Strichartz estimates and the Cauchy problem for the gravity water waves equations

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the proof of a well-posedness result for the gravity water waves equations, in arbitrary dimension and in fluid domains with general bottoms, when the initial velocity field is not necessarily Lipschitz. Moreover, for two-dimensional waves, we can consider solutions such that the curvature of the initial free surface does not belong to $L^2$. The proof is entirely based on the Eulerian formulation of the water waves equations, using microlocal analysis to obtain sharp Sobolev and Hölder estimates. We first prove tame estimates in Sobolev spaces depending linearly on Hölder norms and then we use the dispersive properties of the water-waves system, namely Strichartz estimates, to control these Hölder norms.

118 pages. This preprint expands and supersedes our previous submission arXiv:1308.1423. It contains in addition some results that have been withdrawn from our previous preprint arXiv:1212.0626