A note on Harnack inequalities and propagation sets for a class of hypoelliptic operators (Q711717)

The authors consider a second-order hypoelliptic ultraparabolic partial differential operator in \(\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\) of the form \[ {\mathcal L}= \sum_{1\leq j\leq m} X^2_j+ X_0-\partial_t, \] where \(1\leq m\leq N\) and the \(X_j\)'s are smooth vector fields on \(\mathbb{R}^N\). They suppose that there exists a homogeneous Lie group \(\mathbb{L}= (R^{N+1},0,d_\lambda)\) such that {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[(i)] \(X_1,\dots, X_m\), \(Y:= X_0-\partial_t\) are left translation invariant on \(\mathbb{L}\), \(X_1,\dots, X_m\) are \(d_\lambda\)-homoge\-neous of degree and \(Y\) is \(d_\lambda\)-homogeneous of degree two, \item[(ii)] for every \((x,t)\), \((\xi,\tau)\in \mathbb{R}^{N+1}\) with \(t>\tau\), there exists a ``\({\mathcal L}\)-admissible'' path \(\gamma: [0,T]\to \mathbb{R}^{N+1}\mathbb{R}^{N+1}\) connecting \((x,t)\) to \((\xi,\tau)\). \end{itemize}} Then \(X_1,\dots, X_m\), \(Y\) satisfy the Hörmander condition and \({\mathcal L}\) is a hypoelliptic operator. If \(\Omega\) is an open set of \(\mathbb{R}^{N+1}\) and \((x_0,t_0)\in \Omega\), one defines the attainable set \(A_{(x_0,t_0)}\) (related to the Bony's minimum principle) by \(A_{(x_0,t_0)}:= \{(x,t)\in \Omega\); there exists an ``\({\mathcal L}\)-admissible'' path \(\gamma\subset\Omega\) connecting \((x_0,t_0)\) to \((x,t)\}\). The main result of this paper is the following: Theorem. For every compact set \(K\subset\text{int\,}A_{(x_0,t_0)}\), there exists a positive constant \(C_K\), only depending on \(\Omega_1(x_0,t_0)\), \(K\) and \({\mathcal L}\), such that \(\sup_K u\leq C_K u(x_0, t_0)\), for every nonnegative solution \(u\) of \({\mathcal L}u= 0\) in \(\Omega\). The authors also compre this result with an abstract Harnack inequality from potential theory.