On the Hölder continuity of bounded weak solutions of quasi-linear parabolic inequalities (Q1063795)

In this paper we assume that \(\Omega\) is a bounded open set of \({\mathbb{R}}^ N\), with a smooth boundary \(\partial \Omega\), T is a positive number, Q the ''cylinder'' \(\Omega\) \(\times (0,T)\), \(\Sigma\) the ''side surface'' \(\partial \Omega \times (0,t)\) and \(\Gamma =\Omega \times \{0\}\) the ''base''. Let A be the operator: \(Av=-\sum^{N}_{i,j=1}(\partial /\partial x_ i)(a_{ij}(\partial v/\partial x_ j))+a_ 0v\) where \(a_{ij}\in L_{\infty}(Q)\), \(a_ 0\in L_{\infty}(Q)\), \(\sum^{N}_{i,j=1}a_{ij}\xi_ i\xi_ j\geq k_ 0| \xi |^ 2\), \(k_ 0>0\) for all \(\xi \in {\mathbb{R}}^ N\). Moreover we suppose that \(H(v)=h(\cdot,\cdot,v,Dv)\) where Dv denotes the spatial gradient of a function v and h satisfies certain regularity and boundedness conditions. We consider a weak solution \(u: Q\to {\mathbb{R}}\) of the variational inequality \[ \partial u/\partial t+Au\leq H(u)\quad in\quad Q;\quad u\leq \psi \quad in\quad Q;\quad (u-\psi)(\partial u/\partial t+Au-H(u))=0\quad in\quad Q;\quad u|_{\Sigma \cup \Gamma}=0 \] in the following sense: let \[ {\mathbb{K}}=\{v\in L_ 2(0,T;\overset\circ W^ 1_ 2(\Omega))\cap L_{\infty}(Q),\quad v\leq \psi \}. \] Then we suppose that \(u\in {\mathbb{K}}\) satisfies \[ (1.6)\quad \int^{T}_{0}\{<(\partial /\partial t)v,v-u>+<Au,v-u>-<H(u),v-u>\}dt+()\| v(0)\|^ 2_{L_ 2(\Omega)}\geq 0 \] \[ for\quad all\quad v\in {\mathbb{K}}\cap W^ 1_ 2(0,T;W_ 2^{-1}(\Omega)). \] \(<.,.>\) denoting the dual pairing between \(W_ 2^{-1}\) and \(\overset\circ W^ 1_ 2\) or between \(L_ 1\) and \(L_{\infty}\). The obstacle \(\psi\) is assumed to satisfy certain regularity properties. Consider subdomains Q'\(\subseteq Q\) of the kind \((2.1)\quad Q'=\Omega '\times (\epsilon,T)\) where \(\Omega\) ' is compactly contained in \(\Omega\) and \(\epsilon >0\). For such Q' we define \(d(Q')=\min \{dist(Q',\Sigma),\quad dist^{1/2}(Q',\Gamma)\}.\) Then the authors establish the following assertions applying ''the hole filling technique'': Theorem 2.1. Let u be solution of (1.6). Under certain conditions there exists a number \(\alpha '>0\) independent of u such that u belongs to \(H^{\alpha ',\alpha '/2}(Q)\). Moreover, for any subdomain Q' as in (2.1) we obtain: \[ \| u\|_{H^{\alpha ',\alpha '/2}(\bar Q')}\leq \quad C\| u\|_{L_ 2(0,T;\overset\circ W^ 1_ 2(\Omega))}+C \] with \(C=C(d(Q'),k_ 0,k_ 1,k_ 2,c_ 1,c_ 2,\alpha)\) constant independent of u. In order to obtain global regularity we need smoothness assumption of the boundary \(\partial \Omega\) and also a further hypothesis on \(u_ 0\in {\mathbb{K}}\), i.e. \(u_ 0\in W^ 1_ p(Q)\), \(p>N+1/1-\alpha.\) Theorem 2.2. Let u be solution of (1.6). Under certain assumptions there exists a number \(\alpha '>0\) independent of u such that u belongs to \(H^{\alpha ',\alpha '/2}(\bar Q)\) and we have: \[ \| u\|_{H^{\alpha ',\alpha '/2}(\bar Q)}\leq C\| u\|_{L_ 2(0,T;\overset\circ W^ 1_ 2(\Omega))}+C \] with \(C=C(k_ 0,k_ 1,k_ 2,c_ 1,c_ 2,\alpha,\| u_ 0\|_{W^ 1_ p})\) constant independent of u.