Unified theory for regularity persistence of vortex patch boundaries

Abstract

We establish a unified local theory for the persistence of Sobolev regularity of vortex patch boundaries in a family of two-dimensional active scalar equations with radial convolution kernels $K(|x-y|)$. The class includes the 2D Euler equation, the generalized SQG equation in the locally integrable range $0<β<1$, and the quasi-geostrophic shallow water equation. Under natural assumptions on $K$ (smoothness, integrability near the origin, monotonicity, and polynomial growth), we prove that if the initial boundary belongs to $H^3(\mathbb T)$ and satisfies the arc-chord condition, then the contour dynamics equation admits a unique local solution in $C([0,T];H^3(\mathbb T))$. Under a stronger integrability condition on the kernel, we also obtain local existence of $H^2$ solutions. The proof combines Sobolev energy estimates for the contour equation with quantitative control of the arc-chord quantity.