by Ennio De Giorgi.

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arXiv2017

Classification of stable solutions for boundary value problems with nonlinear boundary conditions on Riemannian manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature

We present a geometric formula of Poincaré type, which is inspired by a classical work of Sternberg and Zumbrun, and we provide a classification result of stable solutions of linear elliptic problems with nonlinear Robin conditions on Riemannian manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature. The result obtained here is a refinement of a result recently established by Bandle, Mastrolia, Monticelli and Punzo.

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arXiv2017

Density estimates for degenerate double-well potentials

We consider a general energy functional for phase coexistence models, which comprises the case of Banach norms in the gradient term plus a double-well potential. We establish density estimates for $Q$-minima. Namely, the state parameters close to both phases are proved to occupy a considerable portion of the ambient space. From this, we obtain the uniform convergence of the level sets to the limit interface in the sense of Hausdorff distance. The main novelty of these results lies in the fact that we do not assume the double-well potential to be non-degenerate in the vicinity of the minima. As far as we know, these types of density results for degenerate potentials are new even for minimizers and even in the case of semilinear equations, but our approach can comprise at the same time quasilinear equations, $Q$-minima and general energy functionals.

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arXiv2017

Improvement of flatness for nonlocal phase transitions

We prove an improvement of flatness result for nonlocal phase transitions. For a class of nonlocal equations that includes $(-Δ)^{s/2} u = u-u^3$, with~$s\in(0,1)$, we obtain a result in the same spirit of a celebrated theorem of Savin for the equation $-Δu = u-u^3$. As a consequence, we deduce that entire solutions to~$(-Δ)^{s/2} u = u-u^3$ with asymptotically flat level sets are $1$D when~$s\in(0,1)$. The results presented are completely new even for the case of the fractional Laplacian, but the robustness of the proofs allows us to treat also more general, possibly anisotropic, integro-differential operators.

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arXiv2017

Classification of irregular free boundary points for non-divergence type equations with discontinuous coefficients

We provide an integral estimate for a non-divergence (non-variational) form second order elliptic equation $a_{ij}u_{ij}=u^p$, $u\ge 0$, $p\in[0, 1)$, with bounded discontinuous coefficients $a_{ij}$ having small BMO norm. We consider the simplest discontinuity of the form~$x\otimes x|x|^{-2}$ at the origin. As an application we show that the free boundary corresponding to the obstacle problem (i.e. when~$p=0$) cannot be smooth at the points of discontinuity of~$a_{ij}(x)$. To implement our construction, an integral estimate and a scale invariance will provide the homogeneity of the blow-up sequences, which then can be classified using ODE arguments.

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arXiv2017

On stationary fractional Mean Field Games

We provide an existence result for stationary fractional mean field game systems, with fractional exponent greater than 1/2. In the case in which the coupling is a nonlocal regularizing potential, we obtain existence of solutions under general assumptions on the Hamiltonian. In the case of local coupling, we restrict to the subcritical regime, that is the case in which the diffusion part of the operator dominates the Hamiltonian term. We consider both the case of local bounded coupling and of local unbounded coupling with power-type growth. In this second regime, we impose some conditions on the growth of the coupling and on the growth of the Hamiltonian with respect to the gradient term.

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arXiv2017

A class of unstable free boundary problems

We consider the free boundary problem arising from an energy functional which is the sum of a Dirichlet energy and a nonlinear function of either the classical or the fractional perimeter. The main difference with the existing literature is that the total energy is here a nonlinear superposition of the either local or nonlocal surface tension effect with the elastic energy. In sharp contrast with the linear case, the problem considered in this paper is unstable, namely a minimizer in a given domain is not necessarily a minimizer in a smaller domain. We provide an explicit example for this instability. We also give a free boundary condition, which emphasizes the role played by the domain in the geometry of the free boundary. In addition, we provide density estimates for the free boundary and regularity results for the minimal solution. As far as we know, this is the first case in which a nonlinear function of the perimeter is studied in this type of problems. Also, the results obtained in this nonlinear setting are new even in the case of the local perimeter, and indeed the instability feature is not a consequence of the possibly nonlocality of the problem, but it is due to the nonlinear character of the energy functional.

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arXiv2017

(Non)local and (non)linear free boundary problems

We discuss some recent developments in the theory of free boundary problems, as obtained in a series of papers in collaboration with L. Caffarelli, A. Karakhanyan and O. Savin. The main feature of these new free boundary problems is that they deeply take into account nonlinear energy superpositions and possibly nonlocal functionals. The nonlocal parameter interpolates between volume and perimeter functionals, and so it can be seen as a fractional counterpart of classical free boundary problems, in which the bulk energy presents nonlocal aspects. The nonlinear term in the energy superposition takes into account the possibility of modeling different regimes in terms of different energy levels and provides a lack of scale invariance, which in turn may cause a structural instability of minimizers that may vary from one scale to another.

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arXiv2017

Nonlocal phase transitions: rigidity results and anisotropic geometry

We provide a series of rigidity results for a nonlocal phase transition equation. The prototype equation that we consider is of the form $$ (-Δ)^{s/2} u=u-u^3,$$ with~$s\in(0,1)$. More generally, we can take into account equations like $$ L u = f(u),$$ where $f$ is a bistable nonlinearity and $L$ is an integro-differential operator, possibly of anisotropic type. The results that we obtain are an improvement of flatness theorem and a series of theorems concerning the one-dimensional symmetry for monotone and minimal solutions, in the research line dictaded by a classical conjecture of E. De Giorgi. Here, we collect a series of pivotal results, of geometric type, which are exploited in the proofs of the main results in the companion paper.

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