An expository survey on the recent development of mean field equations (Q2467070)

The paper surveys recent developments in the mean field equation, \[ \Delta u+\rho\frac{h(x)e^u}{\int_\Omega h(x) e^u}=0\quad \text{ in } \Omega, \] where \(\Omega\) is a bounded domain in \(\mathbb{R}^2\) and \(h\) is a nonnegative smooth function. The equation can be considered as the Euler-Lagrange one of nonlinear functional associated with the well-known Moser-Trudinger inequality. It also arises in many other disciplines of Mathematics, such as the Nirenberg problem of prescribing Gauss curvature, the self-dual solution of the relativistic Chern-Simons-Higgs model, and the mean field limit of point vortices of Euler flows. The author discusses the uniqueness of solutions when \(\rho\leq 8\pi, h\equiv 1\). He also gives a new argument about the profile of blowing up solutions near blowup points and constructs approximate solutions using some sharper estimates.