Delayed Dissipation for Two-Dimensional Vortex Sheets

Abstract

We quantify viscous energy loss for two-dimensional Delort vortex sheets. Let $u^\nu$ be Leray-Hopf solutions on $\mathbb{T}^2$ with uniformly bounded kinetic energy and total vorticity variation, and write $\omega_0^\nu=\mu_0^\nu+f_0^\nu$, where $\mu_0^\nu\geq0$ and $f_0^\nu$ is bounded in $L^p$, $p>1$. For every fixed $0<\delta<T$, $\nu\int_\delta^T\|\omega^\nu(t)\|_2^2\,\mathrm{d}t\lesssim_{\delta,T}\frac{1}{|\log\nu|}$. This improves the $O(|\log\nu|^{-1/2})$ bound of De Rosa and Marcotullio under the same assumptions and thereby disproves their Conjecture 1.6 (arXiv:2602.15670, v1). The proof uses a sharp $L^2$-$H^1$-$H^{-1}$ interpolation inequality for nonnegative densities, retaining the total interaction energy of the positive vorticity rather than only its largest local mass. The bound also remains effective when the observation time grows with the Reynolds number. If the initial velocities are relatively compact in $L^2$, the loss still vanishes whenever $\log T_\nu=o(|\log\nu|)$; in particular, any prescribed energy loss must wait at least until $\nu^{-a}$ for some $a>0$. Previous estimates covered only $T_\nu=o(\exp(|\log\nu|^\kappa))$, $\kappa<1/2$, so this gives a polynomial lower bound on the energetic lifetime of the inviscid vortex-sheet model. If instead $f_0^\nu$ is bounded in $L(\log L)^\alpha$, the rate is $O(|\log\nu|^{-q_\alpha})$, $q_\alpha=\min\{2\alpha,1\}$, and the loss vanishes when $\log T_\nu=o(|\log\nu|^{q_\alpha})$. On $\mathbb{R}^2$, exact radial solutions attain these exponents for $0<\alpha\leq1/2$. At the endpoint, a bounded-energy $L^p$ family attains the rate $1/|\log\nu|$, while every fixed radial datum dissipates $o(1/|\log\nu|)$ and can lose a fixed amount of energy only on the diffusive scale $1/\nu$.