Interpolation inequalities on the sphere: linear vs. nonlinear flows (Q2012077)

The very interesting paper under review deals, generally, with the interpolation inequality \[ \|\nabla u\|^2_{L^2(\mathbb{S}^d)}+\frac{d}{p-2}\|u\|^2_{L^2(\mathbb{S}^d)}\geq \frac{d}{p-2}\|\nabla u\|^2_{L^p(\mathbb{S}^d)}\quad \forall u\in H^1(\mathbb{S}^d,d\mu) \] on the \(d\)-dimensional sphere, where the measure \(d\mu\) is the uniform probability measure on \(\mathbb{S}^d\subset \mathbb{R}^{d+1}\) corresponding to the measure induced by the Lebesgue measure on \(\mathbb{R}^{d+1}\) and the exponent \(p\geq1\), \(p\neq2\), is such that \[ p\leq 2^*:=\dfrac{2d}{d-2}. \] The case \(p=2\) corresponds to the logarithmic Sobolev inequality \[ \|\nabla u\|^2_{L^2(\mathbb{S}^d)}\geq \frac{d}{2}\int_{\mathbb{S}^d} |u|^2\log\left(\frac{|u|^2}{\|u\|^2_{L^2(\mathbb{S}^d)}}\right)d\mu \quad \forall u\in H^1(\mathbb{S}^d,d\mu)\setminus \{0\}. \] The inequality has been proved in [\textit{M.-F. Bidaut-Veron} and \textit{L. Véron}, Invent. Math. 106, No. 3, 489--539 (1991; Zbl 0755.35036)] by rigidity methods, in [\textit{W. Beckner}, Ann. Math. (2) 138, No. 1, 213--242 (1993; Zbl 0826.58042)] by techniques of harmonic analysis, and using the \textit{carré du champ} method in [\textit{D. Bakry} and \textit{M. Ledoux}, Duke Math. J. 85, No. 1, 253--270 (1996; Zbl 0870.60071); \textit{A. Bentaleb}, C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 317, No. 2, 187--190 (1993; Zbl 0780.60064); \textit{J. Demange}, J. Funct. Anal. 254, No. 3, 593--611 (2008; Zbl 1133.58012)], for any \(p>2\). The case \(p=2\) was studied in [\textit{C. E. Mueller} and \textit{F. B. Weissler}, J. Funct. Anal. 48, 252--283 (1982; Zbl 0506.46022)]. In [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 299, 775--778 (1984; Zbl 0563.60068); Sémin. de probabilités XIX, Univ. Strasbourg 1983/84, Proc., Lect. Notes Math. 1123, 177--206 (1985; Zbl 0561.60080); C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 301, 411-413 (1985; Zbl 0579.60079)], \textit{D. Bakry} and \textit{M. Emery} proved the inequalities by the heat flow method, provided that \[ p\leq 2^\#:=\dfrac{2d^2+1}{(d-1)^2}. \] The authors obtain here sharp interpolation inequalities using flows. The main result consists in constructing a counter-example which shows why the heat flow methods definitely cannot cover the whole range of the exponents up to the critical exponent \(2^*\), while nonlinear flows, with a proper choice of the nonlinearity, do it. Moreover, in the case \(p<2^\#\) which is covered by a heat flow method, the authors provide an improved inequality with a constructive method under an integral constraint on the set of functions. Employing an antipodal symmetry contraint, a constructive estimate is also provided for the case \(p\in [2^\#,2^*]\).