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The Landau equation: Well-posedness and singularities of homoenergetic solutions

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Abstract

We consider the inhomogeneous Landau equation and focus on solutions whose density and temperature evolve in time but remain spatially homogeneous. Such solutions are called homoenergetic. We identify one class of initial data for which homoenergetic solutions exist globally in time, and another class for which they develop finite-time hydrodynamic singularities. The initial data are spatially inhomogeneous, neither close to vacuum nor close to equilibrium; both the well-posedness and the finite-time blow-up results hold for all soft and hard potentials.

Introduction

The Landau equation is a fundamental model in kinetic theory which can be used to describe the dynamics of collisional plasmas. It characterizes the evolution of a large system of interacting particles through the evolution of the phase-space density f(t,x,v)f(t,x,v), where t≥0t \ge0 denotes time and x,v∈R3x,v \in\mathbb{R}^{3} represent the position and velocity variables, respectively. The Landau equation is given by

∂tf+v⋅∇xf=Q(f),(1)\partial_t f + v \cdot\nabla_x f = Q(f), \tag*{(1)}

where the collision operator acts only on the velocity variable and is defined by

Q(f)(v)=div⁡v∫R3Φ(v−v∗)(f(t,x,v∗)∇vf(t,x,v)−f(t,x,v)∇v∗f(t,x,v∗)) dv∗,(2)Q(f)(v) = \operatorname{div}_v \int_{\mathbb{R}^{3}} \Phi(v-v_*) \left(f(t,x,v_*)\nabla_v f(t,x,v) - f(t,x,v)\nabla_{v_*}f(t,x,v_*)\right)\,dv_*, \tag*{(2)}

with

Φ(z)=∣z∣2+γP(z),P(z)=Id⁡−z⊗z∣z∣2,(3)\Phi(z) = |z|^{2+\gamma}P(z), \qquad P(z) = \operatorname{Id} - \frac{z \otimes z}{|z|^2}, \tag*{(3)}

where P(z)P(z) denotes the orthogonal projection onto the plane orthogonal to zz. The parameter γ\gamma is usually considered in the range γ≥−3\gamma\ge-3, with the most physically relevant case corresponding to γ=−3\gamma=-3. This case is usually referred to as Coulomb interaction.

The question of whether solutions to (1) develop finite-time singularities remains a challenging open problem. Global-in-time smooth solutions are known to exist only for specific classes of initial data. In the spatially homogeneous setting, this was established by Guillen and Silvestre [20], with subsequent developments for non smooth initial data by Golding, Gualdani, and Loher [18], Ji [26],

MPG is partially supported by NSF grant DMS-2511625 and by the CNS SPARK grant. and Desvillettes et al. [10]. In the perturbative regime near equilibrium, global well-posedness was proved by Guo [22] and later refined by Guo and Strain [37]. For initial data close to vacuum and interaction potentials satisfying γ>−2\gamma> -2, global existence was established by Luk [29] for soft potentials and by Chaturvedi [9] for hard potentials. On the other hand, the second author et al. [3] ruled out a class of Type I self-similar blow-up profiles. More recently, the second author et al. [2] proved the existence of finite-time singularities for interaction potentials γ∈(3,2]\gamma\in(\sqrt{3},2]. Their proof exploits a connection between the Landau equation and the compressible isentropic Euler equations.

The contribution of this manuscript is twofold: we show the existence of a class of smooth initial data for which the equation (1) admits a global-in-time smooth solution, and another class for which smooth solutions develop hydrodynamic singularities in finite time. Our results are collected in the following two theorems:

Theorem 1.1 (Global well-posedness). Let T>0T > 0, γ≥−3\gamma\ge-3. Let L0∈R3×3L_0 \in\mathbb{R}^{3 \times3} satisfy

det⁡(I+tL0)>0(4)\det(I+tL_0)>0 \tag*{(4)}

for all 0≤t≤T0 \le t \le T. Let gin(⋅)≥0g_{\mathrm{in}}(\cdot) \ge0 be a smooth and rapidly decaying function in R3\mathbb{R}^3.

The inhomogeneous Landau equation (1) with initial data

fin(x,v)=gin(v−L0x),f_{\mathrm{in}}(x,v)=g_{\mathrm{in}}(v-L_0x),

has a classical solution f∈C∞([0,T]×R6)∩Lt,x∞(Lvp)f \in C^\infty([0,T]\times\mathbb{R}^6)\cap L^\infty_{t,x}(L^p_v) for all 1≤p≤+∞1 \le p \le+\infty.

Our second result concerns formation of hydrodynamic singularities in finite time in the case L0=−IL_0=-I.

Theorem 1.2 (Hydrodynamic implosion). Let γ≥−3\gamma\ge-3, and let gin≥0g_{\mathrm{in}} \ge0 be a smooth, rapidly decaying function on R3\mathbb{R}^3 with ∫R3wgin(w) dw=0\int_{\mathbb{R}^3} w g_{\mathrm{in}}(w)\,\mathrm{d}w=0. Set

fin(x,v):=gin(x+v).f_{\mathrm{in}}(x,v):=g_{\mathrm{in}}(x+v).

Then the inhomogeneous Landau equation (1) with initial data finf_{\mathrm{in}} admits a solution ff with the following properties:

  1. ff is smooth and bounded up to time t=1t=1: f∈C∞([0,1)×R6)∩L∞([0,1)×R6)f \in C^\infty([0,1)\times\mathbb{R}^6)\cap L^\infty([0,1)\times\mathbb{R}^6).

