Continuous in time bubble decomposition for the harmonic map heat flow (Q7022011)

The harmonic map heat flow (HMHF) for maps \(u \colon \mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{S}^2 \subseteq \mathbb{R}^3\) is the gradient flow of the Dirichlet energy\N\(E(u) := \frac 12 \int_{\mathbb{R}^2} |\nabla u(x)|^2 \, \mathrm{d} x\),\Nand thus generalizes the standard heat flow. Due to the geometric constraint \(u(x) \in \mathbb{S}^2\), the corresponding PDE is nonlinear:\N\(\partial_t u = \Delta u + u |\nabla u|^2\).\NThus, the existence of solutions is only guaranteed on a finite time interval.\N\NLet us assume that the maximal time of existence is \(T_+ < \infty\) (the paper addresses the opposite case \(T_+ = \infty\) as well). The behavior of \(u(t)\) as \(t \to T_+\) has been studied extensively, starting with [\textit{M. Struwe}, Comment. Math. Helv. 60, 558--581 (1985; Zbl 0595.58013)], and it is known that the lack of strong convergence is due to \textit{bubbling}: energy concentrates at finitely many points \(x_i\), and at each of these points one can choose a sequence of times \(t_n \to T_+\), centers \(x_n \to x_i\) and scales \(r_n \to 0\) so that the rescaled maps \(x \mapsto u(t_n,(x-x_n)/r_n)\) converge to a~nonconstant harmonic map \(\omega_i \colon \mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{S}^2\), called a \textit{bubble}. Note that there can be another bubble \(\omega'_i\) at the same point \(x_i\), but separated in the sense that \(r_n' \ll r_n\) or \(|x_n-x'_n| \gg r_n,r_n'\). Let us loosely summarize this by saying that \(u(t_n)\) converges to a \textit{multi-bubble configuration} for some sequence \(t_n \to T_+\) (this is made precise by Definition 1.6 in the paper).\N\NThe first main result (Theorem 1.1) states that every sequence \(t_n \to T_+\), admits a subsequence \(t_{n_k}\) for which \(u(t_{n_k})\) converges to a multi-bubble configuration. This improvement is actually a corollary of the second main result (Theorem 1.8), according to which the distance from \(u(t)\) to the family of all multi-bubble configurations converges to zero as \(t \to T_+\), continuously in time.\NTogether with the earlier work of the first two authors (focused on the special case of equivariant maps) [Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 62, No. 9, Paper No. 264, 36 p. (2023; Zbl 1527.35070)], this is the first result of this kind and it sheds new light on the classical questions related to bubbling, such as: are the bubbles (i.e., the harmonic maps \(\omega_i\)) unique, or rather dependent on the chosen sequence \(t_n\)?\NThis question remains open in the general case, but Theorem 1.8 reduces it to the study of HMHF near the space of multi-bubble configurations. In particular, it excludes the possibility of collisions between two bubbles.