Parabolic equations with divergence-free drift in space $L_{t}^{l}L_{x}^{q}$

TL;DR

This paper investigates the fundamental solution of divergence-free drift parabolic equations in Lebesgue spaces, establishing Aronson-type estimates and exploring regularity and bounds in critical and supercritical cases.

Contribution

It provides new bounds and regularity results for the fundamental solution of divergence-free drift parabolic equations in critical Lebesgue spaces, extending previous work.

Findings

Established Aronson-type bounds for critical and supercritical cases.

Proved regularity of weak solutions under divergence-free conditions.

Derived optimal lower and upper bounds for the fundamental solution.

Abstract

In this paper we study the fundamental solution $\varGamma(t,x;\tau,\xi)$ of the parabolic operator $L_{t}=\partial_{t}-\Delta+b(t,x)\cdot\nabla$, where for every $t$, $b(t,\cdot)$ is a divergence-free vector field, and we consider the case that $b$ belongs to the Lebesgue space $L^{l}\left(0,T;L^{q}\left(\mathbb{R}^{n}\right)\right)$. The regularity of weak solutions to the parabolic equation $L_{t}u=0$ depends critically on the value of the parabolic exponent $\gamma=\frac{2}{l}+\frac{n}{q}$. Without the divergence-free condition on $b$, the regularity of weak solutions has been established when $\gamma\leq1$, and the heat kernel estimate has been obtained as well, except for the case that $l=\infty,q=n$. The regularity of weak solutions was deemed not true for the critical case $L^{\infty}\left(0,T;L^{n}\left(\mathbb{R}^{n}\right)\right)$ for a general $b$, while it is true for the divergence-free case, and a written proof can be deduced from the results in [Semenov, 2006]. One of the results obtained in the present paper establishes the Aronson type estimate for critical and supercritical cases and for vector fields $b$ which are divergence-free. We will prove the best possible lower and upper bounds for the fundamental solution one can derive under the current approach. The significance of the divergence-free condition enters the study of parabolic equations rather recently, mainly due to the discovery of the compensated compactness. The interest for the study of such parabolic equations comes from its connections with Leray's weak solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations and the Taylor diffusion associated with a vector field where the heat operator $L_{t}$ appears naturally.