No abstract uploaded!

We study in this work a continuum model derived from 1D attachment-detachment-limited (ADL) type step flow on vicinal surface, $ u_t=-u^2(u^3)_{hhhh}$, where $u$, considered as a function of step height $h$, is the step slope of the surface. We formulate a notion of weak solution to this continuum model and prove the existence of a global weak solution, which is positive almost everywhere. We also study the long time behavior of weak solution and prove it converges to a constant solution as time goes to infinity. The space-time H\"older continuity of the weak solution is also discussed as a byproduct.

The diffusive transport of passive tracers or particles can be enhanced by incompressible, turbulent flow fields. Analyzing the effective behavior is a challenging problem with theoretical and practical importance in many areas of science and engineering, ranging from the transport of mass, heat, and pollutants in geophysical flows to sea ice dynamics and turbulent combustion. The long time, large scale behavior of such systems is equivalent to an enhanced diffusion process with an effective diffusivity tensor D*. Two different formulations of integral representations for D* were developed for the case of time-independent fluid velocity fields, involving spectral measures of bounded self-adjoint operators acting on vector fields and scalar fields, respectively. Here, we extend both of these approaches to the case of space-time periodic velocity fields, allowing for chaotic dynamics, providing rigorous integral representations for D* involving spectral measures of unbounded self-adjoint operators.We prove the different formulations are equivalent. Their correspondence follows from a one-to-one isometry between the underlying Hilbert spaces. We also develop a Fourier method for computing D*, which captures the phenomenon of residual diffusion related to Lagrangian chaos of a model flow. This is reflected in the spectral measure by a concentration of mass near the spectral origin.

No abstract uploaded!

We study convolution groups generated by completely monotone sequences and completely monotone functions. Using a convolution group, we define a fractional calculus for a certain class of distributions. When acting on causal functions, this definition agrees with the traditional Riemann-Liouville definition for t>0 but includes some singularities at t=0 so that the group property holds. Using this group, we are able to extend the definition of Caputo derivatives of order in (0,1) to a certain class of locally integrable functions without using the first derivative. The group property allows us to de-convolve the fractional differential equations to integral equations with completely monotone kernels, which then enables us to prove the general Gronwall inequality (or comparison principle) with the most general conditions. This then opens the door of a priori energy estimates of fractional PDEs. Some other fundamental results for fractional ODEs are also established within this frame under very weak conditions. Besides, we also obtain some interesting results about completely monotone sequences.