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We consider Helmholtz problems with a perturbed wave speed, where the single-signed perturbation is linear in a parameter $z$. Both the wave speed and the perturbation are allowed to be discontinuous (modelling a penetrable obstacle). We show that there exists a polynomial function of frequency such that, for any frequency, for most values of $z$, the norm of the solution operator is bounded by that function. This solution-operator bound is most interesting for Helmholtz problems with strong trapping; recall that here there exists a sequence of real frequencies, tending to infinity, through which the solution operator grows superalgebraically, with these frequencies often called $\textit{quasi-resonances}$. The result of this paper then shows that, at every fixed frequency in the quasi-resonance, the norm of the solution operator becomes much smaller for most single-signed perturbations of the wave speed, i.e., quasi-resonances are unstable under most such perturbations.

In this article, we study propagation of defect measures for Schr\"odinger operators, $-h^2\Delta_g+V$, on a Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$ of dimension $n$ with $V$ having conormal singularities along a hypersurface $Y$ in the sense that derivatives along vector fields tangent to $Y$ preserve the regularity of $V$. We show that the standard propagation theorem holds for bicharacteristics travelling transversally to the surface $Y$ whenever the potential is absolutely continuous. Furthermore, even when bicharacteristics are tangent to $Y$ at exactly first order, as long as the potential has an absolutely continuous first derivative, standard propagation continues to hold.

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

We prove explicit asymptotics for the location of semiclassical scattering resonances in the setting of $h$-dependent delta-function potentials on $\mathbb{R}$. In the cases of two or three delta poles, we are able to show that resonances occur along specific lines of the form $\Im z \sim -\gamma h \log(1/h).$ More generally, we use the method of Newton polygons to show that resonances near the real axis may only occur along a finite collection of such lines, and we bound the possible number of values of the parameter $\gamma.$ We present numerical evidence of the existence of more and more possible values of $\gamma$ for larger numbers of delta poles., Comment: 17 pages. New version incorporating suggestions from referee and miscellaneous minor corrections. To appear in Trans. AMS

We consider approximation of the variable-coefficient Helmholtz equation in the exterior of a Dirichlet obstacle using perfectly-matched-layer (PML) truncation; it is well known that this approximation is exponentially accurate in the PML width and the scaling angle, and the approximation was recently proved to be exponentially accurate in the wavenumber $k$ in [Galkowski, Lafontaine, Spence, 2021]. We show that the $hp$-FEM applied to this problem does not suffer from the pollution effect, in that there exist $C_1,C_2>0$ such that if $hk/p\leq C_1$ and $p \geq C_2 \log k$ then the Galerkin solutions are quasioptimal (with constant independent of $k$), under the following two conditions (i) the solution operator of the original Helmholtz problem is polynomially bounded in $k$ (which occurs for "most" $k$ by [Lafontaine, Spence, Wunsch, 2021]), and (ii) either there is no obstacle and the coefficients are smooth or the obstacle is analytic and the coefficients are analytic in a neighbourhood of the obstacle and smooth elsewhere. This $hp$-FEM result is obtained via a decomposition of the PML solution into "high-" and "low-frequency" components, analogous to the decomposition for the original Helmholtz solution recently proved in [Galkowski, Lafontaine, Spence, Wunsch, 2022]. The decomposition is obtained using tools from semiclassical analysis (i.e., the PDE techniques specifically designed for studying Helmholtz problems with large $k$).

