The Dirichlet problem for a prescribed anisotropic mean curvature equation: existence, uniqueness and regularity of solutions (Q2634277)

In this paper, existence, uniqueness, regularity and boundary behaviour of the solutions of the Dirichlet boundary value problem for the quasilinear elliptic equation \[ -\operatorname{div}\left(\frac{\nabla u}{\sqrt{1+|\nabla u|^2}}\right)=-au+\frac{b}{\sqrt{1+|\nabla u|^2}}\text{ in } \Omega;\quad u=0\text{ on } \partial\Omega,\eqno{(\ast)} \] where \(a, b>0\) are given numbers and \(\Omega\) is a bounded Lipschitz domain in \(\mathbb R^N\) are studied. Main results are formulated in two theorems. Theorem 1.1: Let \(a, b>0\) be given numbers and let \(\Omega\) be a bounded domain in \(\mathbb R^N\), with \(N\geq2\), having a Lipschitz boundary \(\partial\Omega\). Then problem \((\ast)\) has a unique solution \(u\), which also satisfies: (i) \(u\in C^\infty(\Omega)\); (ii) the set of points \(x_0\in\partial\Omega\), where \(u\) is continuous and satisfies \(u(x_0)=0\), is non-empty; (iii) \(u\in L^\infty(\Omega)\) and \(0<u(x)<b/a\) for all \(x\in\Omega\); (iv) \(u\) minimizes in \(W^{1,1}(\Omega)\cap L^\infty(\Omega)\) the functional \[ I(w)=\int_\Omega e^{-bw}\sqrt{1+|\nabla w|^2}\,dx-\frac{a}b \int_\Omega e^{-bw}\big(w+\frac1b\big)\,dx+ \frac1b \int_{\partial\Omega}|e^{-bw}-1|\,dH^{N-1}. \] Theorem 1.2 guarantees that the solution previously obtained attains the homogeneous Dirichlet boundary values provided that \(\Omega\) satisfies an exterior sphere condition, in which the radius of the sphere is bounded from below by a constant depending on the coefficients \(a\), \(b\) and the dimension \(N\). Theorem 1.2: Suppose that all assumptions of Theorem 1.1 hold and let \(u\) be the solution of \((\ast)\). Then \(u\) is continuous at \(x_0\) and satisfies \(u(x_0)=0\) at any point \(x_0\in\partial \Omega\), where an exterior sphere condition holds with radius \(r\geq(N-1)b/a\). Moreover, if \(r>(N-1)b/a\), then \(u\) also satisfies a bounded slope condition at \(x_0\), that is \(\sup_{x\in\Omega}\frac{u(x)} {|x-x_0|}<+\infty\). In particular, if an exterior sphere condition with radius \(r\geq(N-1)b/a\) is satisfied at every point \(x_0\in\partial\Omega\), then \(u\in C^\infty(\Omega)\cap C^0(\overline{\Omega})\) and it is a classical solution of \((\ast)\).