Stability of incompressible

current-vortex sheets
A. Morando, Y. Trakhinin, P. Trebeschi
EVEQ 2008
International Summer School
on Evolution Equations,
Prague, June 16-20, 2008
1. INTRODUCTION
The MHD equations
Equations of ideal incompressible magnetohy-
drodynamics (MHD) of a perfectly conducting
inviscid incompressible plasma. For constant
density ((t, x) > 0) these equations in a
dimensionless form are

t
v +(v, )v (H, )H+q = 0,

t
H+(v, )H(H, )v = 0,
divv = 0.
(1)
v = v(t, x) = (v
1
, v
2
, v
3
): the velocity,
H = H(t, x) = (H
1
, H
2
, H
3
): the magnetic eld,
q = p +|H|
2
/2: the total pressure
p = p(t, x): the pressure (divided by ).
We work in terms of the unknowns
U = (v, H) and q.
1
The MHD system (1) is supplemented by the
divergent constraint
divH = 0 (2)
on the initial data U
|t=0
= U
0
for the Cauchy
problem in the whole space R
3
.
2
The problem
We are interested in weak solutions of (1) that
are smooth on either side of a smooth hyper-
surface in [0, T] R
3
(t) = {x
1
f(t, x

) = 0}, (x

= (x
2
, x
3
)).
Such weak solutions should satisfy Rankine Hugo-
niot jump conditions (R.H.) at each point of
.
3
Current-vortex sheets
We consider tangential discontinuities, i.e. no
ow through and H
|
is tangential to .
Then R.H. conditions read as follows:

t
f = v

N
, H

N
= 0, [q] = 0 on (t) (3)
v
N
:= (v, N), H
N
:= (H, N),
N: the space normal vector to ,
[g] = g
+
|
g

|
: the jump of g across ;
g

: the values of g on

(t) = {x
1
f(t, x

)}.
A tangential MHD discontinuity is called a
current-vortex sheet.
From (3), the tangential components of v and
H may undergo any jump. The vorticity curl v
and the current curl H are concentrated along
.
4
The constraint div H = 0 and the boundary
conditions H

N
= 0 on should be regarded as
the restrictions only on the initial data
U

(0, x) = U

0
(x), x

(0),
f(0, x

) = f
0
(x

), x

R
2
.
5
Final goal: existence of current-vortex sheets,
i.e. solutions (U

, q

, f) to the free boundary

value problem
MHD equations,
R.H. jump conditions,
initial conditions
U

, q

are the values of the unknowns U =

(v, H), q in

(t).
Planar current-vortex sheets
Particular solutions of the free boundary value
problem above are the so-called planar current
vortex sheets, that are piecewise constant so-
lutions of the form
U

c
= (0, v

, 0, H

) = (0, v

2
, v

3
, 0, H

2
, H

3
),
q

c
= const, f = 0 (i.e. = {x
1
= 0}),
v

i
, H

i
xed constants for i = 1, 2.
6
Existent literature
No general existence theorem for solutions which
allow discontinuities.
In the NON CHARACTERISTIC case:
Complete analysis of existence and stability of a
single shock wave was made by
A. Majda 1983,
G. Metivier 2001.
Existence of rarefaction waves by S. Alinhac 1989.
Existence of sound waves by G. Metivier 1991.
Uniform existence of shock waves with small strength
by J. Francheteau - G. Metivier 2000.
In the CHARACTERISTIC case (vortex sheet):
Existence and stability of vortex sheets for the isentropic
Euler equations by J.F. Coulombel- P. Secchi 2004-
06,
stability of vortex sheets for the nonisentropic Euler
equations by A. Morando- P. Trebeschi 2007.
7
Existent literature for
MHD current-vortex sheets
COMPRESSIBLE MHD
Trakhinin 2007: Local-in-time existence of
current-vortex sheets for the ideal compress-
ible MHD, under a sucient stability condition
satised by the initial (nonplanar) discontinu-
ity.
A necessary and sucient condition is still
unknown and cannot be found analytically.
8
INCOMPRESSIBLE MHD
A necessary and sucient stability condition for
planar current-vortex sheets (Syrovatskij 1953,
Axford 1962, Michael 1955 for the 2D case) is
given by
|[v]|
2
< 2
_
|H
+
|
2
+|H

|
2
_
, (4)

H
+
[v]

2
+

[v]

