Abstract
In this review article we present an introduction to the theory of wave maps, give a short overview of some recent methods used in this field and finally we prove some recent results on ill-posedness of the corresponding Cauchy problem for the wave maps in critical Sobolev spaces. The low regularity solutions for the wave map problem are studied by the aid of appropriate bilinear estimates in the spirit of ones introduced by Klainerman and Bourgain. Our approach to obtain ill-posedness in critical Sobolev norms uses suitable family of wave maps constructed via geodesic flow on the target manifold. We give two alternative proofs of the ill-posedness: the first approach is based on the application of Fourier analysis tools, while the second proof is based on the application of the classical fundamental solution representation for the free wave equation. For the case of subcritical Sobolev norms we establish non-uniqueness of the corresponding Cauchy problem.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
R. Adams, Sobolev Spaces. Academic Press, New York, 1975.
J. Bourgain, Fourier transform restriction phenomena for certain lattice subsets and applications to nonlinear evolution equations, I, II, Geom. Funct. Anal. 3 (1993) 107–156, 209–262.
J. Bourgain, Periodic Korteweg-de Vries equation with measures as initial data, Selecta Math. 3 (1997) 115–159.
Ph. Brenner and P. Kumlin, On wave equations with supercritical nonlinearities, Arch. Math. 74 (2000) 129–147.
T. Cazenave, J. Shatah, and A. S. Tahvildar-Zadeh, Harmonic maps of the hyperbolic space and development of singularities in wave maps and Yang-Mills fields, Ann. Inst. H. Poincaré Phys. Théor. 68,3 (1998), 315–349.
Y. Choquet-Bruhat, Global existence for non-linear σ-models, Rend. Sem. Mat. Univ. Pol. Torino, Special Issue (1988), 65–86.
Y. Choquet-Bruhat, Global wave maps on curved space times, Mathematical and quantum aspects of relativity and cosmology (Pythagoreon, 1998), 1–29, Lecture Notes in Phys., 537, Springer, Berlin, 2000.
D. Christodoulou and A. S. Tahvildar-Zadeh, On the regularity of spherically symmetric wave maps, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 46,7 (1993), 1041–1091.
P. D’Ancona and V. Georgiev, On the continuity of the solution operator to the wave map system, accepted in CPAM.
P. D’Ancona and V. Georgiev, Low regularity solutions for the wave map equation into the 2-D sphere, accepted in Math. Zeitschrift.
A. Freire, S. Müller and M. Struwe, Weak compactness of wave maps and harmonic maps, Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré 15 No.6 (1998) 425–759.
V. Georgiev and A. Ivanov, Concentration of local energy for two-dimensional wave maps, preprint 2003.
M. G. Grillakis, Classical solution for the equivariant wave maps in 1+2 dimensions, preprint, 1991.
M. G. Grillakis, The wave map problem, In Current developments in mathematics, 1997 (Cambridge, MA), Int. Press, Boston, MA, 1999, pp. 227–230.
J. Ginibre and G. Velo, The Cauchy problem for the O(N), CP(N−1), and GC(N, p) models, Ann. Physics 142 (1982), no. 2, 393–415.
C. H. Gu, On the Cauchy problem for harmonic maps defined on two-dimensional Minkowski space, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 33,6 (1980), 727–737.
H. Karcher and J. C. Wood, Non-existence results and growth properties of harmonic maps and forms, J. Reine Angew. Math. 353 (1984) 165–180.
T. Kato and G. Ponce, Commutator estimates and the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 41 (1988), 891–907.
S. Klainerman and M. Machedon, On the regularity properties of a model problem related to wave maps, Duke Math. J. 87 (1997), no. 3, 553–589.
S. Klainerman and S. Selberg, Remark on the optimal regularity for equations of wave maps type, Comm. Partial Differential Equations 22,5–6 (1997), 901–918.
S. Klainerman and S. Selberg, Bilinear estimates and applications to nonlinear wave equations (English. English summary), Commun. Contemp. Math. 4 (2002), no. 2, 223–295.
