Smoothing effect for the nonlinear Vlasov-Poisson-Fokker-Planck system (Q1903037)

The Vlasov-Fokker-Planck-Poisson system \[ \partial_t f+ v\cdot \nabla_x f+ \text{div}_v((E- \beta v)f)- \sigma\Delta_v f= 0,\;t> 0,\;x, v\in \mathbb{R}^3, \] \[ \Delta U= 4\pi\omega \rho,\;E= -\nabla_x U,\;\rho(t, x)= \int f(t, x, v) dv \] describes the time-evolution of an ensemble of particles with phase-space density \(f= f(t, x, v)\) which interact via a gravitational \((\omega= 1)\) or electrostatic \((\omega= -1)\) potential \(U\) which they create collectively. Collisional and frictional effects are taken into account by the Fokker-Planck terms in the Vlasov equation with parameters \(\beta, \sigma> 0\). In a previous paper, the author proved global existence of classical solutions to the corresponding initial value problem. In the paper under review, he proves that for initial data \[ f_0\in L^1\cap L^\infty(\mathbb{R}^6),\;f_0\geq 0,\quad \iint |v|^2 f_0(x, v) dv dx< \infty \] there exists a global weak solution of the system such that for all finite \(T> 0\) the estimate \[ \forall r\in [15/4, \infty]\quad\forall\gamma> 6/5- 9/2r: \sup_{0\leq t\leq T} t^\gamma|E(t, \cdot)|_r< \infty \] and similar ones for \(|\rho(t, \cdot)|_p\), \(|\partial E/\partial x(t, \cdot)|_p\), \(|\rho(t, \cdot)|_{C^{0, \alpha}}\), \(|\partial E/\partial x(t, \cdot)|_{C^{0, \alpha}}\) hold. This regularizing effect is due to the Fokker-Planck term and absent for the Vlasov-Poisson system obtained for \(\beta= \sigma= 0\). In the course of the proof of this result the smoothing properties of the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck equation with zero field and certain Sobolev estimates for \(\rho\) and \(E\) in terms of powers of \(t\) are established.