A crucial role in the theory of uncertainty quantification (UQ) of PDEs is played by the regularity of the solution with respect to the stochastic parameters; indeed, a key property one seeks to establish is that the solution is holomorphic with respect to (the complex extensions of) the parameters. In the context of UQ for the high-frequency Helmholtz equation, a natural question is therefore: how does this parametric holomorphy depend on the wavenumber $k$? The recent paper [Ganesh, Kuo, Sloan 2021] showed for a particular nontrapping variable-coefficient Helmholtz problem with affine dependence of the coefficients on the stochastic parameters that the solution operator can be analytically continued a distance $\sim k^{-1}$ into the complex plane. In this paper, we generalise the result in [Ganesh, Kuo, Sloan 2021] about $k$-explicit parametric holomorphy to a much wider class of Helmholtz problems with arbitrary (holomorphic) dependence on the stochastic parameters; we show that in all cases the region of parametric holomorphy decreases with $k$, and show how the rate of decrease with $k$ is dictated by whether the unperturbed Helmholtz problem is trapping or nontrapping. We then give examples of both trapping and nontrapping problems where these bounds on the rate of decrease with $k$ of the region of parametric holomorphy are sharp, with the trapping examples coming from the recent results of [Galkowski, Marchand, Spence 2021]. An immediate implication of these results is that the $k$-dependent restrictions imposed on the randomness in the analysis of quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) methods in [Ganesh, Kuo, Sloan 2021] arise from a genuine feature of the Helmholtz equation with $k$ large (and not, for example, a suboptimal bound).

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

We obtain estimates on the rate of decay of a solution to the wave equation on a stationary spacetime that tends to Minkowski space at a rate $O(\lvert x \rvert^{-\kappa}),$ $\kappa \in (1,\infty) \backslash \mathbb{N}.$ Given suitably smooth and decaying initial data, we show a wave locally enjoys the decay rate $O(t^{-\kappa-2+\epsilon})$., Comment: 36 pages; updated with clarifying exposition and fixed typos

Over the last ten years, results from [Melenk-Sauter, 2010], [Melenk-Sauter, 2011], [Esterhazy-Melenk, 2012], and [Melenk-Parsania-Sauter, 2013] decomposing high-frequency Helmholtz solutions into "low"- and "high"-frequency components have had a large impact in the numerical analysis of the Helmholtz equation. These results have been proved for the constant-coefficient Helmholtz equation in either the exterior of a Dirichlet obstacle or an interior domain with an impedance boundary condition. Using the Helffer-Sj\"ostrand functional calculus, this paper proves analogous decompositions for scattering problems fitting into the black-box scattering framework of Sj\"ostrand-Zworski, thus covering Helmholtz problems with variable coefficients, impenetrable obstacles, and penetrable obstacles all at once. These results allow us to prove new frequency-explicit convergence results for (i) the $hp$-finite-element method applied to the variable coefficient Helmholtz equation in the exterior of a Dirichlet obstacle, when the obstacle and coefficients are analytic, and (ii) the $h$-finite-element method applied to the Helmholtz penetrable-obstacle transmission problem. In particular, the result in (i) shows that the $hp$-FEM applied to this problem does not suffer from the pollution effect.

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 convergence theory for the $hp$-FEM applied to a variety of constant-coefficient Helmholtz problems was pioneered in the papers [Melenk-Sauter, 2010], [Melenk-Sauter, 2011], [Esterhazy-Melenk, 2012], [Melenk-Parsania-Sauter, 2013]. This theory shows that, if the solution operator is bounded polynomially in the wavenumber $k$, then the Galerkin method is quasioptimal provided that $hk/p \leq C_1$ and $p\geq C_2 \log k$, where $C_1$ is sufficiently small, $C_2$ is sufficiently large, and both are independent of $k,h,$ and $p$. The significance of this result is that if $hk/p= C_1$ and $p=C_2\log k$, then quasioptimality is achieved with the total number of degrees of freedom proportional to $k^d$; i.e., the $hp$-FEM does not suffer from the pollution effect. This paper proves the analogous quasioptimality result for the heterogeneous (i.e. variable-coefficient) Helmholtz equation, posed in $\mathbb{R}^d$, $d=2,3$, with the Sommerfeld radiation condition at infinity, and $C^\infty$ coefficients. We also prove a bound on the relative error of the Galerkin solution in the particular case of the plane-wave scattering problem. These are the first ever results on the wavenumber-explicit convergence of the $hp$-FEM for the Helmholtz equation with variable coefficients.

