A comparison theorem for nonsmooth nonlinear operators (Q2660164)

The authors prove a comparison theorem for super- and subsolutions to the equation \[ \Delta u + f(u) = 0 \qquad \text{ in } \Omega \subset \mathbb R^n. \] Under the additional assumption that \(\nabla u \neq 0\) in \(\Omega\), the result is shown to hold for a nonlinearity of very low regularity, namely \(f \in L^p_\text{loc}(\mathbb R)\) for some \(p > 1\). This improves a previous result from [the first author and \textit{N. Kuznetsov}, Algebra \& Analysis 30, No. 3, 112--128 (2018; Zbl 1429.35041)], where the case \(p > n\) was established and applied to estimate the profile of water waves with vorticity. The proof there relies on a weak Harnack inequality for solutions to a divergence-type elliptic equation due to [\textit{N. S. Trudinger}, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 20, 721--747 (1967; Zbl 0153.42703)], which is only valid for \(p > n\). To treat the full range \(p > 1\), in the present paper the authors replace this by a strong maximum principle for solutions to that equation, assuming that its coefficients are only in VMO, respectively a suitable Kato class.