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YanYan Li

Publications and source records attributed to YanYan Li.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2025

A Liouville theorem for convex functions with periodic Monge-Amp\`ere measure

We study global convex solutions of the Monge-Amp\`ere equation \[ \det D^2 u = \mu \quad \text{in } \mathbb{R}^n, \] where $\mu \not\equiv 0$ is a nonnegative locally finite periodic Borel measure on $\mathbb{R}^n$. We prove a Liouville-type theorem showing that every such solution admits a unique decomposition, up to an additive constant, as the sum of a quadratic polynomial and a periodic function. This extends earlier results of Caffarelli-Li and Li-Lu, which required $\mu$ to have a density with regular or bounded logarithm, to the full generality of periodic measures, allowing degeneracy and singularities. A key ingredient is a new dichotomous Harnack-type inequality for linearized Monge-Amp\`ere equations with nonnegative periodic measures, which compensates for the failure of doubling and engulfing properties in the degenerate setting. In the extremal example where $\mu$ is the periodic Dirac measure supported on the integer lattice, we show that the solutions, up to addition of a linear function, are in one-to-one correspondence with Dirichlet-Voronoi tilings of $\mathbb{R}^n$.

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arXiv2025

Composite media, almost touching disks and the maximum principle

We consider the setting of two disks in a domain in $\mathbb{R}^2$ which are almost touching and have finite and positive conductivities, giving rise to a divergence form elliptic equation with discontinuous coefficients. We use the maximum principle to give a new proof of a gradient bound of Li-Vogelius.

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arXiv2024

Liouville Theorem with Boundary Conditions from Chern--Gauss--Bonnet Formula

The $\sigma_k(A_g)$ curvature and the boundary $\mathcal{B}^k_g$ curvature arise naturally from the Chern--Gauss--Bonnet formula for manifolds with boundary. In this paper, we prove a Liouville theorem for the equation $\sigma_k(A_g)=1$ in $\overline{\mathbb{R}^n_+}$ with the boundary condition $\mathcal{B}^k_g=c$ on $\partial\mathbb{R}^n_+$, where $g=e^{2v}|dx|^2$ and $c$ is some nonnegative constant. This extends an earlier result of Wei, which assumes the existence of $\lim_{|x|\to\infty}(v(x)+2\log|x|)$. In addition, we establish a local gradient estimate for solutions of such equations, assuming an upper bound on the solution $v$.

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arXiv2024

Removable singularity of (-1)-homogeneous solutions of stationary Navier-Stokes equations

We study the removable singularity problem for $(-1)$-homogeneous solutions of the three-dimensional incompressible stationary Navier-Stokes equations with singular rays. We prove that any local $(-1)$-homogeneous solution $u$ near a potential singular ray from the origin, which passes through a point $P$ on the unit sphere $\mathbb{S}^2$, can be smoothly extended across $P$ on $\mathbb{S}^2$, provided that $u=o(\ln \text{dist} (x, P))$ on $\mathbb{S}^2$. The result is optimal in the sense that for any $\alpha>0$, there exists a local $(-1)$-homogeneous solution near $P$ on $\mathbb{S}^2$, such that $\lim_{x\in \mathbb{S}^2, x\to P}|u(x)|/\ln |x'|=-\alpha$. Furthermore, we discuss the behavior of isolated singularities of $(-1)$-homogeneous solutions and provide examples from the literature that exhibit varying behaviors. We also present an existence result of solutions with any finite number of singular points located anywhere on $\mathbb{S}^2$.

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arXiv2023

Liouville theorems for conformally invariant fully nonlinear equations. I

A fundamental theorem of Liouville asserts that positive entire harmonic functions in Euclidean spaces must be constant. A remarkable Liouville-type theorem of Caffarelli-Gidas-Spruck states that positive entire solutions of $-\Delta u=u^{ {(n+2)}/{(n-2)} }$, $n\ge 3$, are unique modulo M\"obius transformations. Far-reaching extensions were established for general fully nonlinear conformally invariant equations through the works of Chang-Gursky-Yang, Li-Li, Li, and Viaclovsky. In this paper, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the validity of such Liouville-type theorems. This leads to necessary and sufficient conditions for local gradient estimates of solutions to hold, assuming a one-sided bound on the solutions, for a wide class of fully nonlinear elliptic equations involving Schouten tensors. A pivotal advancement in proving these Liouville-type theorems is our enhanced understanding of solutions to such equations near isolated singularities. In particular, we utilize earlier results of Caffarelli-Li-Nirenberg on lower- and upper-conical singularities. For general conformally invariant fully nonlinear elliptic equations, we prove that a viscosity super- (sub-)solution can be extended across an isolated singularity if and only if it is a lower- (upper-)conical singularity. We also provide necessary and sufficient conditions for lower- (upper-)conical behavior of a function near isolated singularities in terms of its conformal Hessian. As an application of our Liouville theorems and local gradient estimates, we establish new existence and compactness results for conformal metrics on a closed Riemannian manifold with prescribed symmetric functions of the Schouten (Ricci) tensor, allowing the scalar curvature of the conformal metrics to have varying signs.

