Rank-one theorem and subgraphs of BV functions in Carnot groups (Q1634590)

Let \(\Omega\subseteq \mathbb R^{n}\) be an open set. According to [\textit{L. Ambrosio} et al., Functions of bounded variation and free discontinuity problems. Oxford: Clarendon Press (2000; Zbl 0957.49001); Definition 3.1, 3.4, Proposition 3.6], a function \(u=(u_1,\dots,u_d)\in L^1(\Omega,\mathbb R^{d})\) has bounded variation if it has the following properties \begin{itemize}\item[1.] The distributional derivatives \( D_j u_i \) may be represented by finite Radon measures on \( \Omega \). That is, for all \( i=1,\dots,d \), \( j=1,\dots,n \) there exists a finite Radon measure \( D_j u_i \) on \( \Omega \) such that \[ \int_\Omega u_i D_j \varphi\, d\mathcal{L}=-\int_\Omega\varphi \, dD_j u_i \qquad \text{for all }\varphi\in C^\infty_c (\Omega). \] \item[2.] The \( \mathbb{R}^{d\times n} \)-valued measure \( Du:=(D_j u_i)_{1\leq i\leq d,\,1\leq j\leq n}\) has finite total variation. That is, \[ \sup\left\{ -\sum_{i=1}^d \sum_{j=1}^n \int_\Omega \varphi_{i,j}\, d D_j u_i : \varphi=(\varphi_{i,j}) \in C^1_c (\Omega,\mathbb{R}^{d\times n}),\, \| \varphi \|_\infty \leq 1\right\}<\infty. \] \end{itemize} The measure \( Du \) may be decomposed as the sum \( Du=D^a u+D^s u \) where \( D^a u \) is absolutely continuous and \( D^s u \) is singular with respect to the Lebesgue measure on \( \Omega \). Writing \(\frac{D^s u}{|D^s u|} \) for the Radon-Nikodým derivative of \( D^s u \) with respect to its total variation \(|D^s u| \), we have that \( \frac{D^su}{|D^s u|} \) is a \( |D^s u| \)-measurable mapping \( \Omega\to \mathbb{R}^{d\times n} \). The rank-one theorem, first proved by \textit{G. Alberti} in [Proc. R. Soc. Edinb., Sect. A, Math. 123, No. 2, 239--274 (1993; Zbl 0791.26008)] states that \[ \mathrm{rank}\left(\frac{D^s u}{\left|D^s u\right|}(x)\right)=1\qquad \text{for }|D^s u|\text{ a.e. }x\in \Omega, \] for any \(u\in BV(\Omega,\mathbb{R}^d) \). Later alternative proofs of the rank one theorem were provided by \textit{G. De Philippis} and \textit{F. Rindler} [Ann. Math. (2) 184, No. 3, 1017--1039 (2016; Zbl 1352.49050)] and by the second and third named authors of the presently reviewed work in [``An elementary proof of the rank-one theorem for BV functions'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1601.02903}], where the proof is significantly simpler. In the article under review, the authors consider to what extend the rank-one theorem extends to the more general setting of a Carnot group, that is, a simply connected Lie group \(G\) whose Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{g}\) decomposes as \[ \mathfrak{g}=V_1 \oplus V_2 \oplus\dots\oplus V_s, \] where \(V_i=[V_1, V_{i-1}]\) for \(i=2,\dots,s\) and \([V_1,V_s]=0\). Let \(G\) be a Carnot group and \(\Omega\subseteq G\) be an open set. The authors establish sufficient conditions on \(G\) so that the rank-one theorem extends to functions \(u\in BV_{H,\operatorname{loc}}(\Omega,\mathbb{R}^d) \) of locally bounded horizontal variation. Examples of Carnot groups to which this result applies include the Heisenberg groups \(\mathbb{H}^n \) for \( n \geq 2 \). In their second main result the authors characterise those functions \( u\in L^1(\Omega) \) which have bounded horizontal variation. Such functions \(u\) are shown to be precisely those whose subgraph \[ E_u:=\{ (x,t)\in \Omega\times \mathbb{R}:t<u(x)\}\subseteq \Omega\times \mathbb{R} \] has finite horizontal perimeter.