We study semiclassical sequences of distributions $u_h$ associated to a Lagrangian submanifold of phase space $\lag \subset T^*X$. If $u_h$ is a semiclassical Lagrangian distribution, which concentrates at a maximal rate on $\lag,$ then the asymptotics of $u_h$ are well-understood by work of Arnol'd, provided $\lag$ projects to $X$ with a stable Lagrangian singularity. We establish sup-norm estimates on $u_h$ under much more general hypotheses on the rate at which it is concentrating on $\lag$ (again assuming a stable projection). These estimates apply to sequences of eigenfunctions of integrable and KAM Hamiltonians., Comment: 33 pages, 3 tables, 1 figure

It is well known that when the geometry and/or coefficients allow stable trapped rays, the outgoing solution operator of the Helmholtz equation (a.k.a. the resolvent of the Laplacian) grows exponentially through a sequence of real frequencies tending to infinity. In this paper we show that, even in the presence of the strongest-possible trapping, if a set of frequencies of arbitrarily small measure is excluded, the Helmholtz solution operator grows at most polynomially as the frequency tends to infinity. One significant application of this result is in the convergence analysis of several numerical methods for solving the Helmholtz equation at high frequency that are based on a polynomial-growth assumption on the solution operator (e.g. $hp$-finite elements, $hp$-boundary elements, certain multiscale methods). The result of this paper shows that this assumption holds, even in the presence of the strongest-possible trapping, for most frequencies.

We study the resolvent for nontrapping obstacles on manifolds with Euclidean ends. It is well known that for such manifolds, the outgoing resolvent satisfies $\|\chi R(k) \chi\|_{L^2\to L^2}\leq C{k}^{-1}$ for ${k}>1$, but the constant $C$ has been little studied. We show that, for high frequencies, the constant is bounded above by $2/\pi$ times the length of the longest generalized bicharacteristic of $|\xi|_g^2-1$ remaining in the support of $\chi.$ We show that this estimate is optimal in the case of manifolds without boundary. We then explore the implications of this result for the numerical analysis of the Helmholtz equation., Comment: 40 pages

We consider the Schr\"odinger operator \[ P=h^2 \Delta_g + V \] on $\mathbb{R}^n$ equipped with a metric $g$ that is Euclidean outside a compact set. The real-valued potential $V$ is assumed to be compactly supported and smooth except at conormal singularities of order $-1-\alpha$ along a compact hypersurface $Y.$ For $\alpha>2$ (or even $\alpha>1$ if the classical flow is unique), we show that if $E_0$ is a non-trapping energy for the classical flow, then the operator $P$ has no resonances in a region \[ [E_0 - \delta, E_0 + \delta] - i[0,\nu_0 h \log(1/h)]. \] The constant $\nu_0$ is explicit in terms of $\alpha$ and dynamical quantities. We also show that the size of this resonance-free region is optimal for the class of piecewise-smooth potentials on the line., Comment: 20 pages; added Section 2.4 on applications to quantum evolution

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

We establish propagation of singularities for the semiclassical Schr\"odinger equation, where the potential is conormal to a hypersurface. We show that semiclassical wavefront set propagates along generalized broken bicharacteristics, hence reflection of singularities may occur along trajectories reaching the hypersurface transversely. The reflected wavefront set is weaker, however, by a power of $h$ that depends on the regularity of the potential. We also show that for sufficiently regular potentials, wavefront set may not stick to the hypersurface, but rather detaches from it at points of tangency to travel along ordinary bicharacteristics., Comment: 99 pages; exposition revised in response to referee comments

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

In this survey, we review some applications and extensions of the author's results with Richard Melrose on propagation of singularities for solutions to the wave equation on manifolds with conical singularities. These results mainly concern: the local decay of energy on noncompact manifolds with diffractive trapped orbits (joint work with Dean Baskin); singularities of the wave trace created by diffractive closed geodesics (joint work with G. Austin Ford); and the distribution of scattering resonances associated to such closed geodesics (joint work with Luc Hillairet)., Comment: 15 pages; contribution to Seminaire Laurent Schwartz proceedings

We show the existence of the full compound asymptotics of solutions to the scalar wave equation on long-range non-trapping Lorentzian manifolds modeled on the radial compactification of Minkowski space. In particular, we show that there is a joint asymptotic expansion at null and timelike infinity for forward solutions of the inhomogeneous equation. In two appendices we show how these results apply to certain spacetimes whose null infinity is modeled on that of the Kerr family. In these cases the leading order logarithmic term in our asymptotic expansions at null infinity is shown to be nonzero., Comment: Version 2: 52 pages, 1 figure. Added a remark about Price's law to Section 9.2 and made minor expository changes requested by referee

