What is not in the domain of the Laplacian on Sierpinski gasket type fractals (Q1304671): Difference between revisions

An analog of the Laplacian \(\Delta\) on the Sierpinski gasket (SG for short) and related fractals, constructed by Kigami is considered. A function \(f\) is said to belong to the domain of \(\Delta\) if \(f\) is continuous and \(\Delta f\) is defined as a continuous function. The authors give two different proofs of the assertion that if \(f\) is a nonconstant function in the domain of \(\Delta\), then \(f^2\) is not in the domain of \(\Delta\). A Laplacian \(\Delta\) on a fractal \(F\) can be defined by a Dirichlet form \({\mathcal E}(f,f)\), which is the analog of \(\int|\nabla f|^2dx\), and a measure \(\mu\) on \(F\). The Dirichlet form determines the harmonic functions, which are minimizers of \({\mathcal E}(f,f)\) subject to some boundary conditions. The Laplacian is determined by the analog of \(\int\Delta f\cdot\nabla gdx= -\int g\Delta fdx+\) \{boundary terms\} with \({\mathcal E}(f,g)\) playing the role of the left hand side, and \(d\mu\) substituting for \(dx\) on the right side. An interesting interpretation is \({\mathcal E}(f,g)\) can be the total mass of a signed measure \(\nu_{f,g}\) defined by \(\int hd\nu_{f,g}= {\mathcal E}(fh,g)+ {\mathcal E}(f,gh) -{\mathcal E}(h,fg)\) for \(h\) in the domain of \({\mathcal E}\), but the energy measures \(\nu_{f,g}\) may be unrelated to the measure \(\mu\) used to define the Laplacian. \textit{S. Kusuoka} [Publ. Res. Inst. Math. Sci. 25, No. 4, 659-680 (1989; Zbl 0694.60071)] proved they are singular for many fractals. A new original proof of this fact is given here.