Decay of viscous surface waves without surface tension

Abstract

Consider a viscous fluid of finite depth below the air. In the absence of the surface tension effect at the air-fluid interface, the long time behavior of a free surface with small amplitude has been an intriguing question since the work of Beale \cite{beale_1}. In this monograph, we develop a new mathematical framework to resolve this question. If the free interface is horizontally infinite, we establish that it decays to a flat surface at an algebraic rate. On the other hand, if the free interface is periodic, we establish that it decays at an almost exponential rate, i.e. at an arbitrarily fast algebraic rate determined by the smallness of the data. Our framework contains several novel techniques, which include: (1) a local well-posedness theory of the Navier-Stokes equations in the presence of a moving boundary; (2) a two-tier energy method that couples the boundedness of high-order energy to the decay of low-order energy, the latter of which is necessary to balance out the growth of the highest derivatives of the free interface; (3) control of both negative and positive Sobolev norms, which enhances interpolation estimates and allows for the decay of infinite surface waves; (4) a localization procedure that is compatible with the energy method and allows for curved lower surface geometry in the periodic case. Our decay results lead to the construction of global-in-time solutions to the surface wave problem.