2
2

H
+
H

2
, (5)
with [v] = v
+
v

, v

= (0, v

2
, v

3
), and H

=
(0, H

2
, H

3
).
Equality in (5) transition to violent insta-
bility = ill-posedness of the linearized problem.
We exclude this critical case and assume strict
inequality in (5).
In terms of suitable dimensionless parameters
x, y (dened through v, H), the stability region
can be described as
T := {x > 0, y > 0, x +y < 2}.
9
Trakhinin 2005: stability and existence of current-
vortex sheets (obtained as a small perturba-
tions of a planar current-vortex sheet), only in
the half of the stability domain T
S := {x > 0, y > 0, max{x, y} < 1}.
Main tool: energy methods.
Morando, Trakhinin, Trebeschi 2007: stability
of planar current-vortex sheets for the whole
stability domain T .
Existence of non planar current-vortex sheets:
to be done.
10
2. LINEAR STABILITY OF PLANAR
CURRENT-VORTEX SHEETS
The stability of planar current-vortex sheets
amounts to prove an energy estimate for the
linearized problem obtained, by linearizing around
a xed planar current-vortex sheet, the free
boundary value problem
MHD equations,
R.H. jump conditions,
initial conditions.
Steps of the analysis
1) Reduction to the xed domain {x
1
> 0}.
2) Linearization of the resulting non linear prob-
lem on the xed domain {x
1
> 0}, around a
given planar current-vortex sheet.
11
3. LINEARIZED PROBLEM

t
U

+A

x
2
U

+A

x
3
U

+e q

= F

,
div u

= F

, in {x
1
> 0},
u

1
=
t
f +v

2

x
2
f +v

3

x
3
f +g

,
[q] = g, on {x
1
= 0},
where A

k
:= A

k
(U

c
), k = 2, 3, e := (1, 0),
U

:= (u

, h

),
q

:= (
x
1
q

,
x
2
q

,
x
3
q

), and
div u

:=
x
1
u

1
+
x
2
u

2
+
x
3
u

3
.
F

(t, x), F

(t, x), g

(t, x

), g(t, x

): source terms.
From the analysis of the exact form of the ac-
cumulated errors for the incompressibility con-
ditions and the boundary conditions f
t
= v

N|x
1
=0
,
we have
F

= div b

, g

= b

1|x
1
=0
,
where b

= (b

1
, b

2
, b

3
).
12
Performing the change of unknown functions

= u

and dropping tildes we have the problem

L(U, q) = F,
div u

= 0, in {x
1
> 0} ,
B(u
1
, q, f) = g , on {x
1
= 0},
Main features
1. Characteristic boundary: only the trace of
the non characteristic part of the unknowns is
expected to be controlled in the energy esti-
mates.
2. The discontinuity front f is an additional
unknown in the boundary condition.
3. Kreiss Lopatinskii condition is satised only
in the weak sense = loss of regularity in the
energy estimate.
13
4. MAIN RESULT
Denote = R R
3
+
= {t R, x R
3
+
} and

= R
3
.
Goal: deriving energy a priori estimates for the
linearized problem in weighted Sobolev spaces
H
m

() and H
m

(R
3
), where for 1
H
m

:= e
t
H
m
; H
0

= L
2

:= e
t
L
2
.
The usual Sobolev spaces H
m
() and H
m
(R
3
)
are equipped with the (weighted) norms
v
2
m,
:=

||m

2(m||)

tan
v
2
L
2
(R
3
)
,
|||u|||
2
m,
:=

||m

2(m||)

u
2
L
2
()
.

tan
:=

0
t

2
x
2

3
x
3
, with = (
0
,
2
,
3
) N
3
.
For real m and 1, the spaces H
m

(R
3
),
H
m

() are equipped with the norms

v
H
m

(R
3
)
:= e
t
v
m,
,
u
H
m

()
:= |||e
t
u|||
m,
.
14
Theorem 1. Let (v

, H

) be a planar current-
vortex sheet satisfying the stability condition.
Then C > 0: 1 and (U, q, f) smooth
solution of the linearized problem the following
estimate holds:
U
2
L
2

()
+q
2
L
2

()
+(U, q)
|x
1
=0

2
L
2

(R
3
)
+f
2
H
1

(R
3
)

2
_
L(U, q)
2
H
3

()
+B(u
1
, q, f)
2
H
2

(R
3
)
_
.
Moreover, for all m N:
U
2
H
m

()
+q
2
H
m

()
+(U, q)
|x
1
=0

2
H
m

(R
3
)
+f
2
H
m+1

(R
3
)

2
_
L(U, q)
2
H
m+3

()
+B(u
1
, q, f)
2
H
m+2

(R
3
)
_
.
Remark:
1) The full trace of the unknowns (U, q) is controlled.
2) No loss of control of derivatives in the normal direction
(higher order estimates in the usual Sobolev spaces and
not in the anisotropic weighted Sobolev spaces).
15
Theorem 1 admits an equivalent formulation in
terms of the exponentially weighted unknowns
U

