Past exam of the optimal transport and partial differential equations course of the University of Oxford / 2025 / 1 / a

Compact support of a measure gives finite second absolute moments for both probability measures. Since the source satisfies absolute continuity of measures with respect to Lebesgue measure, Brenier's theorem identifies the quadratic Kantorovich optimal transport problem with the Monge optimal transport problem:Here $S_{\#}\mu$ is the pushforward measure. The optimal transport plan is unique and equals $(\mathrm{Id},T{)}_{\#}\mu$. The optimal transport map is unique up to a $\mu$-null set, withThe gradient of this convex function is c-cyclically monotone for $c(x,y)=|x-y{|}^2$ on a full-measure set. In particular, summing the two supporting inequalities for the convex function gives $(T(x)-T(x^{\prime }))\cdot (x-x^{\prime })\ge 0$ wherever both gradients exist. No regularity of the target beyond the stated probability measure assumptions is needed.