A-superharmonic functions and supersolutions of degenerate elliptic equations (Q1106982)

A function \(u\in loc W\) \(1_ p(G)\), where G is an open set in R n, \(n\geq 2\), is a supersolution of the equation (*) \(\nabla \cdot A(x,\nabla u)=0\) if for all nonnegative \(\phi \in C_ 0^{\infty}(G)\) one has \(\int_{G}A(x,\nabla u)\cdot \nabla \phi dx\geq 0\). A prototype for A here is the p-harmonic operator \(A(x,h)=| h|^{p-2}h\) [see \textit{P. Lindqvist}, J. Reine Angew. Math. 365, 67-79 (1986; Zbl 0572.31004)]. A lower semicontinuous function u is A-superharmonic if it satisfies the comparison principle: for each domain \(D\subset \subset G\) and each function \(h\in C(\bar D)\) which is a solution of (*) in D, the condition \(h\leq u\) on \(\partial D\) implies \(h\leq u\) in D. The authors show that supersolutions of (*) can be redefined in a set of measure zero so that they are A-superharmonic and, conversely, if u is a locally bounded A- superharmonic function, then u belongs locally to \(W\) \(1_ p\) and is a supersolution of (*). The analysis depends on solving the obstacle problem with a continuous obstacle. A discussion of removable sets for A- superharmonic functions is also presented.