A comparison principle for a class of fourth-order elliptic operators (Q1096774)

Comparison theorems are obtained for fourth order semilinear elliptic inequalities of the type \(L_ 2(L_ 1u)+f(x,u)\leq 0\) (\(\geq 0)\) in a bounded domain \(\Omega\) in \(R^ n\), where \(L_ 1\) and \(L_ 2\) are uniformly elliptic linear differential operators with uniformly bounded coefficients in \(\Omega\). Under suitable technical inequalities between \(L_ 1\) and \(L_ 2\), the main comparison principle states that any two functions \(u,v\in C^ 4(\Omega)\cap C^ 2({\bar \Omega})\) such that \[ L_ 2(L_ 1u)+f(x,u)\leq L_ 2(L_ 1v)+f(x,v)\quad in\quad \Omega;\quad u\leq v,\quad L_ 1u\geq L_ 1\quad on\quad \partial \Omega \] necessarily satisfy \(u\leq v\) and \(L_ 1u\geq L_ 1v\) on \({\bar \Omega}\). Also a strong comparison principle is given and applications are indicated.