Trevor M. Leslie, and Changhui Tan

Communications in Partial Differential Equations, Volume 48, No. 5, pp. 753-791 (2023)

Abstract

We develop a global wellposedness theory for weak solutions to the 1D Euler-alignment system with measure-valued density and bounded velocity. A satisfactory understanding of the low-regularity theory is an issue of pressing interest, as smooth solutions may lose regularity in finite time. However, no such theory currently exists except for a very special class of alignment interactions. We show that the dynamics of the 1D Euler-alignment system can be effectively described by a nonlocal scalar balance law, the entropy conditions of which serves as an entropic selection principle that determines a unique weak solution of the Euler-alignment system. Moreover, the distinguished weak solution of the system can be approximated by the sticky particle Cucker-Smale dynamics. Our approach is largely inspired by the work of Brenier and Grenier [SIAM J. Numer. Anal, 35(6):2317-2328, 1998] on the pressureless Euler equations.

	doi:10.1080/03605302.2023.2202720
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	This work is supported by NSF grant DMS #1853001 and DMS #2108264

Eitan Tadmor, and Changhui Tan

SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysis, Volume 54, No. 4, pp. 4277-4296 (2022)

Abstract

We study the global wellposedness of the Euler-Monge-Ampère (EMA) system. We obtain a sharp, explicit critical threshold in the space of initial configurations which guarantees the global regularity of EMA system with radially symmetric initial data. The result is obtained using two independent approaches -- one using spectral dynamics of Liu & Tadmor [Comm. Math. Physics 228(3):435-466, 2002] and another based on the geometric approach of Brenier & Loeper [Geom. Funct. Analysis 14(6):1182--1218, 2004]. The results are extended to 2D radial EMA with swirl.

	doi:10.1137/21M1437767
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	This work is supported by NSF grant DMS #1853001 and DMS #2108264

I have been awarded a grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of South Carolina, on a one-year project: Multiscale nonlocal models in traffic flows.

Project Summary

Mathematical models on traffic flows have been studied extensively in the past century. Many celebrated models lie in a beautiful multiscale framework. The investigations on these models play an important role in designing traffic networks and preventing traffic jams.

Recently, the fast development of self-driving vehicles and new communication technologies allow long-range interactions in traffic networks. It attracts a lot of interest in nonlocal traffic flow models.

The aim of the proposed project is to develop the mathematical theory on non-local traffic flows and understand how nonlocal interactions can help to optimize the traffic networks and avoid the creation of traffic congestions.

The PI has been actively working on a variety of multiscale nonlocal models in physical, biological, and sociological contexts. These experiences can greatly help the understanding of the nonlocal phenomena in traffic models. Preliminary investigations show intriguing behaviors and promising outcomes. Results generated from this project will be capitalized to prepare proposals for external grants from NSF and DOT.

UofSC Office of Research Awards Announcement Page

Alexander Kiselev, and Changhui Tan

SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysis, Volume 54, No. 3, pp. 3161-3191 (2022).

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze a nonlocal nonlinear partial differential equation formally derived by Stefan Steinerberger to model dynamics of roots of polynomials under differentiation. This partial differential equation is critical and bears striking resemblance to hydrodynamic models used to described collective behavior of agents (such as birds, fish or robots) in mathematical biology. We consider periodic setting and show global regularity and exponential in time convergence to uniform density for solutions corresponding to strictly positive smooth initial data.

	doi:10.1137/21M1422859
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	This work is supported by NSF grant DMS #1853001 and DMS #2108264

I have been awarded an NSF grant (DMS #1815667) on a three-year project: Regularity and Singularity Formation in Swarming and Related Fluid Models. It is translated to DMS #1853001 when I move to University of South Carolina.

