On the structure of \({\mathcal A}\)-free measures and applications (Q338432)

Consider a \(k\)-th order linear constant-coefficients PDE operator \(\mathcal A\), \((k\in\mathbb N)\), i.e. \(\mathcal A=\sum_{|\alpha|\leq k}A_\alpha\partial^\alpha\), where \(A_\alpha\in\mathbb R^{n\times m}\) and \(\alpha=(\alpha_1,\dots\alpha_d)\) is a multi-index. Assume that \(\mu\) is a finite Radon measure on an open set \(\Omega\subset\mathbb R^d\) with values in \(\mathbb R^m\) and it is \(\mathcal A\)-free. Define the wave cone \(\Lambda_{\mathcal A}=\bigcup_{|\xi|=1}\ker \mathcal A^k(\xi)\subset\mathbb R^m\) with \(\mathcal A^k(\xi)=(2\pi i)^k\sum _{|\alpha |=k}A_\alpha\xi^\alpha\), where \(\xi^\alpha =\xi_1^{\alpha_1}\dots \xi_d^{\alpha_d}\). The authors show that for a measure \(\mu\) solving the initial PDE \(\mathcal A\mu=0\) , the polar \(d\mu/d|\mu|\), i.e. the Radon-Nikodým derivative of \(\mu\) with respect to its total variation measure \(|\mu|\) lies in the wave cone at almost all singular points. Theorem 1.1. Let \(\Omega \subset \mathbb R^d\) be an open set, let \(\mathcal A\) be a \(k\)-th order linear constant-coefficients differential operator and let \(\mu\in\mathcal M(\Omega;\mathbb R^m)\) be an \(\mathcal A\)-free Radon measure on \(\Omega\) with values in \(\mathbb R^m\). Then, \(d\mu/d|\mu|(x)\in \Lambda_{\mathcal A}\), for \(|\mu|^s\)-a.e. \(x\in\Omega\). By applying Theorem 1.1. to suitably chosen differential operators, one can easily obtain several remarkable consequences. First of all, a simple proof of Alberti's rank-one theorem and its extensions to functions of bounded deformation are obtained. Then, the authors prove a structure theorem for the singular part of a finite family of normal currents in the spirit of the rank-one theorem. Considering the results of Alberti and Marquese and of Schioppa, it follows that the Rademacher theorem can hold only for absolutely continuous measures and that every top-dimensional Ambrosio-Kirchheim metric current in \(\mathbb R^d\) is a Federer flat chain.