Compensation couples and isoperimetric estimates for vector fields

Length, area, volume, other geometric measure theory (28A75) Sobolev spaces and other spaces of ``smooth functions, embedding theorems, trace theorems (46E35)

Review text

Let \(\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^n\) be a bounded, connected, open set, and let \(X_1,\dots, X_p\) be real smooth vector fields defined in a neighborhood of \(\overline{\Omega}\). We will say that \(X_1,\dots, X_p\) satisfy Hörmander's condition of order \(m\), or that they are of type \(m\), if \(X_1,\dots, X_p\) together with their commutators of length at most \(m\) span \(\mathbb{R}^n\) at each point of \(\overline{\Omega}\). It is well-known that it is possible to associate with \(X_1,\dots, X_p\) a canonical metric \(\rho\) as follows: we say that an absolute continuous curve \(\gamma: [0,T]\to \overline{\Omega}\) is a subunit curve if \[ |\langle \gamma'(t),\xi\rangle|^2\leq \sum_j|\langle X_j(\gamma(t)),\xi\rangle|^2, \] for all \(\xi\in \mathbb{R}^n\) and a.e. \(t\in [0,T]\), and we define \(\rho(x,y)\) for \(x,y\in \overline{\Omega}\) by \(\rho(x,y)= \inf\{T: \exists\) a subunit curve \(\gamma:[0,T]\to \overline{\Omega}\) with \(\gamma(0)=x\), \(\gamma(T)= y\}\). The following theorem is known: Theorem 0. Let \(E\) be an open, bounded, connected subset of \(\Omega\) whose boundary \(\partial E\) is an oriented \(C^1\) manifold such that \(E\) lies locally on one side of \(\partial E\). If \(r_0\) is sufficiently small and \(B= B(x,r)\) is any ball with \(x\in \overline{\Omega}\) and \(0<r< r_0\), then \[ \min\{| B\cap E|,| B\setminus E|\}^{(\alpha-1)/\alpha}\leq c\int_{\partial E\cap B} \Bigl( \sum_j \langle X_j,\nu\rangle^2 \Bigr)^{1/2} dH_{n-1}, \tag{3} \] where \(\alpha\) is exponent, \(\nu\) is the unit normal to \(\partial E\), and the constants \(c,r_0\) are independent of \(E\) and \(B\). The author of this paper obtains the following theorems: Theorem. Let \(E,B\) and \(\nu\) be as in Theorem 0. If a compensation couple \((\mu,s)\) exists, then \[ \min\Biggl\{ \int_{B\cap E}\mu(y)dy, \int_{B\setminus E}\mu(y)dy \Biggr\}^{1/s}\leq c\int_{\partial E\cap B} \Biggl( \sum_j\langle X_j,\nu\rangle^2 \Biggr)^{1/2} dH_{n-1} \] with \(c\) independent of \(E\) and \(B\). Theorem. Let \(\Sigma\) denote the boundary of \(E\), where \(E\) is a bounded, connected subset of \(\Omega\) lying on one side of \(\Sigma\). If \(x_0\in \Sigma\), \(\Sigma\) is of class \(C^1\) in a neighborhood \(U\) of \(x_0\), and \(x_0\) is not a characteristic point of \(\Sigma\) for \(\{X_j\}\) (i.e., \(\sum_j\langle X_j(x_0), \nu(x_0)\rangle^2>0\), where \(\nu(x_0)\) is the outer unit normal to \(\Sigma\)), then \(| B(x_0,r)\cap E|\) and \(| B(x_0,r)\setminus E|\) are comparable to \(| B(x_0,r)|\) for sufficiently small \(r>0\). Theorem. Let \(\Sigma\) be a \(C^1\) manifold of codimension 1 in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), and let \(\Sigma_0\) be the set of characteristic points of \(\Sigma\) (i.e., the set of points \(x\in \Sigma\) such that \(X_j(x)\) is tangent to \(\Sigma\) at \(x\) for \(j=1,\dots, p\)). If \(n>2\), then for any \(\varepsilon>0\), \(H_{n-2+\varepsilon p}(\Sigma_0) =0\). If \(n=2\), the set \(\Sigma_0\) consists of isolated points. Moreover, these results are sharp.

Recommendations

Cited in

(11)

This page was built for publication: Compensation couples and isoperimetric estimates for vector fields

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q4373017)