C. Kenig, G. Ponce and L. Vega, On the ill-posedness of some canonical dispersive equations, Duke Math. Journal 106 (2001) 617–632.
J.L. Lions and E. Magenes, Non-homogeneous boundary value problems and applications, Vol.I, Springer Verlag, Berlin 1972.
L. Molinet, J. C. Saut and N. Tzvetkov, Ill-posedness issues for the Benjamin-Ono and related equations., SIAM J. Math. Anal. 33 (2001) 982–988.
S. Müller and M. Struwe, Global existence of wave maps in 1 + 2 dimensions with finite energy data, Topol. Methods Nonlinear Anal. 7,2 (1996), 245–259.
A. Nahmod, A. Stefanov and K. Uhlenbeck, On the well-posedness of the wave map problem in high dimensions, Comm. Anal. Geom. 11, Number 1, 49–83, 2003.
K. Nakanishi and M. Ohta, On global existence of solutions to nonlinear wave equations of wave map type, Nonlinear Anal. TMA 42, (2000), 1231–1252.
T. Runst and W. Sickel, Sobolev Spaces of Fractional Order, Nemytskij Operators and Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1996.
J. Shatah, Weak solutions and development of singularities of the su(2) σ-model, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 41,4 (1988), 459–469.
J. Shatah and M. Struwe, Geometric wave equations, New York University Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York, 1998.
J. Shatah and M. Struwe, The Cauchy problem for wave maps, Preprint; to appear on International Math. Research Notices.
J. Shatah and A. Sh. Tahvildar-Zadeh, On the Cauchy problem for equivariant wave maps, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 47 (1994), no. 5, 719–754.
I. Sigal, Nonlinear semi-groups, Ann. of Math. 78 No. 2 (1963) 339–364.
E. M. Stein and G. Weiss, Introduction to Fourier analysis on Euclidean spaces, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1971, Princeton Mathematical Series, No. 32.
M. Struwe, Wave maps, In Nonlinear partial differential equations in geometry and physics (Knoxville, TN, 1995). Birkhäuser, Basel, 1997, pp. 113–153.
M. Struwe, Equivariant wave maps in two space dimensions, preprint, to appear in Comm. Pure and Appl. Math.
M. Struwe, Radially symmetric wave maps from 1+2-dimensional Minkowski space to the sphere, Preprint; to appear on Math. Zeitschrift.
M. Struwe, Radially symmetric wave maps from 1+2-dimensional Minkowski space to general targets, Preprint.
T. Tao, Ill-posedness for one-dimensional wave maps at the critical regularity, Amer. J. Math. 122 (2000), no. 3, 451–463.
T. Tao, Global regularity of wave maps II. Small energy in two dimensions, Comm. Math. Phys. 224, (2001), 443–544.
D. Tataru, Local and global results for wave maps I, Comm. Part. Diff. Eq. 23 (1998) 1781–1793.
D. Tataru, On global existence and scattering for the wave maps equation, Amer. J. Math. 123 (2001), no. 1, 37–77.
M. Taylor, Partial differential equations, Vol.III, Springer Verlag, New York, 1997.
H. Triebel, Interpolation Theory, Function Spaces, Differential Operators, North Holland Co., Amsterdam 1978.
H. Triebel, Interpolation theory, function spaces, differential operators, second ed., Johann Ambrosius Barth, Heidelberg, 1995.
N. Tzvetkov, Remark on the local ill-posedness for KdV equation, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris Sèr. I Math. 329 (1999) 1043–1047.
Y. Zhou, Global weak solutions for (1+2)-dimensional wave maps into homogeneous spaces, Ann. Inst. H. Poincaré Anal. Non Linéaire 16,4 (1999), 411–422.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Birkhäuser Verlag Basel/Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
D’Ancona, P., Georgiev, V. (2005). Wave Maps and Ill-posedness of their Cauchy Problem. In: Reissig, M., Schulze, BW. (eds) New Trends in the Theory of Hyperbolic Equations. Operator Theory: Advances and Applications, vol 159. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-7643-7386-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-7643-7386-5_1
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser Basel
Print ISBN: 978-3-7643-7283-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-7643-7386-3
eBook Packages: Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)