Endpoint Sobolev theory for the Muskat equation

Abstract: This paper is devoted to the study of solutions with critical regularity for the two-dimensional Muskat equation. We prove that the Cauchy problem is well-posed on the endpoint Sobolev space of $L^2$ functions with three-half derivative in $L^2$. This result is optimal with respect to the scaling of the equation. One well-known difficulty is that one cannot define a flow map such that the lifespan is bounded from below on bounded subsets of this critical Sobolev space. To overcome this, we estimate the solutions for a norm which depends on the initial data themselves, using the weighted fractional Laplacians introduced in our previous works. Our proof is the first in which a null-type structure is identified for the Muskat equation, allowing to compensate for the degeneracy of the parabolic behavior for large slopes.