Unique Continuation Property for Stochastic Wave Equations

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Lü, Qi, Liao, Zhonghua
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Lü, Qi
Liao, Zhonghua
author_facet Lü, Qi
Liao, Zhonghua
contents This paper establishes a fundamental and surprising phenomenon in the theory of stochastic wave equations: the restoration of the unique continuation property (UCP) across characteristic hypersurfaces, a property that is known to fail generically in the deterministic setting. We prove that if a solution to a linear stochastic wave equation vanishes on one side of a characteristic surface $Γ$, then it must vanish in a full neighborhood of any point on $Γ$, provided the stochastic diffusion coefficient is non-degenerate. This result stands in sharp contrast to the classical Hörmander-type counterexamples for deterministic waves. Furthermore, we extend the UCP to equations with non-homogeneous stochastic sources and establish a global unique continuation result from the interior of an arbitrarily narrow characteristic cone. Our proofs rely on a novel stochastic Carleman estimate, where the Itô diffusion term introduces a crucial positive energy contribution that is absent in deterministic models. These findings demonstrate a qualitative difference between deterministic and stochastic hyperbolic dynamics and open new avenues for control theory and inverse problems in stochastic setting.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_21854
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Unique Continuation Property for Stochastic Wave Equations
Lü, Qi
Liao, Zhonghua
Analysis of PDEs
Probability
This paper establishes a fundamental and surprising phenomenon in the theory of stochastic wave equations: the restoration of the unique continuation property (UCP) across characteristic hypersurfaces, a property that is known to fail generically in the deterministic setting. We prove that if a solution to a linear stochastic wave equation vanishes on one side of a characteristic surface $Γ$, then it must vanish in a full neighborhood of any point on $Γ$, provided the stochastic diffusion coefficient is non-degenerate. This result stands in sharp contrast to the classical Hörmander-type counterexamples for deterministic waves. Furthermore, we extend the UCP to equations with non-homogeneous stochastic sources and establish a global unique continuation result from the interior of an arbitrarily narrow characteristic cone. Our proofs rely on a novel stochastic Carleman estimate, where the Itô diffusion term introduces a crucial positive energy contribution that is absent in deterministic models. These findings demonstrate a qualitative difference between deterministic and stochastic hyperbolic dynamics and open new avenues for control theory and inverse problems in stochastic setting.
title Unique Continuation Property for Stochastic Wave Equations
topic Analysis of PDEs
Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.21854