Optimal transport and the Monge-Ampère equation
The optimal transport problem is finding the cheapest way to transport a mass distribution from one location to another, given some cost function. Apart from their economic applications, optimal transportation theory and techniques have become increasingly common and powerful tools in tackling some of the most challenging questions in partial differential equations, fluid mechanics, geometry, probability, and functional analysis. However, depending on the cost function and geometry of the ambient space, the existence, uniqueness, and regularity of optimal maps are non-trivial issues. Figalli's contributions are numerous. For instance, with Fathi, he obtained the existence and uniqueness of optimal maps on non-compact Riemannian manifolds for general Lagrangian-action costs. Also, he has proved the existence and uniqueness of optimal maps in the partial transport problem and studied their regularity properties. The regularity of optimal transport maps, when the cost is given by the squared Euclidean distance, is intimately related to the regularity of solutions to the Monge-Ampère equation. In collaboration with De Philippis, Figalli has proved second-order Sobolev regularity for the Monge-Ampère equation in the borderline case when the right-hand side is only bounded away from zero and infinity. This regularity result led to understanding the existence and regularity of solutions to the semigeostrophic equations, a classical system of partial differential equations used in meteorology. More generally, the regularity of solutions to the optimal transport problem for arbitrary costs is tied to the regularity of solutions to Monge-Ampère-type equations. Together, Figalli and De Philippis have obtained a general partial regularity result for optimal transport maps, which is also valid in situations where the structure and data of the problem often rule out the possibility of local and global regularity estimates. Also, in joint works with Rifford and Villani, Figalli has used regularity properties of optimal transports to understand the underlying space's geometric structure and the cut locus's stability.
Geometric and functional inequalities
Geometric and functional inequalities play a crucial role in many problems arising in, among other areas, the calculus of variations, partial differential equations, and geometry. With Maggi and Pratelli, Figalli has used optimal transportation techniques to obtain a sharp quantitative stability theorem for the Wulff inequality. In the crystalline setting, this result has then been improved with Zhang. Figalli also obtained several sharp quantitative stability results for other geometric and functional inequalities of Sobolev-type regarding the stability of minimizers and critical points. Among his most notable results, he proved with Zhang a sharp stability for minimizers of the p-Sobolev inequality. Also, with Dolbeault, Esteban, Loss, and Frank, he established a quantitative version of the 2-Sobolev inequality with explicit constants that behave optimally as the dimension goes to infinity. In particular, that allowed them to deduce an optimal quantitative stability estimate for the Gaussian log-Sobolev inequality with an explicit dimension-free constant. In a different direction, he investigated the quantitative stability of the Brunn-Minkowski inequality. In particular, with Maggi and Pratelli, he obtained a sharp stability result for the Brunn-Minkowski inequality on convex sets. Then, with Jerison, Figalli combined tools from additive combinatorics, affine geometry, and harmonic analysis to obtain the first quantitative stability result for the Brunn-Minkowski inequality in arbitrary dimensions on generic sets. More recently, he has also obtained stability results in the more general context of the Prekopa-Leindler inequality.
Free boundary problems
Free boundary problems naturally arise when studying many physical phenomena. Typically, paired with the solution is a domain determined by the solution and the problem's specific data, whose boundary is called the free boundary. The main questions in free boundary problems are the solution's regularity and the free boundary's structure and regularity, i.e., the boundary of the solution-determined domain. Figalli has studied free boundary problems both for local and nonlocal operators. In particular, in a series of collaborations with Barrios, Caffarelli, Ros-Oton, and Serra, he proved several general results regarding the regularity of the solution and the free boundary in the parabolic and elliptic fractional obstacle problems. Also, together with Serra, he proved a very fine result on the structure of the singular set for the classical obstacle problem, improving previous contributions by Caffarelli and Weiss. The techniques introduced with Serra have been further developed in a paper with Ros-Oton and Serra, where they proved the generic regularity of the free boundary for the obstacle problem, solving a conjecture of Schaeffer in dimensions n≤4. These ideas also played a crucial role in understanding the free boundary behavior in the Stefan problem. Finally, with Eberle and Weiss, Figalli solved a long-standing conjecture by classifying all global solutions to the obstacle problem in arbitrary dimension.
Local and nonlocal elliptic operators
Both local and nonlocal equations have their roots in different physical phenomena. They appear in, among other areas, the dislocation dynamics in crystals, conformal geometry, probability (considering either the Brownian motion or general jump processes), and phase transition theory. Because of their many appearances, their study has received increasing attention. Figalli's contributions to this setting include the development of a Schauder theory in the nonlocal setting and several regularity and rigidity results and estimates for nonlocal minimal surfaces, a natural nonlocal variant of classical minimal surfaces that arises in the study of phase transitions. With Cabré, Ros-Oton, and Serra, Figalli proved the smoothness of stable solutions to semilinear elliptic equations with convex nonlinearities n dimensions n≤9, solving a celebrated conjecture of Brezis. Also, with Zhang, he extended this result to the case of finite Morse index solutions. In addition, Figalli has also studied degenerate equations of porous medium type together with Bonforte and Vazquez, developing a complete study of nonnegative solutions to these equations driven by local or nonlocal diffusion.
