The Perron method for \(p\)-harmonic functions in metric spaces. (Q1419810)

This paper is devoted to construct and study solutions of the Dirichlet problem for \(p\)-harmonic functions in a proper metric measure space endowed with a doubling Borel measure supporting a weak \((1,q)\) Poincaré inequality (for some \(1\leq q< p\)). The purpose of this paper is twofold: the authors present some result that are new, as far the nonlinear case \((p\neq 2)\) for \(\mathbb R^N\), \(N\geq 2\) is concerned. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the authors extend the Perron method to the setting of proper metric spaces endowed with a doubling measure supporting a weak Poincaré-type inequality, thus unifying the theory developed in the Euclidean setting and the theory for Hörmander vector fields (leading to the study of Carnot groups), as well as extending the theory to the more general setting of Riemannian and certain sub-Riemannian manifolds. The authors indicate that even in the setting of Carnot groups their results can be applied to a wider class of problems since the minimization problem considered in this paper can be based both on the horizontal gradients of functions and on the length of metric given by the Carnot-Carathéodory construction.