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arXiv2022

Symmetry of hypersurfaces and the Hopf Lemma

A classical theorem of A.D. Alexandrov says that a connected compact smooth hypersurface in Euclidean space with constant mean curvature must be a sphere. We give exposition to some results on symmetry properties of hypersurfaces with ordered mean curvature and associated variations of the Hopf Lemma. Some open problems will be discussed.

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arXiv2022

Regularity of viscosity solutions of the $\sigma_k$-Loewner-Nirenberg problem

We study the regularity of the viscosity solution $u$ of the $\sigma_k$-Loewner-Nirenberg problem on a bounded smooth domain $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ for $k \geq 2$. It was known that $u$ is locally Lipschitz in $\Omega$. We prove that, with $d$ being the distance function to $\partial\Omega$ and $\delta > 0$ sufficiently small, $u$ is smooth in $\{0 < d(x) < \delta\}$ and the first $(n-1)$ derivatives of $d^{\frac{n-2}{2}} u$ are H\"older continuous in $\{0 \leq d(x) < \delta\}$. Moreover, we identify a boundary invariant which is a polynomial of the principal curvatures of $\partial\Omega$ and its covariant derivatives and vanishes if and only if $d^{\frac{n-2}{2}} u$ is smooth in $\{0 \leq d(x) < \delta\}$. Using a relation between the Schouten tensor of the ambient manifold and the mean curvature of a submanifold and related tools from geometric measure theory, we further prove that, when $\partial\Omega$ contains more than one connected components, $u$ is not differentiable in $\Omega$.

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arXiv2021

Anisotropic Caffarelli-Kohn-Nirenberg type inequalities

Caffarelli, Kohn and Nirenberg considered in 1984 the interpolation inequalities \[\||x|^{\gamma_1}u\|_{L^s(\mathbb{R}^n)}\le C\||x|^{\gamma_2}\nabla u\|_{L^p(\mathbb{R}^n)}^a\||x|^{\gamma_3}u\|_{L^q(\mathbb{R}^n)}^{1-a} \] in dimension $n\ge 1$, and established necessary and sufficient conditions for which to hold under natural assumptions on the parameters. Motivated by our study of the asymptotic stability of solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations, we consider a more general and improved anisotropic version of the interpolation inequalities \[ \||x|^{\gamma_1}|x'|^{\alpha}u\|_{L^s(\mathbb{R}^n)}\le C\||x|^{\gamma_2}|x'|^{\mu}\nabla u\|_{L^p(\mathbb{R}^n)}^{a}\||x|^{\gamma_3}|x'|^{\beta}u\|_{L^q(\mathbb{R}^n)}^{1-a} \] in dimensions $n\ge 2$, where $x=(x', x_n)$ and $x'=(x_1, ..., x_{n-1})$, and give necessary and sufficient conditions for which to hold under natural assumptions on the parameters. Moreover we extend the Caffarelli-Kohn-Nirenberg inequalities from $q\ge 1$ to $q>0$. This extension, together with a nonlinear Poincar\'{e} inequality which we obtain in this paper, has played an important role in our proof of the above mentioned anisotropic interpolation inequalities.

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arXiv2021

Optimal gradient estimates of solutions to the insulated conductivity problem in dimension greater than two

We study the insulated conductivity problem with inclusions embedded in a bounded domain in $\mathbb{R}^n$. The gradient of solutions may blow up as $\varepsilon$, the distance between inclusions, approaches to $0$. It was known that the optimal blow up rate in dimension $n = 2$ is of order $\varepsilon^{-1/2}$. It has recently been proved that in dimensions $n \ge 3$, an upper bound of the gradient is of order $\varepsilon^{-1/2 + \beta}$ for some $\beta > 0$. On the other hand, optimal values of $\beta$ have not been identified. In this paper, we prove that when the inclusions are balls, the optimal value of $\beta$ is $[-(n-1)+\sqrt{(n-1)^2+4(n-2)}~]/4 \in (0,1/2)$ in dimensions $n \ge 3$.

