A regularizing effect of nonlinear transport equations (Q4497920)

The semigroup on \(L^1 (\mathbb{R}^n)\) defined by the nonlinear transport equation for the scalar function \(s\) is considered \[ \partial_t s + \text{ div} (f(s)u) = 0 \quad \text{ in } \;(0, \infty) \times \mathbb{R}^n \] for the given velocity field \(u\). This nonlinear semigroup is Hölder continuous for \(t>0\) in the uniform operator topology, provided the graph of \(f\) has no linear segments. This continuity property -- which expresses a regularizing effect of the nonlinearity in the transport equation -- is robust with respect to the spatial behaviour of the time-independent velocity field \(u\).