Let $u$ solve the damped Klein--Gordon equation $$ \big( \partial_t^2-\sum \partial_{x_j}^2 +m \text{Id} +\gamma(x) \partial_t \big) u=0 $$ on $\mathbb{R}^n$ with $m>0$ and $\gamma\geq 0$ bounded below on a $2 \pi \mathbb{Z}^n$-invariant open set by a positive constant. We show that the energy of the solution $u$ decays at a polynomial rate. This is proved via a periodic observability estimate on $\mathbb{R}^n.$, Comment: 7 pages; final version takes into account referee comments

We consider three problems for the Helmholtz equation in interior and exterior domains in R^d (d=2,3): the exterior Dirichlet-to-Neumann and Neumann-to-Dirichlet problems for outgoing solutions, and the interior impedance problem. We derive sharp estimates for solutions to these problems that, in combination, give bounds on the inverses of the combined-field boundary integral operators for exterior Helmholtz problems., Comment: Version 3: 42 pages; improved exposition in response to referee comments and added several references

Let $(X,g)$ be a compact manifold with conic singularities. Taking $\Delta_g$ to be the Friedrichs extension of the Laplace-Beltrami operator, we examine the singularities of the trace of the half-wave group $e^{- i t \sqrt{ \smash[b]{\Delta_g}}}$ arising from strictly diffractive closed geodesics. Under a generic nonconjugacy assumption, we compute the principal amplitude of these singularities in terms of invariants associated to the geodesic and data from the cone point. This generalizes the classical theorem of Duistermaat-Guillemin on smooth manifolds and a theorem of Hillairet on flat surfaces with cone points., Comment: 46 pages; 3 figures. New version reflects correction to trace formula (factor of primitive length rather than length), as well as some corrections to discussions of Jacobi fields in section 1.3

We consider a non-trapping $n$-dimensional Lorentzian manifold endowed with an end structure modeled on the radial compactification of Minkowski space. We find a full asymptotic expansion for tempered forward solutions of the wave equation in all asymptotic regimes. The rates of decay seen in the asymptotic expansion are related to the resonances of a natural asymptotically hyperbolic problem on the "northern cap" of the compactification. For small perturbations of Minkowski space that fit into our framework, we show a rate of decay that improves on the Klainerman--Sobolev estimates., Comment: 67 pages, 2 figures; version 2 was a substantial revision with the main result (Theorem 1.1) improved; version 3 fixes a minor error in the iterative argument establishing the asymptotic expansion; version 4 includes a few cosmetic changes and adds a few references

Using a new local smoothing estimate of the first and third authors, we prove local-in-time Strichartz and smoothing estimates without a loss exterior to a large class of polygonal obstacles with arbitrary boundary conditions and global-in-time Strichartz estimates without a loss exterior to a large class of polygonal obstacles with Dirichlet boundary conditions. In addition, we prove a global-in-time local smoothing estimate in exterior wedge domains with Dirichlet boundary conditions and discuss some nonlinear applications., Comment: 15 pages. This paper has been substantially revised; the results have been improved to include global-in-time estimates in the Dirichlet case. Further revised to include more related scattering references thanks to a careful reading by Fabrice Planchon

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 discuss recent progress in understanding the effects of certain trapping geometries on cut-off resolvent estimates, and thus on the qualititative behavior of linear evolution equations. We focus on trapping that is unstable, so that strong resolvent estimates hold on the real axis, and large resonance-free regions can be shown to exist beyond it., Comment: 15 pages. For Journ\'ees EDP 2012 conference proceedings

In this paper we show how to obtain decay estimates for the damped wave equation on a compact manifold without geometric control via knowledge of the dynamics near the un-damped set. We show that if replacing the damping term with a higher-order \emph{complex absorbing potential} gives an operator enjoying polynomial resolvent bounds on the real axis, then the "resolvent" associated to our damped problem enjoys bounds of the same order. It is known that the necessary estimates with complex absorbing potential can also be obtained via gluing from estimates for corresponding non-compact models., Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure

