Sharp estimates for pseudo-differential operators with symbols of limited smoothness and commutators (Q820068)

The author studies continuity properties and commutator estimates for a class of pseudo-differential operators with nonclassical, nonsmooth (in \(x\)) symbols \(\sigma(x,\xi)\). This study is motivated by problems from the theory of nonlinear water waves where symbols of form \(\sqrt{(1+|\nabla a(x)|^2)|\xi|^2 - (\nabla a(x)\cdot\xi)^2}\) appear in a natural way. To accommodate such symbols the author introduces the symbol class \(\Gamma^m_s\), \(m\in\mathbb R\), \(s>d/2\), consisting of functions \(\sigma : \mathbb R^d\times\mathbb R^d \to \mathbb R\) satisfying \(\sigma|\mathbb R^d\times \overline{B_1(0)} \in L^\infty(\overline{B_1(0)}, H^s(\mathbb R^d))\) ---here \(H^s\) denotes the usual \(L^2\) Sobolev space--- and for all \(\beta\in\mathbb N_0^d\) the inequality \[ \sup_{|\xi|>1/4} (1+|\xi|)^{|\beta|-m} \|\partial_\xi^\beta \sigma(\cdot,\xi)\|_{H^s}<\infty \] holds. The first main result are inequalities of the type \[ \|\sigma(x,D)u\|_{H^s} \leq c(\sigma,m,s,d)\|u\|_{H^{m+t_0}} + C(\sigma,m,d)\|u\|_{H^{m+s}} \] where \(s\in [t_0,s_0]\), \(\sigma\in \Gamma^m_{s_0}\), \(m\in\mathbb R\) and \(d/2<t_0\leq s_0\). The dependence of the constants \(c,C\) on \(\sigma\) is explicitly expressed in terms of seminorms on the symbol space \(\Gamma^m_s\). The proof relies on a decomposition of the symbol \(\sigma\) into four components (one of them is a paradifferential symbol) which are then separately estimated. The second main result is on various commutator estimates, e.g. (i) of Kato-Ponce type: \[ \begin{multlined} \|[\sigma^1(D),\sigma^2(\cdot,D)]u - \{\sigma^1,\sigma^2\}_n(\cdot,D)u\|_{H^s} \\ \leq C(\sigma^1,\sigma^2)\|u\|_{H^{s+m_1+m_2-n-1}} + \|\sigma^2\|_{H^{s+\min(m_1,s)}}\|u\|_{H^{m_1+m_2+t_0-\max(m_1,n)}} \end{multlined} \] where \(\{\cdot,\cdot\}\) is the Poisson bracket, \(d/2<t_0\leq s_0\), \(\sigma^1\) is a certain Fourier-multiplier of order \(m_1\) and \(\sigma^2\in \Gamma^{m_2}_{s_0+1+\max(m_1,n)}\). Again the dependence of the constant \(C\) on \(\sigma^1, \sigma^2\) is explicitly given. Various variants of the above estimates are given if the symbols have additional properties; (ii) of Calderon-Coifman-Meyer type: under the same assumptions as stated in (i) one has \[ \|[\sigma^1(D),\sigma^2(\cdot,D)]u - \{\sigma^1,\sigma^2\}_n(\cdot,D)u\|_{H^s} \leq c'(\sigma^1)\|\nabla^{n+1}_x\sigma^2\|_{H^{t_0}}\|u\|_{H^{s+m_1+m_2-n-1}} \] with explicitly given dependence of the constants. Both results are finally extended to the case where \(\sigma^1\) is not only a Fourier multiplier but even a symbol from the class \(\Gamma^m_s\). It is stated (without proof) that an extension of the above estimates to \(L^p\)-Sobolev spaces is indeed possible; for the sake of clarity, however, the exposition covers only \(L^2\)-Sobolev spaces.