On well-posedness of a mildly dissipative family of active scalar equations in borderline Sobolev spaces

Abstract: This paper considers a family of active scalar equations which modify the generalized surface quasi-geostrophic (gSQG) equations through its constitutive law or dissipative perturbations. These modifications are characteristically mild in the sense that they are logarithmic. The problem of well-posedness, in the sense of Hadamard, is then studied in a borderline setting of regularity in analog to the scaling-critical spaces of the gSQG equations. A novelty of the system considered is the nuanced form of smoothing provided by the proposed mild form of dissipation, which is able to support global well-posedness at the Euler endpoint, but in a setting where the inviscid counterpart is known to be ill-posed. A novelty of the analysis lies in the simultaneous treatment of modifications in the constitutive law, dissipative mechanism, and functional setting, which the existing literature has typically treated separately. A putatively sharp relation is identified between each of the distinct system-modifiers that is consistent with previous studies that considered these modifications in isolation. This unified perspective is afforded by the introduction of a linear model equation, referred to as the protean system, that successfully incorporates the more delicate commutator structure collectively possessed by the gSQG family and upon which each facet of well-posedness can be reduced to its study.