Solutions of \(Lu = u^ \alpha\) dominated by \(L\)-harmonic functions (Q1922211)

For a second order elliptic operator \(L\) on a smooth manifold \(M\) and \(1< \alpha \leq 2\) the authors investigate connections between the class \(U\) of all positive solutions of the equation \(Lu= u^\alpha\) and the class \(H\) of all positive solutions of \(Lu =0\) (the class of \(L\)-harmonic functions). The notions of \(R\)-polar sets and \(M\)-polar sets are introduced and in terms of them a necessary condition and a sufficient one for \(h\) to belong to \(H^\alpha\) are obtained. If \(M\) is a bounded domain of class \(C^{2 \lambda}\) in \(\mathbb{R}^d\), then both above conditions coincide. This is a Dynkin's conjecture suggested a few years ago. Recently it was proved by Le Gall for the particular case \(L= \Delta\), \(\alpha =2\), and domains of class \(C^5\).