Global regularity of two-dimensional flocking hydrodynamics (Q2012350)

The paper deals with the system of Euler equations \[ \begin{cases} \rho_t+\nabla\cdot (\rho\mathbf{u})=0,\\ \mathbf{u}_t+\mathbf{u}\cdot\nabla \mathbf{u}=\displaystyle\int a(x,y,t)(\mathbf{u} (y,t)-\mathbf{u} (x,t))\rho(y,t)\,dy, \end{cases} \] for \((x,t)\in \mathbb{R}^n\times \mathbb{R}_+\), subject to the compactly supported initial density \(\rho(x,0)=\rho_0(x)\in L_+^1(\mathbb{R}^n)\) and uniformly bounded initial velocity \(\mathbf{u}(x,0)=\mathbf{u}_0(x)\in W^{1,\infty}(\mathbb{R}^n)\). Here \(\rho(x,t)\) and \(\mathbf{u}(x,t)=(u_1,\ldots,u_n):\mathbb{R}^n\times \mathbb{R}_+\to\mathbb{R}^n\) are the density and the velocity field, respectively, and the interaction kernel \(a(x,y,t)\) is a non-negative function. This system arises from agent-based dynamics driven by velocity alignment and describes the collective motion of \(N\) agents, each of which adjusting its velocity to a weighted average of velocities of its neighbors. The authors obtain sharp critical thresholds for the propagation of the regularity of flocking hydrodinamics in two models, namely the two-dimensional Cucker-Smale model and the one- and two-dimensional Motsch-Tadmor model. They show that the global regularity persists for all time for a large class of sub-critical initial conditions.