Symmetry of solutions to nonlocal nonlinear boundary value problems in radial sets (Q506013)

Let \(\Omega\) be a (possibly unbounded) radial open set, i.e.\ let \(\Omega\) be the ball \(B_R(0)\), or the annulus \(B_R(0) \setminus \overline B_r(0)\), or the whole space \(\mathbb R^N\), or the exterior \(\mathbb R^N \setminus \overline B_R(0)\) of a ball, or the exterior \((\mathbb R^N \setminus \overline B_R(0)) \cup B_r(0)\) of an annulus, etc.\ and consider the following problem: \[ \begin{cases} (-\Delta)^{s\,} u = f(|x|,u) &\text{in }\Omega; \cr u \equiv 0 &\text{on }\mathbb R^N \setminus \Omega; \cr \lim\limits_{|x| \to +\infty} u(x) = 0, \end{cases} \tag{P} \] where \((-\Delta)^s\) denotes the fractional Laplacian. Of course, the third condition in~\((P)\) follows from the second one in the case when~\(\Omega\) is bounded. The aim of the author is to show that any solution~\(u\) of problem~\((P)\) is foliated Schwarz symmetric, which means that (i)~\(u\) is rotationally symmetric around some straight line \(x(t) = tp\), where \(p\) is a fixed unit vector and \(t\) ranges in~\(\mathbb R\), and (ii)~when the modulus~\(|x|\) is kept fixed, \(u(x)\) is monotone non-increasing with respect to the angle \(\theta(x) \in [0,\pi]\) defined by \(\cos \theta(x) = p \cdot x / |x|\). Foliated Schwarz symmetry was defined by \textit{D. Smets} and \textit{M. Willem} [Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 18, No. 1, 57--75 (2003; Zbl 1274.35026)]. The result is achieved under convenient assumptions on both the solution~\(u\) and the nonlinearity~\(f\). More precisely, it is assumed that there exists a convenient hyperplane~\(H\), passing through the origin, such that for every \(x\) in one of the two half-spaces bounded by~\(H\) there holds \(u(x) \geq u(\sigma(x))\), where \(\sigma(x)\) is the point symmetric to~\(x\) with respect to the hyperplane~\(H\) (see condition~(U1) on p.~3). The identity \(u(x) \equiv u(\sigma(x))\) is not allowed. The nonlinearity~\(f(r,u)\) is in its turn required to satisfy a Lipschitz-type condition with respect to the variable~\(u\) (see~(F1) on p.~3). In the case when \(\Omega\) is unbounded, a further condition on~\(f\) is assumed: see~(F2). Non-local operators more general than the fractional Laplacian are also considered. The proof relies on a previous result by \textit{A. Saldaña} and \textit{T. Weth} [J. Evol. Equ. 12, No. 3, 697--712 (2012; Zbl 1259.35012)].