Existence and uniqueness of maximal regular flows for non-smooth vector fields (Q493136)

Let \(\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^d\) be an open subset. For \(T \in (0,\infty)\) and a given Borel vector field \(b: (0,T) \times \Omega \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^d\) the authors study the following ODE \[ \begin{cases} \dot{x}(t)= b(t,x(t)), \quad t \in (0,T) \\ x(0)=x. \end{cases} \] The main assumptions in the paper are the following conditions (a) \(\int_0^T \int_{\Omega'} |b(x,t)|dx dt < \infty\) for any \(\Omega' \Subset \Omega\); (b) for any nonegative \(\tilde{\rho} \in L_{+}^{\infty}(\Omega)\) with compact support in \(\Omega\) and any closed interval \([a,b]\subset [0,T]\), the continuity equation \[ \frac{d}{dt} \rho_t + \text{div} (b \rho_t)=0, \quad \text{in} \quad (a,b) \times \Omega \] has at most one weakly-\(*\) continuous solution \(t\mapsto \rho_t\) with \(\rho_a = \tilde{\rho}\). Let us stress that condition (b) holds for example for Sobolev vector fields, \(BV\) vector fields whose divergence is a locally integrable function. The authors prove existence, uniqueness and stability of the maximal regular flow \(X(t,x)\). Moreover, they discuss the semigroup property and blow-up of solutions.