The Muskat problem with surface tension and equal viscosities in subcritical $$L_p$$-Sobolev spaces

In this paper we establish the well-posedness of the Muskat problem with surface tension and equal viscosities in the subcritical Sobolev spaces $$W^s_p(\mathbb {R})$$ W p s ( R ) , where $${p\in (1,2]}$$ p ∈ ( 1 , 2 ] and $${s\in (1+1/p,2)}$$ s ∈ ( 1 + 1 / p , 2 ) . This is achieved by showing that the mathematical model can be formulated as a quasilinear parabolic evolution problem in $$W^{\overline{s}-2}_p(\mathbb {R})$$ W p s ¯ - 2 ( R ) , where $${\overline{s}\in (1+1/p,s)}$$ s ¯ ∈ ( 1 + 1 / p , s ) . Moreover, we prove that the solutions become instantly smooth and we provide a criterion for the global existence of solutions.