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We prove a Morse index theorem for action functionals on paths that are allowed to reflect at a hypersurface (either in the interior or at the boundary of a manifold). Both fixed and periodic boundary conditions are treated., Comment: v2: 31 pages, added a Morse Index Theorem for composition of paths

A rotating cosmic string spacetime has a singularity along a timelike curve corresponding to a one-dimensional source of angular momentum. Such spacetimes are not globally hyperbolic: they admit closed timelike curves near the string. This presents challenges to studying the existence of solutions to the wave equation via conventional energy methods. In this work, we show that semi-global forward solutions to the wave equation do nonetheless exist, but only in a microlocal sense. The main ingredient in this existence theorem is a propagation of singularities theorem that relates energy entering the string to energy leaving the string. The propagation theorem is localized in the fibers of a certain fibration of the blown-up string, but global in time, which means that energy entering the string at one time may emerge previously., Comment: 58 pgs; Lemma 9.3 has been updated

A static rotating cosmic string metric is singular along a timelike line and fails to be globally hyperbolic; these features make it difficult to solve the wave equation by conventional energy methods. Working on a single angular mode at a time, we use microlocal methods to construct forward parametrices for wave and Klein--Gordon equations on such backgrounds., Comment: 15 pages; improvements to exposition in response to referee comments

The Dirac equation in $\mathbb{R}^{1,3}$ with potential Z/r is a relativistic field equation modeling the hydrogen atom. We analyze the singularity structure of the propagator for this equation, showing that the singularities of the Schwartz kernel of the propagator are along an expanding spherical wave away from rays that miss the potential singularity at the origin, but also may include an additional spherical wave of diffracted singularities emanating from the origin. This diffracted wavefront is 1-0 derivatives smoother than the main singularities and is a conormal singularity., Comment: 51 pages, 1 figure; version 2: minor changes to introduction

A subject of recent interest in inverse problems is whether a corner must diffract fixed frequency waves. We generalize this question somewhat and study cones $[0,\infty)\times Y$ which do not diffract high frequency waves. We prove that if $Y$ is analytic and does not diffract waves at high frequency then every geodesic on $Y$ is closed with period $2\pi$. Moreover, we show that if $\dim Y=2$, then $Y$ is isometric to either the sphere of radius 1 or its $\mathbb{Z}^2$ quotient, $\mathbb{R}\mathbb{P}^2$., Comment: Updated in response to referee comments. 13 pages

Let $H$ denote the harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian on $\mathbb{R}^d,$ perturbed by an isotropic pseudodifferential operator of order $1.$ We consider the Schr\"odinger propagator $U(t)=e^{-itH},$ and find that while $\operatorname{singsupp} \operatorname{Tr} U(t) \subset 2 \pi \mathbb{Z}$ as in the unperturbed case, there exists a large class of perturbations in dimension $d \geq 2$ for which the singularities of $\operatorname{Tr} U(t)$ at nonzero multiples of $2 \pi$ are weaker than the singularity at $t=0$. The remainder term in the Weyl law is of order $o(\lambda^{d-1})$, improving in these cases the $O(\lambda^{d-1})$ remainder previously established by Helffer--Robert., Comment: 28 pages; new section added on propagation of singularities

We describe the resonances closest to the real axis generated by diffraction of waves among cone points on a manifold with Euclidean ends. These resonances lie asymptotically evenly spaced along a curve of the form $$\frac{\Im \lambda}{\log \left |\Re \lambda\right |}= -\nu;$$ here $\nu=(n-1)/2 L_0$ where $n$ is the dimension and $L_0$ is the length of the longest geodesic connecting two cone points. Moreover there are asymptotically no resonances below this curve and above the curve $$ \frac{\Im \lambda}{\log \left |\Re \lambda\right |}= -\Lambda $$ for a fixed $\Lambda>\nu.$, Comment: Slight correction to main theorem: finitely many different values of the constants $C_\Re$ and $C_\Im$ may be possible if there is more than one maximal diffracted closed orbit. Final version to appear in Ann. Inst. Fourier

