On quantitative uniqueness for elliptic equations (Q2633064)

The main theme of this paper is to construct complex-valued solutions to the elliptic equation \(\Delta u=V(x)u\) and the parabolic equation \(\partial_tu-\Delta u=V(x,t)u\) with sharp vanishing rates. The first result is described as follows. For any \(n\in{\mathbb N}\), there exists a smooth complex-valued solution \(u\) to \(\Delta u=V(x)u\) in \(B_1\) such that \[ |V(x)|\le Cn^3 \] and \(u\) vanishes of order \(n^2\) at \(0\), and \(u\) is constant in \(B_1\setminus B_{1/2}\). In other words, such a function \(u\) provides an example that the maximal vanishing order of a solution to the Schrödinger equation with a bounded potential is \(O(\|V\|^{2/3}_{L^\infty})\). A similar example that satisfies the homogeneous Dirichlet condition on \(\partial B_1\) is also constructed. Based on the solution constructed for the elliptic equation, it is proved in the paper that there exists a smooth complex-valued solution \(u\) of the parabolic equation \[ \partial_t u-\Delta u=Vu\quad\mbox{in}\quad\mathbb R^2\times(-1,1) \] with \(1\)-periodic boundary condition on the sides which satisfies \[ \sup_{t\in(-1,0)}q(t)\le n^3 \] where \[ q(t)=\frac{\int_{(0,1)^2}|\nabla u(\cdot,t)|^2\,dx}{\int_{(0,1)^2}|u(\cdot,t)|^2\,dx} \] and \[ |V(x,t)|\le Cn^3 \] for \(\mathbb R^2\times(-1,0)\). Moreover, the solution \(u\) vanishes of order \(n^2\) at \((0,0)\). Such a function \(u\) is an example of a solution to the parabolic equation with sharp vanishing rate. It is helpful to remark that the vanishing rate \(O(\|V\|^{2/3}_{L^\infty})\) is sharp for complex-valued solutions.