Modified dissipativity for a non-linear evolution equation arising in turbulence

Abstract

We are concerned with the regularity properties for all times of the equation

$$\frac{{\partial U}}{{\partial t}}\left( {t,x} \right) = - \frac{{\partial ^2 }}{{\partial x^2 }}\left[ {U\left( {t,{\text{0}}} \right) - U\left( {t,x} \right)} \right]^2 - v\left( { - \frac{{\partial ^2 }}{{\partial x^2 }}} \right)^\alpha U\left( {t,x} \right)$$

which arises, with α=1, in the theory of turbulence. Here U(t,·) is of positive type and the dissipativity α is a non-negative real number. It is shown that for arbitrary ν≧0 and ɛ>0, there exists a global solution in $L^\infty [0,\infty ;H^{\tfrac{3}{2} - \varepsilon } (\mathbb{R})]$. If ν>0 and $\alpha > \alpha _{cr} = \tfrac{1}{2}$, smoothness of initial data persists indefinitely. If 0≦α<α _cr, there exist positive constants ν₁(α) and ν₂(α), depending on the data, such that global regularity persists for ν>ν₁(α), whereas, for 0≦ν<ν₂(α), the second spatial derivative at the origin blows up after a finite time. It is conjectured that with a suitable choice of α _cr, similar results hold for the Navier-Stokes equation.