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arXiv2021

On the $\sigma_2$-Nirenberg problem on $\mathbb{S}^2$

We establish theorems on the existence and compactness of solutions to the $\sigma_2$-Nirenberg problem on the standard sphere $\mathbb S^2$. A first significant ingredient, a Liouville type theorem for the associated fully nonlinear M\"obius invariant elliptic equations, was established in an earlier paper of ours. Our proof of the existence and compactness results requires a number of additional crucial ingredients which we prove in this paper: A Liouville type theorem for the associated fully nonlinear M\"obius invariant degenerate elliptic equations, a priori estimates of first and second order derivatives of solutions to the $\sigma_2$-Nirenberg problem, and a B\^ocher type theorem for the associated fully nonlinear M\"obius invariant elliptic equations. Given these results, we are able to complete a fine analysis of a sequence of blow-up solutions to the $\sigma_2$-Nirenberg problem. In particular, we prove that there can be at most one blow-up point for such a blow-up sequence of solutions. This, together with a Kazdan-Warner type identity, allows us to prove $L^\infty$ a priori estimates for solutions of the $\sigma_2$-Nirenberg problem under some simple generic hypothesis. The higher derivative estimates then follow from classical estimates of Nirenberg and Schauder. In turn, the existence of solutions to the $\sigma_2$-Nirenberg problem is obtained by an application of the by now standard degree theory for second order fully nonlinear elliptic operators.

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arXiv2020

A Liouville theorem for M\"{o}bius invariant equations

In this paper we classify M\"{o}bius invariant differential operators of second order in two dimensional Euclidean space, and establish a Liouville type theorem for general M\"{o}bius invariant elliptic equations.

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arXiv2020

Gradient estimates of solutions to the insulated conductivity problem in dimension greater than two

We study the insulated conductivity problem with inclusions embedded in a bounded domain in $\mathbb{R}^n$. The gradient of solutions may blow up as $\varepsilon$, the distance between inclusions, approaches to $0$. An upper bound for the blow up rate was proved to be of order $\varepsilon^{-1/2}$. The upper bound was known to be sharp in dimension $n = 2$. However, whether this upper bound is sharp in dimension $n \ge 3$ has remained open. In this paper, we improve the upper bound in dimension $n \ge 3$ to be of order $\varepsilon^{-1/2 + \beta}$, for some $\beta > 0$.

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arXiv2020

On the $\sigma_{k}$-Nirenberg problem

We consider the problem of prescribing the $\sigma_k$-curvature on the standard sphere $\mathbb{S}^n$ with $n \geq 3$. We prove existence and compactness theorems when $k \geq n/2$. This extends an earlier result of Chang, Han and Yang for $n = 4$ and $k = 2$.

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arXiv2020

Existence and uniqueness of Green's functions to nonlinear Yamabe problems

For a given finite subset $S$ of a compact Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$ whose Schouten curvature tensor belongs to a given cone, we establish a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence and uniqueness of a conformal metric on $M \setminus S$ such that each point of $S$ corresponds to an asymptotically flat end and that the Schouten tensor of the conformal metric belongs to the boundary of the given cone. As a by-product, we define a purely local notion of Ricci lower bounds for continuous metrics which are conformal to smooth metrics and prove a corresponding volume comparison theorem.

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arXiv2019

Monge-Amp\`ere equation with bounded periodic data

We consider the Monge-Amp\`ere equation $\det(D^2u)=f$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$, where $f$ is a positive bounded periodic function. We prove that $u$ must be the sum of a quadratic polynomial and a periodic function. For $f\equiv 1$, this is the classic result by J\"orgens, Calabi and Pogorelov. For $f\in C^\alpha$, this was proved by Caffarelli and the first named author.

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arXiv2019

Homogeneous solutions of stationary Navier-Stokes equations with isolated singularities on the unit sphere. III. Two singularities

All $(-1)$-homogeneous axisymmetric no-swirl solutions of incompressible stationary Navier-Stokes equations in three dimension which are smooth on the unit sphere minus north and south poles have been classified in our earlier work as a four dimensional surface with boundary. In this paper, we establish near the no-swirl solution surface existence, non-existence and uniqueness results on $(-1)$-homogeneous axisymmetric solutions with nonzero swirl which are smooth on the unit sphere minus north and south poles.

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