We consider a family of surfaces of revolution, each with a single periodic geodesic which is degenerately unstable. We prove a local smoothing estimate for solutions to the linear Schr\"odinger equation with a loss that depends on the degeneracy, and we construct explicit examples to show our estimate is saturated on a weak semiclassical time scale. As a byproduct of our proof, we obtain a cutoff resolvent estimate with a sharp polynomial loss., Comment: 26 pages, incorporated referee's comments

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

Bony and H\"afner have recently obtained positive commutator estimates on the Laplacian in the low-energy limit on asymptotically Euclidean spaces; these estimates can be used to prove local energy decay estimates if the metric is non-trapping. We simplify the proof of the estimates of Bony-H\"afner and generalize them to the setting of scattering manifolds (i.e. manifolds with large conic ends), by applying a sharp Poincar\'e inequality. Our main result is the positive commutator estimate $$ \chi_I(H^2\Delta_g)\frac{i}{2}[H^2\Delta_g,A]\chi_I(H^2\Delta_g) \geq C\chi_I(H^2\Delta_g)^2, $$ where $H\uparrow \infty$ is a \emph{large} parameter, $I$ is a compact interval in $(0,\infty),$ and $\chi_I$ its indicator function, and where $A$ is a differential operator supported outside a compact set and equal to $(1/2)(r D_r +(r D_r)^*)$ near infinity. The Laplacian can also be modified by the addition of a positive potential of sufficiently rapid decay--the same estimate then holds for the resulting Schr\"odinger operator., Comment: One new reference added

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

Lecture notes from 2008 CMI/ETH Summer School on Evolution Equations. These notes are an informal introduction to the applications of microlocal methods in the study of linear evolution equations and spectral theory. Calculi of pseudodifferential operators and Fourier integral operators are discussed and axiomatized, but not constructed: the focus is on how to apply these tools., Comment: Corrects an error in statement of Theorem 9.2 kindly pointed out by Amir Vig

We develop a second-microlocal calculus of pseudodifferential operators in the semiclassical setting. These operators test for Lagrangian regularity of semiclassical families of distributions on a manifold $X$ with respect to a Lagrangian submanifold of $T^*X.$ The construction of the calculus, closely analogous to one performed by Bony in the setting of homogeneous Lagrangians, proceeds via the consideration of a model case, that of the zero section of $T^*\mathbb{R}^n,$ and conjugation by appropriate Fourier integral operators. We prove a propagation theorem for the associated wavefront set analogous to H\"ormander's theorem for operators of real principal type. As an application, we consider the propagation of Lagrangian regularity on invariant tori for quasimodes (e.g. eigenfunctions) of an operator with completely integrable classical hamiltonian. We prove a secondary propagation result for second wavefront set which implies that even in the (extreme) case of Lagrangian tori with all frequencies rational, provided a nondegeneracy assumption holds, Lagrangian regularity either spreads to fill out a whole torus or holds nowhere locally on it., Comment: Updated with an erratum, detailing an error in the proof of Corollary 6.2 and substituting a weaker result. The erratum now precedes the bulk of the manuscript in the pdf file

In this paper, we investigate the geometric propagation and diffraction of singularities of solutions to the wave equation on manifolds with edge singularities., Comment: Minor revision following referees comments

Consider a compact manifold with boundary $M$ with a scattering metric $g$ or, equivalently, an asymptotically conic manifold $(M^\circ, g)$. (Euclidean $\mathbb{R}^n$, with a compactly supported metric perturbation, is an example of such a space.) Let $\Delta$ be the positive Laplacian on $(M,g)$, and $V$ a smooth potential on $M$ which decays to second order at infinity. In this paper we construct the kernel of the operator $(h^2 \Delta + V - (\lambda_0 \pm i0)^2)^{-1}$, at a nontrapping energy $\lambda_0 > 0$, uniformly for $h \in (0, h_0)$, $h_0 > 0$ small, within a class of Legendre distributions on manifolds with codimension three corners. Using this we construct the kernel of the propagator, $e^{-it(\Delta/2 + V)}$, $t \in (0, t_0)$ as a quadratic Legendre distribution. We also determine the global semiclassical structure of the spectral projector, Poisson operator and scattering matrix.