Abstract

Swarming is a commonly observed complex biological and sociological phenomenon. The internal interaction mechanism attracts a lot of attention in physics, engineering, biology, and social sciences. This project is devoted to developing a unified mathematical theory towards the understanding of the swarming dynamics, as well as other nonlocal models that share similar structures. These models are widely considered in fluid mechanics, meteorology, astrophysics, biology, and ecology. The study of the regularity and singularity formations of these equations will provide a firm theoretical foundation for these applications, and also help consolidate the validity of these models in describing the natural phenomena.

The research will focus on understanding the nonlinear and nonlocal phenomena in swarming dynamics, and models having related structures in fluid mechanic. Three different but related models will be investigated. The first model is the Euler-Alignment system, which describes the flocking behavior in animal swarms. The goal is to develop a robust toolbox to analyze the nonlocal alignment operator and its balance with the drift nonlinearity. Similar behaviors are also observed in other fluid equations including porous medium flow, and surface quasi-geostrophic equations, which will be investigated using the same analytical techniques. The second model is the 2D inviscid Boussinesq equations. The global regularity is one of the outstanding problems in fluid dynamics. The idea is to construct solutions to capture the possible singularity formation, starting from some modified versions of the equations. The third model is the kinetic swarming system. The aim is to investigate the important relation between the kinetic equation and a variety of hydrodynamic limits. In particular, different alignment operators will be considered at the kinetic level. They are expected to lead to different macroscopic limits. All these three sub-projects will advance the mathematical understanding of nonlocal PDEs and related applications. They will also provide education and training to graduate and undergraduate students in this active field.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF award page on the grant DMS #1853001

I have been awarded an NSF grant (DMS #2108264) on a three-year project: Nonlocal Transport Equations in Fluids, Swarming, and Traffic Flows. 

Abstract

Nonlocal models are relevant to many real-world phenomena and have been an area of active and growing research in recent decades. The development of a mathematical theory of nonlocal interactions plays a significant role in the understanding of complex structures, with rich applications in physics, biology, and social sciences. One example of the effects of nonlocal behavior found in nature is the collective dynamics in animal swarms, where small-scale interactions emerge into intriguing global phenomena. This project develops novel and robust analytical techniques for models that share similar nonlocality. These tools help to advance the understanding of the hidden structures of the models, and ultimately have an impact in applications, such as in traffic flow, where they can be used to study how to integrate nonlocal communications into a smart traffic network to improve efficiency and avoid traffic congestions. The training and professional development of graduate students is an integral part of the project.

The project studies three families of nonlocal transport equations. The first family includes the Euler-alignment system describing the flocking phenomenon for animal swarms. The goal is to establish a global well-posedness theory for the system in multi-dimensions, starting from imposing radial symmetry, and to apply the methodology to other models, such as the Euler-Poisson equations and more. The second includes a nonlocal transport equation which describes the evolution of the distribution of polynomial roots under repeated differentiation, the aim is to find a rigorous connection between this equation and the differentiation process. The last is a family of nonlocal traffic flow models, which have received extensive attention in the last decade, and are analyzed to understand the impact of the nonlocal interactions and how the nonlocal phenomenon can help to prevent traffic congestions.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF award page on the grant DMS #2108264

 Speaker: Mirjeta Pasha (Arizona State University)

