Partial regularity and singular sets of solutions of higher order parabolic systems (Q731384): Difference between revisions

The paper provides a wide spectrum of regularity results for non-differentiable nonlinear higher order parabolic systems in divergence form. All regularity and growth assumptions on the coefficient functions made here can be considered natural. The technique of \(A\)-caloric approximation from [\textit{F. Duzaar} and \textit{G. Mingione}, Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. Non Linéaire 22, 705--751 (2005; Zbl 1099.35042)] (based on De Giorgi's ``harmonic approximation'') is generalized to an \(A\)-polycaloric approximation. This is used to prove partial Hölder regularity of \(D^mu\), where \(u\) is a weak solution and \(2m\) is the order of the system. Hölder continuity holds outside a closed singular set of Lebesgue measure zero, under very mild assumptions on the equation. Under only slightly stronger assumptions, the parabolic Hausdorff dimension of the singular set can be proven to be slightly smaller than the worst case \(n+2m\) that would be allowed in the theorem mentioned above. If the coefficients depend on \(x\) and \(D^mu\) only (instead also on lower derivatives of \(u\) as previously assumed), then it is even smaller than \(n+2m-2\beta\), where \(\beta\) is the Hölder exponent of the coefficients. A similar dimension estimate holds if \(u\) and its derivatives up to order \(m-1\) are assumed to be \(\beta\)-Hölder continuous. The proofs (of which some details are omitted and can be found in the author's PhD thesis) involve a variety of recent techniques, including differenc quotients in combination with fractional Sobolev spaces, as established by Mingione for elliptic problems.