Let $P_h$ be a self-adjoint semiclassical pseudodifferential operator on a manifold $M$ such that the bicharacteristic flow of the principal symbol on $T^*M$ is completely integrable and the subprincipal symbol of $P_h$ vanishes. Consider a semiclassical family of eigenfunctions, or, more generally, quasimodes $u_h$ of $P_h.$ We show that on a nondegenerate rational invariant torus, Lagrangian regularity of $u_h$ (regularity under test operators characteristic on the torus) propagates both along bicharacteristics, and also in an additional ``diffractive'' manner. In particular, in addition to propagating along null bicharacteristics, regularity fills in the interiors of small annular tubes of bicharacteristics., Comment: Revised version: proof of Theorem A pruned, some examples added, hypotheses clarified

We consider Dirichlet eigenfunctions $u_\lambda$ of the Bunimovich stadium $S$, satisfying $(\Delta - \lambda^2) u_\lambda = 0$. Write $S = R \cup W$ where $R$ is the central rectangle and $W$ denotes the ``wings,'' i.e. the two semicircular regions. It is a topic of current interest in quantum theory to know whether eigenfunctions can concentrate in $R$ as $\lambda \to \infty$. We obtain a lower bound $C \lambda^{-2}$ on the $L^2$ mass of $u_\lambda$ in $W$, assuming that $u_\lambda$ itself is $L^2$-normalized; in other words, the $L^2$ norm of $u_\lambda$ is controlled by $\lambda^2$ times the $L^2$ norm in $W$. Moreover, if $u_\lambda$ is a $o(\lambda^{-2})$ quasimode, the same result holds, while for a $o(1)$ quasimode we prove that $L^2$ norm of $u_\lambda$ is controlled by $\lambda^4$ times the $L^2$ norm in $W$. We also show that the $L^2$ norm of $u_\lambda$ may be controlled by the integral of $w \abs{\partial_N u}^2$ along $\partial S \cap W$, where $w$ is a smooth factor on $W$ vanishing at $R \cap W$. These results complement recent work of Burq-Zworski which shows that the $L^2$ norm of $u_\lambda$ is controlled by the $L^2$ norm in any pair of strips contained in $R$, but adjacent to $W$.

Let (X,g) be a metrically complete, simply connected Riemannian manifold with bounded geometry and pinched negative curvature, i.e. there are constants a>b>0 such that -a^2

We obtain the Strichartz inequalities $$ \| u \|_{L^q_t L^r_x([0,1] \times M)} \leq C \| u(0) \|_{L^2(M)}$$ for any smooth $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold $M$ which is asymptotically conic at infinity (with either short-range or long-range metric perturbation) and non-trapping, where $u$ is a solution to the Schr\"odinger equation $iu_t + {1/2} \Delta_M u = 0$, and $2 < q, r \leq \infty$ are admissible Strichartz exponents ($\frac{2}{q} + \frac{n}{r} = \frac{n}{2}$). This corresponds with the estimates available for Euclidean space (except for the endpoint $(q,r) = (2, \frac{2n}{n-2})$ when $n > 2$). These estimates imply existence theorems for semi-linear Schr\"odinger equations on $M$, by adapting arguments from Cazenave and Weissler \cite{cwI} and Kato \cite{kato}. This result improves on our previous result in \cite{HTW}, which was an $L^4_{t,x}$ Strichartz estimate in three dimensions. It is closely related to the results of Staffilani-Tataru, Burq, Tataru, and Robbiano-Zuily, who consider the case of asymptotically flat manifolds., Comment: 50 pages, 2 figures