Evolution equations
A major discovery of Otto was that one could interpret many evolution equations as gradient flows in the space of probability measures endowed with the Wasserstein distance. In joint work with Carrillo, Di Francesco, Laurent, and Slepcev, Figalli was able to take advantage of this interpretation to study interaction equations modeling the collective behavior of individuals where finite time blow-up is expected. In particular, they developed a global well-posedness theory for measure-valued solutions. Together with Carlen, Figalli has studied the asymptotic behavior for the critical mass Keller-Segel equation, a classical model of the macroscopic description of chemotaxis. In their work, Carlen and Figalli leverage quantitative stability results of some Gagliardo-Nirenberg and logarithmic Hardy-Littlewood-Sobolev inequalities to show a quantitative rate of convergence to a steady state.
Transport equations
Transport equations with rough coefficients play a prominent role in mathematical physics and continuum mechanics. In their seminal paper, DiPerna and Lions proved a precise correspondence between the global well-posedness of transport equations with Sobolev vector fields and almost everywhere existence and uniqueness of the associated ODE. Ambrosio then extended this to the case of BV vector fields. Figalli has developed this theory in many settings. First, he extended this duality theory to the cases of stochastic differential equations with rough coefficients and drifts. Then, with Ambrosio, Figalli developed DiPerna-Lions's theory for rough vector fields in infinite-dimensional spaces when the reference measure differs from Lebesgue. Consequently, in collaboration with Ambrosio, Friesecke, Giannoulis, and Paul, Figalli was able to study the semiclassical limit of the Schrödinger equation with very rough potentials. Later, with Ambrosio and Colombo, Figalli developed a local version of the DiPerna-Lions theory, corresponding to the classical local Cauchy-Lipschitz theory for rough vector fields. This general theory has, for example, allowed Ambrosio, Colombo, and Figalli to provide new insight into physical systems like the Vlasov-Poisson equation.
Sub-Riemannian manifolds
Sub-Riemannian manifolds are a generalization of Riemannian manifolds where, to measure distances, one can only go along curves tangent to so-called horizontal subspaces. Sub-Riemannian manifolds often occur in studying constrained systems in classical mechanics, such as the motion of vehicles on a surface and of robot arms or the orbital dynamics of satellites. The Heisenberg group provides a fundamental example of a sub-Riemannian manifold. Together with Rifford, Figalli has studied the existence and uniqueness of optimal transport maps on sub-Riemannian manifolds. Very recently, in collaboration with Belotto da Silva, Parusiński, and Rifford, he proved the strong Sard conjecture for sub-Riemannian structures on three-dimensional analytic manifolds and the C^1 regularity of minimizing geodesics.
Random matrices
Large random matrices arise as natural models in diverse fields such as quantum mechanics, quantum chaos, telecommunications, finance, and statistics. The central mathematical question in this area is: how much do the spectrum's asymptotic properties depend on the model's fine detail? This question dates back to the 1950s, and Wigner proved that the distribution of the spectrum converges, under very mild assumptions, to the so-called semi-circle law. However, the local properties of the spectrum still need to be fully understood. In collaboration with Guionnet and Bekelman, Figalli introduced a new approach to this question, considering suitable approximate transport maps to provide effective changes of variables between different laws. Then, with Guionnet, he pushed this approach further to obtain universality in perturbative several-matrix models.
Weak-KAM theory
Given an autonomous Hamiltonian system on a smooth, compact Riemannian manifold without boundary, the so-called Aubry set captures many essential features of the system's Hamiltonian dynamics. Moreover, its structure is strongly related to the regularity of viscosity solutions to the Hamilton-Jacobi equation. A celebrated conjecture due to Mañé states that generically the Aubry set is either a fixed point or a periodic orbit. In two papers with Rifford, Figalli proved Mañé's conjecture in several cases. In particular, they established that Mañé's conjecture is equivalent to the generic existence of smooth critical viscosity subsolutions to the Hamilton-Jacobi equation. Then, building on these techniques, Contreras, Figalli, and Rifford solved a problem proposed by Herman during the ICM-1998 on the generic hyperbolicity of the Aubry set on surfaces.
Variational methods for the incompressible Euler equations
Starting from Arnold's seminal interpretation of solutions to the incompressible Euler equations as geodesics in the space of measure-preserving diffeomorphisms, in the 1980s, Brenier introduced a relaxed model to study the problem of finding minimizing geodesics in this infinite dimensional space. Ambrosio and Figalli have obtained refined regularity estimates on the pressure in the incompressible Euler equations by exploiting tools and ideas from geometric measure theory and optimal transportation. These estimates, in turn, have allowed them to find sharp necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for the relaxed geodesic problem. This has become a powerful tool for finding and classifying generalized geodesics.