Ill-posed inverse problems arise in many fields of science and engineering. Their solution, if it exists, is very sensitive to perturbations in the data. The challenge of working with linear discrete ill-posed problems comes from the ill-conditioning and the possible large dimension of the problems. Regularization methods aim to reduce the sensitivity by replacing the given problem with a nearby one, whose solution is less affected by perturbations. The methods in this talk are concerned with solving large scale problems by projecting them into a Krylov or generalized Krylov subspace of fairly small dimension. The first type of methods discussed are based on Bregman-type iterative methods that even though the high quality reconstruction that they deliver, they may require a large number of iterations and this reduces their attractiveness. We develop a computationally attractive linearized Bregman algorithm by projecting the problem to be solved into an appropriately chosen low-dimensional Krylov subspace. Recently, the use of a \(p\)-norm to measure the fidelity term and a \(q\)-norm to measure the regularization term has received considerable attention. For applications such as image reconstruction, where the pixel values are non-negative, we impose a non-negativity constraint to make sure the reconstructed solution lies in the non-negative orthant. We propose techniques to select the regularization parameter without any significant computational cost. This makes the proposed method more efficient and useful especially for large-scale problems. In addition, we explore how to estimate maximum a posteriori when the available data are perturbed with non-Gaussian noise. Near the end of the talk will be discussed current work in progress on solving time-dependent inverse problems with the goal to preserve edges and model small changes in time, solving separable nonlinear inverse problems as well as learning strategies based on optimal experimental design and Krylov subspaces. Numerical examples illustrate the performances of the approaches proposed in terms of both accuracy and efficiency. We consider two-dimensional problems, with a particular attention to the restoration of blurred and noisy images.
 

Time: April 23, 2021 2:30pm-3:30pm
Location: Virtually via Zoom
Host: Zhu Wang

 Speaker: Wei Zhu (University of Alabama)

In this talk, we will discuss two novel first-order variational models for image restoration. In the literature, lots of higher-order models were proposed to fix the staircase effect. In our first model, we consider a first-order variational model that imposes stronger regularity than total variation on regions with small image gradients in order to achieve staircase reduction. In our second model, we further propose a novel regularizer that presents a lower growth rate than any power function with a positive exponent for regions with large image gradients. Besides removing noise and keeping edges effectively, this regularizer also helps preserve image contrasts during the image restoration process. We employ augmented Lagrangian method (ALM) to minimize both models and provide the convergence analysis. Numerical experiments will be then presented to demonstrate the features of the proposed models.
 

Time: April 16, 2021 3:30pm-4:30pm
Location: Virtually via Zoom
Host: Yi Sun

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 Speaker: Shuang Liu (University of California, San Diego)

A parallel cut-cell algorithm is described to solve the free boundary problem of the Grad-Shafranov equation. The algorithm reformulates the free-boundary problem in an irregular bounded domain and its important aspects include a searching algorithm for the magnetic axis and separatrix, a surface integral along the irregular boundary to determine the boundary values, an approach to optimize the coil current based on a targeting plasma shape, Picard iterations with Aitken's acceleration for the resulting nonlinear problem and a Cartesian grid embedded boundary method to handle the complex geometry. The algorithm is implemented in parallel using a standard domain-decomposition approach and a good parallel scaling is observed. Numerical results verify the accuracy and efficiency of the free-boundary Grad-Shafranov solver.
 

Time: March 26, 2021 2:30pm-3:30pm
Location: Virtually via Zoom
Host: Xinfeng Liu

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 Speaker: Yao Yao (Georgia Institute of Technology)

For some nonlocal PDEs, its steady states can be seen as critical points of an associated energy functional. Therefore, if one can construct perturbations around a function such that the energy decreases to first order along the perturbation, this function cannot be a steady state. In this talk, I will discuss how this simple variational approach has led to some recent progresses in the following equations, where the key is to carefully construct a suitable perturbation.

I will start with the aggregation-diffusion equation, which is a nonlocal PDE driven by two competing effects: nonlinear diffusion and long-range attraction. We show that all steady states are radially symmetric up to a translation (joint with Carrillo, Hittmeir and Volzone), and give some criteria on the uniqueness/non-uniqueness of steady states within the radial class (joint with Delgadino and Yan).

I will also discuss the 2D Euler equation, where we aim to understand under what condition must a stationary/uniformly-rotating solution be radially symmetric. Using a variational approach, we settle some open questions on the radial symmetry of rotating patches, and also show that any smooth stationary solution with compactly supported and nonnegative vorticity must be radial (joint with Gómez-Serrano, Park and Shi).
 

Time: April 2, 2021 2:30pm-3:30pm
Location: Virtually via Zoom
Host: Changhui Tan

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