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Remarks on functions with bounded Laplacian

Analysis of PDEs 2016-05-18 v1

Abstract

Δψ:=2ψx12+2ψx22\Delta \psi:=\frac{\partial^2 \psi}{\partial x_1^2}+\frac{\partial^2 \psi}{\partial x_2^2} being locally bounded does not imply that D2ψD^2\psi is locally bounded. However, we prove that if ψ\psi is invariant under rotation by 2πm\frac{2\pi}{m}, for some m3m\geq 3, and Δψ\Delta \psi is locally bounded, then supxB1(0)ψ(x)x<.\sup_{x\in B_1(0)}\frac{|\nabla \psi(x)|}{|x|}<\infty. This is sharp in that there are examples of functions ψ\psi for which Δψ\Delta \psi is locally bounded, which are invariant under rotation by π\pi with ψ(x)ψ(0)x2logx|\psi(x)-\psi(0)|\approx |x|^2 |\log|x|| as x0|x|\rightarrow 0. This bound and its generalizations could be of use in different contexts, particularly for questions about singularity formation in evolution equations. We came upon it while studying certain singular solutions of the incompressible Euler equations in two dimensions (see \cite{E}). One other application is to prove boundedness of D2ψD^2 \psi when Δψ\Delta \psi is the characteristic function of a set with self-intersection points (see Section 5). In fact, if Δψ=χA\Delta \psi=\chi_{A} and AA is the union of sectors emanating from a single point, one can give necessary and sufficient conditions on AA for D2ψD^2 \psi to be locally bounded (see Section 6).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1605.05266,
  title  = {Remarks on functions with bounded Laplacian},
  author = {Tarek M. Elgindi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1605.05266},
  year   = {2016}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T14:02:59.986Z