Inviscid models generalizing the 2D Euler and the surface quasi-geostrophic equations

Abstract

Any classical solution of the 2D incompressible Euler equation is global in time. However, it remains an outstanding open problem whether classical solutions of the surface quasi-geostrophic (SQG) equation preserve their regularity for all time. This paper studies solutions of a family of active scalar equations in which each component $u_j$ of the velocity field $u$ is determined by the scalar $\theta$ through $u_j =\mathcal{R} \Lambda^{-1} P(\Lambda) \theta$ where $\mathcal{R}$ is a Riesz transform and $\Lambda=(-\Delta)^{1/2}$. The 2D Euler vorticity equation corresponds to the special case $P(\Lambda)=I$ while the SQG equation to the case $P(\Lambda) =\Lambda$. We develop tools to bound $\|\nabla u||_{L^\infty}$ for a general class of operators $P$ and establish the global regularity for the Loglog-Euler equation for which $P(\Lambda)= (\log(I+\log(I-\Delta)))^\gamma$ with $0\le \gamma\le 1$. In addition, a regularity criterion for the model corresponding to $P(\Lambda)=\Lambda^\beta$ with $0\le \beta\le 1$ is also obtained.