We obtain an $L^4$ space-time Strichartz inequality for any smooth three-dimensional Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$ which is asymptotically conic at infinity and non-trapping, where $u$ is a solution to the Schr\"odinger equation $iu_t + {1/2} \Delta_M u = 0$. The exponent $H^{1/4}(M)$ is sharp, by scaling considerations. In particular our result covers asymptotically flat non-trapping manifolds. Our argument is based on the interaction Morawetz inequality introduced by Colliander et al., interpreted here as a positive commutator inequality for the tensor product $U(t,z',z'') := u(t,z') u(t,z'')$ of the solution with itself. We also use smoothing estimates for Schr\"odinger solutions including a new one proved here with weight $r^{-1}$ at infinity and with the gradient term involving only one angular derivative., Comment: 43 pages, 1 figure; minor corrections to earlier version

We exhibit the form of the ``radiation field,'' describing the large-scale, long-time behavior of solutions to the wave equation on a manifold with no trapped rays, as a Fourier integral operator. We work in two different geometric settings: scattering manifolds (a class which includes asymptotically Euclidean spaces) and asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds. The canonical relation of the radiation field operator is a map from the cotangent bundle of the manifold to a cotangent bundle over the boundary at infinity; it is associated to a sojourn time, or Busemann function, for geodesic rays. In non-degenerate cases, the symbol of the operator can be described explicitly in terms of the geometry of long-time geodesic flow. As a consequence of the above result, we obtain a description of the (distributional) high-frequency asymptotics of the scattering-theoretic Poisson operator, better known as the Eisenstein function in the asymptotically hyperbolic case.

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.

Let g be a scattering metric on a compact manifold X with boundary, i.e., a smooth metric giving the interior of X the structure of a complete Riemannian manifold with asymptotically conic ends. An example is any compactly supported perturbation of the standard metric on Euclidean space. Consider the operator $H = \half \Delta + V$, where $\Delta$ is the positive Laplacian with respect to g and V is a smooth real-valued function on X vanishing to second order at the boundary. Assuming that g is non-trapping, we construct a global parametrix for the kernel of the Schroedinger propagator $U(t) = e^{-itH}$ and use this to show that the kernel of U(t) is, up to an explicit quadratic oscillatory factor, a class of `Legendre distributions' on $X \times X^{\circ} \times \halfline$ previously considered by Hassell-Vasy. When the metric is trapping, then the parametrix construction goes through microlocally in the non-trapping part of the phase space. We apply this result to obtain a microlocal characterization of the singularities of $U(t) f$, for any tempered distribution $f$ and any fixed $t \neq 0$, in terms of the oscillation of f near the boundary of X. If the metric is non-trapping, then we obtain a complete characterization; more generally we need to assume that f is microsupported in the nontrapping part of the phase space. This generalizes results of Craig-Kappeler-Strauss and Wunsch., Comment: 29 pages, no figures

Let $X$ be a compact Riemannian manifold with conic singularities, i.e. a Riemannian manifold whose metric has a conic degeneracy at the boundary. Let $\Delta$ be the Friedrichs extension of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on $X.$ There are two natural ways to define geodesics passing through the boundary: as ``diffractive'' geodesics which may emanate from $\partial X$ in any direction, or as ``geometric'' geodesics which must enter and leave $\partial X$ at points which are connected by a geodesic of length $\pi$ in $\partial X.$ Let $\DIFF=\{0\} \cup \{\pm lengths of closed diffractive geodesics\}$ and $\GEOM=\{0\} \cup \{\pm lengths of closed geometric geodesics\}.$ We show that $$ \Tr \cos t \sqrt\Delta \in C^{-n-0}(\RR) \cap C^{-1-0}(\RR\backslash \GEOM) \cap C^\infty(\RR\backslash \DIFF).$$ This generalizes a classical result of Chazarain and Duistermaat-Guillemin on boundaryless manifolds, which in turn follows from Poisson summation in the case $X=S^1.$, Comment: Exposition substantially improved. 1 figure added. Title changed

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.

Let $X$ be a manifold with boundary, endowed with a metric with conic singularities at the boundary components of $X$. Let $u$ be a solution to the wave equation on $\mathbb{R} \times X$. When a singularity of $u$ strikes a cone point of $X$, it undergoes a mixture of diffractive spreading and geometric propagation., Comment: One of the figures causes xdvi to crash; postscript output recommended for viewing