Some remarks on the boundary regularity for minima of variational problems with obstacles (Q1072097)

This paper extends the interior partial regularity results for vector- valued obstacle problems obtained by \textit{F. Duzaar} and the author [Math. Z. 191, 585-591 (1986; Zbl 0568.49009)] up to the boundary. More precisely, we consider the problem of minimizing energy type functionals \[ E(u):=\int_{\Omega}a_{\alpha \beta}(x)B^{ij}(x,u)\partial_{\alpha}u^ i\partial_{\beta}u^ jdx \] in the class of vector-valued functions \(C:=\{u\in H^ 1(\Omega,{\mathbb{R}}^ N):\) \(u=g\) on \(\partial \Omega\), u(x)\(\in \bar M\) a.e.\(\}\), where \(\Omega \subset {\mathbb{R}}^ n\), \(M\subset {\mathbb{R}}^ N\) denote bounded open sets with smooth boundaries. We show: if the boundary values \(g: \partial \Omega \to \bar M\) are smooth, then a solution \(u\in C\) of \(E\to \min\) in C is of class \(C^ 1\) in a full neighborhood of \(\partial \Omega\), so that the singular set is compactly contained in the interior of \(\Omega\). The method of proof is based on the \(L^ p\)-technique of Giaquinta and Giusti, an alternative approach following Schoen, Uhlenbeck will be given in a forthcoming paper [see the paper reviewed below].