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Here $\Gamma(t)$ is a family of smooth compact connected and oriented surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^n$. $u$ solves the PDE $\dot{u} + u\nabla_\Gamma \cdot v - \Delta_\Gamma u = 0$ where $\dot{u} = u_t + v \cdot \nabla u$ is the material derivative and $v$ is a velocity field on $\Gamma$. The $\nabla_{\Gamma(t)}$ is the surface gradient (for fixed $t$) obtained by projecting the ordinary gradient onto the tangent space.

Multiplying this PDE by a test function, integrating by parts, setting the test function to $u$ and doing some manipulations, we can get $\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}\int_{\Gamma(t)} u^2 + \int_{\Gamma(t)} |\nabla_\Gamma u|^2 + \frac{1}{2}\int_{\Gamma(t)} u^2 \nabla_{\Gamma(t)} \cdot v = 0$ How can we get the following estimate from the above: $\sup_{t \in [0,T]} \lVert u(t) \rVert^2_{L^2(\Gamma(t))} + \int_0^T\lVert \nabla_{\Gamma(t)} u(t) \rVert^2_{L^2(\Gamma(t))} < c\lVert u_0 \rVert^2_{L^2(\Gamma_0)}\;?$

Here, $u(t=0) = u_0$ is known and we can assume that $\nabla_\Gamma \cdot v$ is in $L^\infty(\cup (\{t\}\times \Gamma(t)))$ (and the constant $c$ depends on $v$, $T$ and $\Gamma$).

Clearly integrating in time between 0 and $T$ is what we need to do but I don't know how to deal with the third term in the first equation.

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    @AD. I just edited it. I think (but maybe I'm wrong) one doesn't need too much background and that there is some standard PDE trick that I'm missing.2012-06-04

1 Answers 1

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My attempt. Using the condition on the divergence term, get

$\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}\int_{\Gamma(t)} u^2 + \lVert \nabla_\Gamma u \rVert_{L^2}^2 - \frac{c}{2}\int_{\Gamma(t)} u^2 \leq 0$ for a constant $c$. This is $\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}\lVert u \rVert^2_{L^2(\Gamma(t))} + \lVert \nabla_\Gamma u \rVert_{L^2}^2 \leq \frac{c}{2}\lVert u \rVert_{L^2}^2.\tag{1}$ The LHS is greater than the LHS without the second term, and using Gronwall on this "new" LHS: $\lVert u \rVert^2_{L^2(\Gamma(t))} \leq C(t)\lVert u_0 \rVert_{L^2}^2 \tag{2}.$

Integrate (1) with respect to time: $\frac{1}{2}\lVert u \rVert^2_{L^2(\Gamma(t))} + \int_0^T\lVert \nabla_\Gamma u \rVert_{L^2}^2 \leq \int_0^T\frac{c}{2}\lVert u \rVert_{L^2}^2 + \lVert u_0 \rVert_{L^2(\Gamma(0))}^2$ and using the Gronwall bound (2) gives you $\frac{1}{2}\lVert u \rVert^2_{L^2(\Gamma(t))} + \int_0^T\lVert \nabla_\Gamma u \rVert_{L^2}^2 \leq \int_0^TC_1(t)\lVert u_0 \rVert_{L^2}^2 + \lVert u_0 \rVert_{L^2(\Gamma(0))}^2$ The right hand side is data and the factor of a half on the LHS can be removed. I think the supremum can be incorporated in (2) and carried through.