:= e
t
U

, q

:= e
t
q

, f := e
t
f.
In terms of the new unknowns, the linearized
problem becomes:
L

(U, q) = F,
div u

= 0, in {x
1
> 0} ,
B

(u
1
, q, f) = g , on {x
1
= 0},
where
L

(U, q) := L(U, q) +U,

B

(u
1
, q, f) := B(u
1
, q, f) +
_
_
_
f
0
0
_
_
_,
F := e
t
F, g

:= e
t
g.
16
The a priori estimates of Theorem 1 become
U
2
L
2
()
+q
2
L
2
()
+(U, q)
|x
1
=0

2
L
2
(R
3
)
+f
2
1,

2
_
|||L

(U, q)|||
2
3,
+B

(u
1
, q, f)
2
2,
_
,
and
|||U|||
2
m,
+|||q|||
2
m,
+(U, q)
|x
1
=0

2
m,
+f
2
m+1,

2
_
|||L

(U, q)|||
2
m+3,
+B

(u
1
, q, f)
2
m+2,
_
.
Later on we drop bars form U, q etc...
17
5. MAIN STEPS OF THE PROOF OF
THEOREM 1
1
st
step: Estimating the trace of U and
the front f through the trace of q.
We prove the following estimates:
U

|x
1
=0

2
L
2
(R
3
)

C

2
_
q

|x
1
=0

2
L
2
(R
3
)
+|||F

|||
2
1,
_
f
2
1,

C

2
_
q
|x
1
=0

2
L
2
(R
3
)
+|||F|||
2
1,
_
.
Ideas of the proof
Standard integration by parts applied to the
interior equations, restricted to the boundary
{x
1
= 0}, gives the rst estimate.
R.H. conditions for h, u give
||f||
2
1,
C||U
| x
1
=0
||
2
L
2
(R
3
)
+boundary data.
Then, the second estimate follows from the
rst one.
18
2
nd
step: Estimating q through its trace.
q is ELLIPTIC. Combining the equation of the
linearized problem and the R-H conditions we
obtain a suitable NON STANDARD elliptic prob-
lem for the total pressure q

.
q
+
= F
+
, q

= F

, in {x
1
> 0},
q
+
q

= g,

x
1
q
+
+(L
2
+
B
2
+
)f = g
+
,

x
1
q

+(L
2

B
2

)f = g

, on {x
1
= 0},
where
L

=
t
+v

2

x
2
+v

3

x
3
+I,
B

= H

2

x
2
+H

3

x
3
,
F

:= div F

1
+B

,
g

:= F

1,1|x
1
=0
+B

.
19
The concrete form of the source terms F

and
g

gives the estimate

q
2
L
2
()
C
_
q
|x
1
=0

2
L
2
(R
3
)
+
1

|||F|||
2
1,
+
1

2
g
2
1,
_
Idea of the proof
Let us integrate the equation q
+
q
+
+q

=
q
+
F
+
+q

over the domain .

Standard integration by parts, and the explicit
form of the source and boundary terms give
the estimate.
20
3
rd
Step: Estimating U through q
Using the interior equations of the linearized
system we get
U

2
L
2
()

C

_
q

2
L
2
()
+
1

2
|||F

|||
2
1,
_
.
Gathering all the obtained estimates one gets
U
2
L
2
()
+q
2
L
2
()
+U
|x
1
=0

2
L
2
(R
3
)
+f
2
1,
C
_
q
|x
1
=0

2
L
2
(R
3
)
+
1

2
|||F|||
2
2,
+
1

2
g
2
1,
_
.
Thus, to conclude, it remains to derive the es-
timate
q
|x
1
=0

2
L
2
(R
3
)
C
_
1

2
|||F|||
2
3,
+
1

2
g
2
2,
_
for the trace of q.
21
4
th
Step: Estimating the trace of q
4.1: Reduced problem for the Laplace equa-
tions
We introduce the auxiliary problem

q
+
= F
+
,

= F

, in {x
1
> 0},

q
+
=
x
1

q
+
F
+
1,1|x
1
=0
,

=
x
1

+F

1,1|x
1
=0
, on {x
1
= 0}.
We get:

q
|x
1
=0

2
L
2
(R
3
)

C

2
|||F|||
2
2,
.
Dene the new unknowns q

:= q

.
They satisfy the problem
q
+
= 0, q

= 0, in {x
1
> 0},
q
+
q

= g := g +

g,

x
1
q
+
+(L
2
+
B
2
+
)f = B
+
G
+
+g
+
,

x
1
q

+(L
2

B
2

)f = B

+g

, on {x
1
= 0}
where

g :=

q

|x
1
=0

q
+
|x
1
=0
.
It remains to estimate q
|x
1
=0
.
22
4.2: Estimate the trace of q
Consider the problem satised in Step 4.1:
q

= 0, in{x
1
> 0},
suitable boundary conditions.
Construct a symbolic symmetrizer for the Fourier
transform of the problem above, namely
d
2
q

dx
2
1
||
2

= 0, in {x
1
> 0},
transformed boundary conditions at {x
1
= 0}.
, : dual variables of x

