Singularity formation for the two-dimensional harmonic map flow into \(S^2\) (Q2290961)

Let \(\Omega \) be a bounded domain in \(\mathbb R^2\) with smooth boundary \(\partial \Omega \). Denote by \(S^2\) the standard \(2\)-sphere. The harmonic map flow for maps from \(\Omega \) to \(S^2\) is given by the semilinear parabolic equation \begin{align*} u_t=\Delta u+|\nabla u|^2u\quad &\mbox{in}\ \Omega \times (0,T)\tag{1}\\ u=\varphi\quad &\mbox{on}\ \partial \Omega \times (0,T)\tag{2}\\ u(\cdot ,0)=u_0\quad &\mbox{in}\ \Omega \tag{3} \end{align*} where \(u:\Omega \times [0,T)\to S^2\), \(u_0:\bar{\Omega }\to S^2\) is a given smooth map and \(\varphi ={u_0|}_{\partial \Omega }\). Local existence and uniqueness of a classical solution follows from some works, see \textit{K.-C. Chang} [Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. Non Linéaire 6, No. 5, 363--395 (1989; Zbl 0687.58004); \textit{J. Eells jun.} and \textit{J. H. Sampson}, Am. J. Math. 86, 109--160 (1964; Zbl 0122.40102); \textit{M. Struwe}, Comment. Math. Helv. 60, 558--581 (1985; Zbl 0595.58013)]. For the weak solution, Struwe [loc. cit.] and \textit{A. Freire} [Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 3, No. 1, 95--105 (1995; Zbl 0814.35057)] (see also [\textit{F. Lin} and \textit{C. Wang}, Chin. Ann. Math., Ser. B 31, No. 6, 921--938 (2010; Zbl 1208.35002)]) studied the existence problem and the uniqueness problem of an \(H^1\)-weak solution, respectively. If \(T>0\) designates the first instant at which smoothness is lost, one must have \[ \|\nabla u(\cdot ,t)\|_\infty \to +\infty \ \mbox{as}\ t\to T. \] The possible blow-up profiles as \(t\uparrow T\) have been clarified, refer to the results by \textit{W. Ding} and \textit{G. Tian} [Commun. Anal. Geom. 3, No. 4, 543--554 (1995; Zbl 0855.58016)], \textit{F. Lin} and \textit{C. Wang} [Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 6, No. 4, 369--380 (1998; Zbl 0908.58008)], \textit{J. Qing} [Commun. Anal. Geom. 3, No. 2, 297--315 (1995; Zbl 0868.58021)], \textit{J. Qing} and \textit{G. Tian} [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 50, No. 4, 295--310 (1997; Zbl 0879.58017)], Struwe [loc. cit.], \textit{P. Topping} [Ann. Math. (2) 159, No. 2, 465--534 (2004; Zbl 1065.58007)] and \textit{C. Wang} [Houston J. Math. 22, No. 3, 559--590 (1996; Zbl 0879.58019)]. In the paper under review, the authors deal with the general non-symmetric case of (1)--(3). Given any \(k\) points in the domain, the authors find initial and boundary data so that the solution blows-up precisely at those points. The profile around each point is close to an asymptotically singular scaling of a \(1\)-corotational harmonic map. The authors build a continuation after blow-up as a \(H^1\)-weak solution with a finite number of discontinuities in space-time by ``reverse bubbling'', which preserves the homotopy class of the solution after blow-up. Furthermore, the authors prove the codimension one stability of the one point blow-up phenomenon.