Optimal stability estimates for continuity equations

Abstract: This review paper is concerned with the stability analysis of the continuity equation in the DiPerna--Lions setting in which the advecting velocity field is Sobolev regular. Quantitative estimates for the equation were derived only recently (Seis 2016), but optimality was not discussed. In this paper, we revisit the results from (Seis 2016), compare the new estimates with previously known estimates for Lagrangian flows, e.g.\ (Crippa & De Lellis 2008), and finally demonstrate how those can be applied to produce optimal bounds in applications from physics, engineering or numerics.