, t; := +i.

dY
dx
1
= A()Y, in{x
1
> 0},
(, )Y(0) = G
Y :=
_
Y
+
Y

_
, Y

=
_
_
d

dx
1
||

_
_
, A() =
_
A
+
0
0 A

_
,
A

=
_
0 ||
|| 0
_
.
23
This symmetrizer provides an L
2
estimate for
q
|x
1
=0
but NOT an interior L
2
estimate for
q. That is, this symmetrizer is, roughly speak-
ing, a kind of elliptically degenerate Kreiss
symmetrizer.
Our symmetrizer is also degenerate because it
is like a degenerate Kreiss symmetrizer con-
structed by Coulombel and Secchi 2004 (lin-
earized Euler equations for 2D compressible
vortex sheets).
Surprisingly, our construction of an elliptic
symmetrizer is similar to that of Coulombel
and Secchi 2004 of hyperbolic (Kreiss) sym-
metrizer. It is even much simpler because in
our case the matrix of the ODE system for the
Fourier transform has no poles and it is always
diagonalizable.
24
Planar incompressible current-vortex sheets are
only weakly stable, i.e. the uniform Lopatinskii
condition is violated for the linearized problem
(this means the Lopatinskii determinant van-
ishes at some boundary frequencies (, ) with
= 0).
The Lopatinskii determinant has only simple
roots.
The construction of the symmetrizer is microlocal
and the analysis is performed in a conic neigh-
borhood of dierent classes of frequency points
(, ):
a. interior points (, ) : > 0. Here an L
2
-estimate
without loss of derivatives is obtained.
b. boundary points (, ) : = 0.
Points where the Lopatinskii determinant is dif-
ferent from zero: analogous to the case a.
Points where the Lopatinskii determinant van-
ishes: L
2
-estimate with loss of derivatives.
The previous analysis gives the desired esti-
mate for q
|x
1
=0
, with loss of derivatives.
25
Higher order estimates
(

tan
U,

tan
q,

tan
f) solves a linearized prob-
lem similar to the original one. Therefore, it
obeys a similar estimate:
|||U|||
2
L
2
(H
m
)
+|||q|||
2
L
2
(H
m
)
+(U, q)
|x
1
=0

2
m,
+f
2
m+1,

2
_
|||F|||
2
m+3,
+g
2
m+2,
_
,
where |||u|||
2
L
2
(H
m
)
:=

||m

2(m||)

tan
u
2
L
2
()
.
It remains to estimate normal derivatives of
(U, q).
For m = 1: use the divergence conditions for
u and h and the equations for the vorticity

:= curl u

and the current z

:= curl h

.
For m > 1: we proceed by nite induction.
26
SOME BIBLIOGRAPHY
W. I. Axford, Note on a problem of magnetohy-
drodynamic stability. Canad. J. Phys. 40 (1962),
654655.
A. Blokhin, Y. Trakhinin, Stability of strong dis-
continuities in uids and MHD. In: Friedlander S.,
Serre D. (eds.), Handbook of mathematical uid
dynamics, vol. 1, pp. 545652, North-Holland,
Amsterdam, 2002.
J.-F. Coulombel, P. Secchi, The stability of com-
pressible vortex sheets in two space dimensions. In-
diana Univ. Math. J. 53 (2004), 9411012.
H.-O. Kreiss, Initial boundary value problems for hy-
perbolic systems. Commun. Pure and Appl. Math.
23 (1970), 277296.
A. Majda, The stability of multi-dimensional shock
fronts. Mem. Amer. Math. Soc. 41(275), 1983.
A. Majda, S. Osher, Initial-boundary value problems
for hyperbolic equations with uniformly character-
istic boundary. Commun. Pure and Appl. Math.
28 (1975), 607675.
S. I. Syrovatskij, The stability of tangential discon-
tinuities in a magnetohydrodynamic medium. Zhurn.
27
Eksper. Teor. Fiz. 24 (1953), 622629 (in Rus-
sian).
Y. Trakhinin, On the existence of incompressible
current vortex sheets: study of a linearized free
boundary value problem. Math. Meth. Appl. Sci.
28 (2005), 917945.
Y. Trakhinin, On existence of compressible current-
vortex sheets: variable coecients linear analysis.
Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 177 (2005), 331366.
Y. Trakhinin, Dissipative symmetrizers of hyper-
bolic problems and their applications to shock waves
and characteristic discontinuities. SIAM J. Math.
Anal. 37 (2006), 19882024.
Y. Trakhinin, The existence of current-vortex sheets
in ideal compressible magnetohydrodynamics. Arch.
Ration. Mech. Anal., to appear.