Regularity results for a free interface problem with Hölder coefficients (Q6158149)

This paper studies the regularity of the solution for a large class of variational problems. The energy into consideration is \[ \mathcal{F}(E,u;\Omega):=\int_\Omega F(x,u,\nabla u) +\chi_E G(x,u,\nabla u) dx + P(E;\Omega) \] where the unknowns \(u\) and \(E\) are respectively a function in \(H^1(\Omega)\) and a subset of \(\Omega\) in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) of finite perimeter; \(\chi_E\) denoting the characteristic function of \(E\) and \(P(E;\Omega)\) its relative perimeter in \(\Omega\). The minimization problem is considered among sets \(E\) of given measure and functions \(u\) satisfying a Dirichlet boundary condition on \(\partial \Omega\). A good survey of the known results about regularity is done in the Introduction of this paper. The authors assume the following structural assumptions on the (quadratic) functionals for \((x,s,z)\in \Omega\times \mathbb{R} \times \mathbb{R}^n\): \[ F(x,s,z)=\sum_{i,j=1}^n a_{i,j}(x,s) z_i z_j +\sum_{i=1}^n a_i(x,s) z_i + a(x,s) \] and \[ G(x,s,z)=\sum_{i,j=1}^n b_{i,j}(x,s) z_i z_j +\sum_{i=1}^n b_i(x,s) z_i + b(x,s) \] The authors examine in depth the question of the minimal regularity assumptions of the coefficients \(a_{i,j},a_i,a,b_{i,j},b_i,b\) that have to be assumed in order to get classical regularity on the solution. More precisely, they have to assume a Hölder dependence of the coefficients in the variable \(x\) and \(s\) and they discuss the possible values of the Hölder exponents in both \(x\) and \(s\). With these assumptions, they get that the free boundary \(\partial E\) is a \(C^{1,\mu}\) hypersurface on the complement of a singular set whose \((n-1-\varepsilon)\)-Hausdorff measure is zero for some positive \(\varepsilon\).