Generic regularity of free boundaries for the obstacle problem

DOI10.1007/S10240-020-00119-9MaRDI QIDQ827018zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Alessio Figalli, Xavier Ros-Oton, Joaquim Serra

Publication date 6 January 2021

Published in Publications Mathématiques (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.00714

free boundary regularity Hele-Shaw flow obstacle problem Schaeffer's conjecture singular set

Smoothness and regularity of solutions to PDEs (35B65) Unilateral problems for linear elliptic equations and variational inequalities with linear elliptic operators (35J86) Free boundary problems for PDEs (35R35)

Abstract: The goal of this paper is to establish generic regularity of free boundaries for the obstacle problem in

m a t h b b R^{n}

. By classical results of Caffarelli, the free boundary is

C^{i} n f t y

outside a set of singular points. Explicit examples show that the singular set could be in general

(n - 1)

-dimensional ---that is, as large as the regular set. Our main result establishes that, generically, the singular set has zero

m a t h c a l H^{n - 4}

measure (in particular, it has codimension 3 inside the free boundary). In particular, for

n l e q 4

, the free boundary is generically a

C^{i} n f t y

manifold. This solves a conjecture of Schaeffer (dating back to 1974) on the generic regularity of free boundaries in dimensions

n l e q 4

.

Review text

In this very interesting paper the authors establish the generic regularity of free boundaries for the obstacle problem in \(\mathbb{R}^n\). Classical results of Caffarelli guarantee that the free boundary is \(C^{\infty}\) outside of a set of singular points, but examples show that such set could be in general \((n-1)\)-dimensional. In this paper, the authors show that, generically, the singular set has zero \(\mathcal{H}^{n-4}\) measure. Therefore, for \(n\le 4\), the free boundary is generically a \(C^{\infty}\) manifold, solving a conjecture of Schaeffer. Such conjecture stated that generically, free boundaries in the obstacle problem have no singular points. To describe the results proved in more detail, consider the obstacle problem \[ \Delta u= \chi_{\{u>0\}}, \ \ \ u\ge 0 \ \ \text{ in } \Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^n. \] The authors are able to prove Schaeffer's conjecture in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) and \(\mathbb{R}^4\). To do so, they consider a monotone family of solutions \(\{u^t\}_{t\in (-1,1)}\) to the obstacle problem in \(B_1\) satisfying a ``uniform monotonicity condition. Such condition rules out the existence of regions that remain stationary as \(t\) increases. Assuming \((-1,1)\ni t\mapsto u^t\Big|_{\partial B_1}\in L^{\infty}(\partial B_1)\) is continuous with respect to \(t\), the authors prove that \(\mathcal{H}^{n-4}(\Sigma^t)=0\) for a.e. \(t\in (-1,1)\). Here \(\Sigma^t\) is the set of singular points for \(u^t\). This, in particular, establishes Schaeffer's conjecture for \(n\le 4\). The authors also prove an analogous result to solutions to the Hele-Shaw flow. A key ingredient in the proof of their main result is a fine understanding of the singular points. In particular, the authors establish a very interesting new higher order expansion at most singular points for monotone families of solutions to the obstacle problem.

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