  2. The hydrodynamic quantities of ff blow up at t=1t=1. More precisely, the density ρ\rho, bulk velocity uu, and temperature θ\theta of ff are given by

ρ(t,x):=∫R3f(t,x,v) dv=(1−t)−3∫R3gin(w) dw,(5)\rho(t,x):=\int_{\mathbb{R}^3}f(t,x,v)\,\mathrm{d}v=(1-t)^{-3}\int_{\mathbb{R}^3}g_{\mathrm{in}}(w)\,\mathrm{d}w, \tag*{(5)}
u(t,x):=1ρ(t,x)∫R3vf(t,x,v) dv=−(1−t)−1x,(6)u(t,x):=\frac{1}{\rho(t,x)}\int_{\mathbb{R}^3}vf(t,x,v)\,\mathrm{d}v=-(1-t)^{-1}x, \tag*{(6)}
θ(t,x):=13∫R3∣v−u(t,x)∣2f(t,x,v) dvρ(t,x)=13(1−t)−2∫R3∣w∣2gin(w) dw∫R3gin(w) dw.(7)\theta(t,x):=\frac{1}{3}\frac{\int_{\mathbb{R}^3}|v-u(t,x)|^2f(t,x,v)\,\mathrm{d}v}{\rho(t,x)} =\frac{1}{3}(1-t)^{-2}\frac{\int_{\mathbb{R}^3}|w|^2g_{\mathrm{in}}(w)\,\mathrm{d}w}{\int_{\mathbb{R}^3}g_{\mathrm{in}}(w)\,\mathrm{d}w}. \tag*{(7)}

The hydrodynamic fields (5)–(6) are a solution to the monoatomic compressible Euler equations (11).

  1. If γ≥−2\gamma\ge-2, as t→1−t \to1^- the solution approaches the time-dependent Maxwellian

f(t,x,v)∼ρ(t)(2πθ(t))3/2exp⁡{−∣v−u(t,x)∣22θ(t)}.f(t,x,v)\sim\frac{\rho(t)}{(2\pi\theta(t))^{3/2}}\exp\left\{-\frac{|v-u(t,x)|^2}{2\theta(t)}\right\}.

If γ<−2\gamma< -2, as t→1−t \to1^- the profile approaches an intermediate state between ging_{\mathrm{in}} and a Maxwellian:

f(t,x,v)∼F(s0,x+(1−t)v),s0=−1γ+2,f(t,x,v)\sim F(s_0,x+(1-t)v),\qquad s_0=-\frac{1}{\gamma+2},

where F(s0,w)F(s_0,w) is the solution to the homogeneous Landau equation with initial data gin(w)g_{\mathrm{in}}(w) computed at s=s0s=s_0.

All statements made in Theorem 1.1 and Theorem 1.2 have a clear analog for the Boltzmann equation. In fact, already in 1963 Nikolskii observed in [32] that certain solutions to the Boltzmann equation exhibits a compressive behavior similar to the one of Theorem 1.2. We have chosen to focus on the Landau equation for the sake of simplicity.

Some more comments are in order:

Initial data. The initial data finf_{\mathrm{in}} in both Theorem 1.1 and Theorem 1.2 are smooth and bounded, but not integrable in R3×R3\mathbb{R}^{3}\times\mathbb{R}^{3}. They belong to Lx∞Lv1(R3)∩L∞(R6)L_{x}^{\infty}L_{v}^{1}(\mathbb{R}^{3})\cap L^{\infty}(\mathbb{R}^{6}). The initial hydrodynamic quantities ρin(x)\rho_{\mathrm{in}}(x) and θin(x)\theta_{\mathrm{in}}(x) do not depend on xx; they will evolve in time but will remain homogeneous with respect to xx. The first and second moments of finf_{\mathrm{in}} grow in xx linearly and quadratically respectively:

ρinuin=∫vfin(x,v) dv=c1+ρinL0x,\rho_{\mathrm{in}}u_{\mathrm{in}}=\int v f_{\mathrm{in}}(x,v)\,dv=c_{1}+\rho_{\mathrm{in}}L_{0}x,
M2(fin)=∫∣v∣2fin(x,v) dv=c2+∣L0x∣2ρin+2L0x⋅c1,M_{2}(f_{\mathrm{in}})=\int|v|^{2}f_{\mathrm{in}}(x,v)\,dv=c_{2}+|L_{0}x|^{2}\rho_{\mathrm{in}}+2L_{0}x\cdot c_{1},

where

c1:=∫wgin(w) dw,c2:=∫∣w∣2gin dw,c_{1}:=\int w g_{\mathrm{in}}(w)\,dw,\qquad c_{2}:=\int|w|^{2}g_{\mathrm{in}}\,dw,

and we remind that L0∈R3×3L_{0}\in\mathbb{R}^{3\times3}. We will choose initial data such that ∫R3wgin(w) dw=0\int_{\mathbb{R}^{3}}w g_{\mathrm{in}}(w)\,dw=0 to simplify certain computations, but the condition is not necessary to prove the theorem. We stress that we are not in a perturbative setting, we have no restriction on the size of ging_{\mathrm{in}} and L0L_{0}.

The main results. The key observation in the proof of Theorem 1.1 is that solutions to (1) with initial data of the form gin(v−L0x)g_{\mathrm{in}}(v-L_{0}x) have the form

f(t,x,v)=g(t,v−L(t)x),L(t)=L0(I+tL0)−1(8)f(t,x,v)=g(t,v-L(t)x),\qquad L(t)=L_{0}(I+tL_{0})^{-1} \tag*{(8)}

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