Liouville's theorem and the restricted mean value property (Q1914530): Difference between revisions

The classical Liouville's theorem states that bounded harmonic functions on \(\mathbb{R}^d\) are constant. It is proved in this paper that bounded functions having the restricted mean value property are constant in dimension \(\geq 3\). More precisely let \(r\) be a strictly positive real function on \(\mathbb{R}^d\), \(d\geq 3\), such that \(r(x)\leq |x|+c\) where \(c\) is some positive constant. A bounded Lebesgue measurable function \(f\) has the restricted mean value property if the mean of \(f\) on balls of center \(x\) and radius \(r(x)\) is equal to \(f(x)\) for any \(x\in\mathbb{R}^d\). It is then proved that such a function is necessarily constant assuming that \(f\) is continuous or that \(r\) is locally bounded away from zero. In the two-dimensional case, let \(f\) be a lower semicontinuous function on a domain \(U\) whose complementary set is polar such that the ball \(B(x,r(x))\) of center \(x\) and radius \(r(x)\) is contained in \(U\) for any \(x\in U\). Assuming that the mean of \(f\) on balls of center \(x\) and radius \(r(x)\) is not greater than \(f(x)\) for any \(x\in U\), one gets that \(f\) is constant on \(U\).