A note on decay rates of the local energy for wave equations with Lipschitz wavespeeds (Q2287233)

The authors consider the Cauchy problem for a wave equation with a variable coeffcient in $\mathbb{R}^n$, $n \ge 1$, \begin{align*}u_{tt} - c(x)^2 \Delta u(t,x) = 0, \qquad (t,x) \in (0, \infty) \times \mathbb{R}^n, \\ u(0,x) = u_0(x), \qquad u_t(0,x) = u_1(x), \qquad x \in \mathbb{R}^n,\end{align*} with initial data $u_0 \in H^1(\mathbb{R}^n)$, $u_1 \in L^2(\mathbb{R}^n)$. The function $c : \mathbb{R}^n \to \mathbb{R}$ satisfies \begin{align*}c(x) > 0, \qquad c, c^{-1} \in L^\infty(\mathbb{R}^n), \qquad \nabla c \in (L^\infty(\mathbb{R}^n))^n, \\ \text{there exists }L > 0\text{ so that }c(x) = 1\text{ for }|x| > L.\end{align*} Under some additional weighted conditions on the the initial data, and assuming $$\eta : = 2L \| c^{-1} \|_\infty \| \nabla c \|_\infty \in [0,1),$$ the authors show that the local energy of the solution $$ E_R(t) = \frac{1}{2} \int_{|x| \le R} (\frac{1}{c^2(x)} |u_t(t,x)|^2 + |\nabla u(t,x) |^2) dx$$ decays like $$ E_R(t) = O(t^{-(1-\eta)}), \qquad t \gg 1,$$ while the exterior energy $$ \int_{|x| \ge (1 + \varepsilon)t} (|u_t(t,x)|^2 + |\nabla u(t,x) |^2) dx = O_\varepsilon(t^{-1}), \qquad t \gg 1, \, \varepsilon > 0. $$ The proofs are inspired by the Morawetz multiplier method [\textit{C. S. Morawetz}, Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 14, 561--568 (1961; Zbl 0101.07701)]. Under more restrictions on the intitial data, but in more general geometries, one obtains a logarithmic decay rate for the local energy [\textit{N. Burq}, Acta Math. 180, No. 1, 1--29 (1998; Zbl 0918.35081); \textit{J. Shapiro}, Commun. Partial Differ. Equations 43, No. 5, 839--858 (2018; Zbl 1421.35198)].