On Kato-Ponce and fractional Leibniz (Q1733571)

Summary: We show that in the Kato-Ponce inequality \(\|J^s(fg)-fJ^sg\|_p \lesssim \|\partial f\|_\infty \|J^{s-1}g\|_p + \|J^sf\|_p \|g\|_\infty\), the \(J^sf\) term on the right-hand side can be replaced by \(J^{s-1}\partial f\). This solves a question raised in [\textit{T. Kato} and \textit{G. Ponce}, Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 41, No. 7, 891--907 (1988; Zbl 0671.35066)]. We propose a new fractional Leibniz rule for \(D^s=(-\Delta)^{s/2}\) and similar operators, generalizing the Kenig-Ponce-Vega estimate [\textit{C. E. Kenig} et al., Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 46, No. 4, 527--620 (1993; Zbl 0808.35128)] to all \(s0\). We also prove a family of generalized and refined Kato-Ponce type inequalities which include many commutator estimates as special cases. To showcase the sharpness of the estimates at various endpoint cases, we construct several counterexamples. In particular, we show that in the original Kato-Ponce inequality, the \(L^\infty\)-norm on the right-hand side cannot be replaced by the weaker BMO norm. Some divergence-free counterexamples are also included.