We consider manifolds with conic singularites that are isometric to $\mathbb{R}^{n}$ outside a compact set. Under natural geometric assumptions on the cone points, we prove the existence of a logarithmic resonance-free region for the cut-off resolvent. The estimate also applies to the exterior domains of non-trapping polygons via a doubling process. The proof of the resolvent estimate relies on the propagation of singularities theorems of Melrose and the second author to establish a "very weak" Huygens' principle, which may be of independent interest. As applications of the estimate, we obtain a exponential local energy decay and a resonance wave expansion in odd dimensions, as well as a lossless local smoothing estimate for the Schr{\"o}dinger equation., Comment: Incorporates appendix from previous version into body of text

We consider Morawetz estimates for weighted energy decay of solutions to the wave equation on scattering manifolds (i.e., those with large conic ends). We show that a Morawetz estimate persists for solutions that are localized at low frequencies, independent of the geometry of the compact part of the manifold. We further prove a new type of Morawetz estimate in this context, with both hypotheses and conclusion localized inside the forward light cone. This result allows us to gain a 1/2 power of $t$ decay relative to what would be dictated by energy estimates, in a small part of spacetime., Comment: New version of Theorem 1.1 added that includes refined $\ell^1$-$\ell^\infty$ estimate in dyadic shells. Some changes to exposition

We consider the possible concentration in phase space of a sequence of eigenfunctions (or, more generally, a quasimode) of an operator whose principal symbol has completely integrable Hamilton flow. The semiclassical wavefront set $WF_h$ of such a sequence is invariant under the Hamilton flow. In principle this may allow concentration of $WF_h$ along positive codimension sub-tori of a Liouville torus $\mathcal{L}$ if there exist rational relations among the frequencies of the flow on $\mathcal{L}.$ We show that, subject to non-degeneracy hypotheses, this concentration may not in fact occur. The main tools are the spreading of Lagrangian regularity on $\mathcal{L}$ previously shown by Vasy and the author, and an analysis of higher order transport equations satisfied by the principal symbol of a Lagrangian quasimode., Comment: One addition to acknowledgments; to appear in Comm. PDE

We give pole free strips and estimates for resolvents of semiclassical operators which, on the level of the classical flow, have normally hyperbolic smooth trapped sets of codimension two in phase space. Such trapped sets are structurally stable and our motivation comes partly from considering the wave equation for Kerr black holes and their perturbations, whose trapped sets have precisely this structure. We give applications including local smoothing effects with epsilon derivative loss for the Schr\"odinger propagator as well as local energy decay results for the wave equation., Comment: Further changes to erratum correcting small problems with Section 3.5 and Lemma 4.1; this now also corrects hypotheses, explicitly requiring trapped set to be symplectic. Erratum follows references in this version

We consider the fundamental solution to the wave equation on a manifold with corners of arbitrary codimension. If the initial pole of the solution is appropriately situated, we show that the singularities which are diffracted by the corners (i.e., loosely speaking, are not propagated along limits of transversely reflected rays) are smoother than the main singularities of the solution. More generally, we show that subject to a hypothesis of nonfocusing, diffracted wavefronts of any solution to the wave equation are smoother than the incident singularities. These results extend our previous work on edge manifolds to a situation where the fibers of the boundary fibration, obtained here by blowup of the corner in question, are themselves manifolds with corners., Comment: Revision adding significant exposition, correcting many small errors; index of notation added

We discuss the form of the propagator $U(t)$ for the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation on an asyptotically Euclidean, or, more generally, asymptotically conic, manifold with no trapped geodesics. In the asymptotically Euclidean case, if $\chi \in \mathcal{C}_0^\infty$, and with $\mathcal{F}$ denoting Fourier transform, $\mathcal{F}\circ e^{-ir^2/2t} U(t) \chi$ is a Fourier integral operator for $t\neq 0.$ The canonical relation of this operator is a ``sojourn relation'' associated to the long-time geodesic flow. This description of the propagator follows from its more precise characterization as a ``scattering fibered Legendrian,'' given by the authors in a previous paper and sketched here. A corollary is a propagation of singularities theorem that permits a complete description of the wavefront set of a solution to the Schr\"odinger equation, restricted to any fixed nonzero time, in terms of the oscillatory behavior of its initial data. We discuss two examples which illustrate some extremes of this propagation behavior.

For the wave equation associated to the Laplacian on a compact manifold with boundary with a conic metric (with respect to which the boundary is metrically a point) the propagation of singularities through the boundary is analyzed. Under appropriate regularity assumptions the diffracted, non-direct, wave produced by the boundary is shown to have Sobolev regularity greater than the incoming wave.