Narrow Results

In this paper we introduce a class of semiclassical Fourier integral operators with global complex phases approximating the fundamental solutions (propagators) for time-dependent Schrödinger equations. Our construction is elementary, it is inspired by the joint work of the first author with Yu. Safarov and D. Vasiliev. We consider several simple but basic examples.

Direct segregated systems of boundary-domain integral equations are formulated for the mixed (Dirichlet–Neumann) boundary value problems for a scalar second-order divergent elliptic partial differential equation with a variable coefficient in an exterior three-dimensional domain. The boundary-domain integral equation system equivalence to the original boundary value problems and the Fredholm properties and invertibility of the corresponding boundary-domain integral operators are analyzed in weighted Sobolev spaces suitable for infinite domains. This analysis is based on the corresponding properties of the BVPs in weighted Sobolev spaces that are proved as well.

This is a survey paper on an old topic in classical analysis. We present some new developments in asymptotics in the last 50 years. We start with the classical method of Darboux and its generalizations, including a uniformity treatment which has a direct application to the Heisenberg polynomials. We then present the development of an asymptotic theory for difference equations, which is a major advancement since the work of Birkhoff and Trjitzinsky in 1933. A new method was introduced into this field in the 1990s, which is now known as the nonlinear steepest descent method or the Riemann–Hilbert approach. The advantage of this method is that it can be applied to orthogonal polynomials which do not satisfy any differential or difference equations neither do they have any integral representations. As an example, we mention the case of orthogonal polynomials with respect to the Freud weight. Finally, we show how the Wiener–Hopf technique can be used to derive asymptotic expansions for the solutions of an integral equation on a half line.

The scalar wave equation in Kasner spacetime is solved, first for a particular choice of Kasner parameters, by relating the integrand in the wave packet to the Bessel functions. An alternative integral representation is also displayed, which relies upon the method of integration in the complex domain for the solution of hyperbolic equations with variable coefficients. In order to study the propagation of wave fronts, we integrate the equations of bicharacteristics which are null geodesics, and we are able to express them, for the first time in the literature, with the help of elliptic integrals for another choice of Kasner parameters. For generic values of the three Kasner parameters, the solution of the Cauchy problem is built through a pair of integral operators, where the amplitude and phase functions in the integrand solve a coupled system of partial differential equations. The first is the so-called transport equation, whereas the second is a nonlinear equation that reduces to the Eikonal equation if the amplitude is a slowly varying function. Remarkably, the analysis of such a coupled system is proved to be equivalent to building first an auxiliary covariant vector having vanishing divergence, while all nonlinearities are mapped into solving a covariant generalization of the Ermakov–Pinney equation for the amplitude function. Last, from a linear set of equations for the gradient of the phase one recovers the phase itself. This is the parametrix construction that relies upon Fourier–Maslov integral operators, but with a novel perspective on the nonlinearities in the dispersion relation. Furthermore, the Adomian method for nonlinear partial differential equations is applied to generate a recursive scheme for the evaluation of the amplitude function in the parametrix. The resulting formulas can be used to build self-dual solutions to the field equations of noncommutative gravity, as has been shown in the recent literature.

In the 60s, DeWitt discovered that the advanced and retarded Green functions of the wave operator on metric perturbations in the de Donder gauge make it possible to define classical Poisson brackets on the space of functionals that are invariant under the action of the full diffeomorphism group of spacetime. He therefore tried to exploit this property to define invariant commutators for the quantized gravitational field, but the operator counterpart of such classical Poisson brackets turned out to be a hard task. On the other hand, in the mathematical literature, it is by now clear that, rather than inverting exactly an hyperbolic (or elliptic) operator, it is more convenient to build a quasi-inverse, i.e. an inverse operator up to an operator of lower order which plays the role of regularizing operator. This approximate inverse, the parametrix, which is, strictly, a distribution, makes it possible to solve inhomogeneous hyperbolic (or elliptic) equations. We here suggest that such a construction might be exploited in canonical quantum gravity provided one understands what is the counterpart of classical smoothing operators in the quantization procedure. We begin with the simplest case, i.e. fundamental solution and parametrix for the linear, scalar wave operator; the next step are tensor wave equations, again for linear theory, e.g. Maxwell theory in curved spacetime. Last, the nonlinear Einstein equations are studied, relying upon the well-established Choquet-Bruhat construction, according to which the fifth derivatives of solutions of a nonlinear hyperbolic system solve a linear hyperbolic system. The latter is solved by means of Kirchhoff-type formulas, while the former fifth-order equations can be solved by means of well-established parametrix techniques for elliptic operators. But then the metric components that solve the vacuum Einstein equations can be obtained by convolution of such a parametrix with Kirchhoff-type formulas. Some basic functional equations for the parametrix are also obtained, that help in studying classical and quantum version of the Jacobi identity.

We give a proof of the non-blow-up of the Yang–Mills curvature on arbitrary curved space-times using the Klainerman–Rodnianski parametrix combined with suitable Grönwall type inequalities. While the Chruściel–Shatah argument requires a control on two derivatives of the Yang–Mills curvature, we can get away by controlling only one derivative instead, and we propose a new gauge-independent proof on sufficiently smooth, globally hyperbolic, curved 4-dimensional Lorentzian manifolds.