A note on decay rates of the local energy for wave equations with Lipschitz wavespeeds

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Publication:2287233



Abstract: We consider the Cauchy problem for wave equations with variable coefficients in the whole space. We improve the rate of decay of the local energy, which has been recently studied by J. Shapiro, where he derives the log-order decay rates of the local energy under stronger assumptions on the regularity of the initial data.


The authors consider the Cauchy problem for a wave equation with a variable coeffcient in $\mathbb{R}^n$, $n \ge 1$, \begin{align*}u_{tt} - c(x)^2 \Delta u(t,x) = 0, \qquad (t,x) \in (0, \infty) \times \mathbb{R}^n, \\ u(0,x) = u_0(x), \qquad u_t(0,x) = u_1(x), \qquad x \in \mathbb{R}^n,\end{align*} with initial data $u_0 \in H^1(\mathbb{R}^n)$, $u_1 \in L^2(\mathbb{R}^n)$. The function $c : \mathbb{R}^n \to \mathbb{R}$ satisfies \begin{align*}c(x) > 0, \qquad c, c^{-1} \in L^\infty(\mathbb{R}^n), \qquad \nabla c \in (L^\infty(\mathbb{R}^n))^n, \\ \text{there exists }L > 0\text{ so that }c(x) = 1\text{ for }|x| > L.\end{align*} Under some additional weighted conditions on the the initial data, and assuming $$\eta : = 2L \| c^{-1} \|_\infty \| \nabla c \|_\infty \in [0,1),$$ the authors show that the local energy of the solution $$ E_R(t) = \frac{1}{2} \int_{|x| \le R} (\frac{1}{c^2(x)} |u_t(t,x)|^2 + |\nabla u(t,x) |^2) dx$$ decays like $$ E_R(t) = O(t^{-(1-\eta)}), \qquad t \gg 1,$$ while the exterior energy $$ \int_{|x| \ge (1 + \varepsilon)t} (|u_t(t,x)|^2 + |\nabla u(t,x) |^2) dx = O_\varepsilon(t^{-1}), \qquad t \gg 1, \, \varepsilon > 0. $$ The proofs are inspired by the Morawetz multiplier method [\textit{C. S. Morawetz}, Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 14, 561--568 (1961; Zbl 0101.07701)]. Under more restrictions on the intitial data, but in more general geometries, one obtains a logarithmic decay rate for the local energy [\textit{N. Burq}, Acta Math. 180, No. 1, 1--29 (1998; Zbl 0918.35081); \textit{J. Shapiro}, Commun. Partial Differ. Equations 43, No. 5, 839--858 (2018; Zbl 1421.35198)].











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