Weak lower semicontinuity of a functional with any order (Q1269572)

The author extends the necessary and sufficient quasiconvexity conditions for the sequential weak lower semicontinuity of a functional of the type \[ u\in W^{k,p}(\Omega; \mathbb{R}^m)\mapsto \int_\Omega f(x,u,Du, D^2u,\dots, D^ku)dx,\tag{1} \] where \(\Omega\) is a bounded open subset of \(\mathbb{R}^n\), \(p\in ]1,+\infty]\), and \(m\geq 1\), to the case \(k>1\). Given a function \(f: (x, z_0,z_1,\dots, z_k)\in\Omega\times \mathbb{R}^m\times \mathbb{R}^{nm}\times\cdots\times \mathbb{R}^{n^km}\mapsto f(x, z_0,z_1,\dots, z_k)\in \mathbb{R}\), the author says that \(f\) is quasiconvex with respect to \(z_k\) if there is a set \(I\subseteq \Omega\), with \(\text{meas}(I)= 0\), such that for \(x_0\in \Omega\setminus I\), \((z_{0,0}, z_{1,0},\dots, z_{k,0})\in \mathbb{R}^m\times \mathbb{R}^{nm}\times\cdots\times \mathbb{R}^{n^km}\), any open set \(D\subseteq \Omega\), and \(\varphi\in C^\infty_0(\Omega; \mathbb{R}^m)\) it results \[ \int_D f(x, z_{0,0}, z_{1,0},\dots, z_{k,0}+ D^k\varphi(x))dx\geq \text{meas}(D)f(x, z_{0,0}, z_{1,0},\dots, z_{k,0}). \] Then he proves that, for a Carathéodory function \(f\) and \(k\in\mathbb{N}\), quasiconvexity with respect to \(z_k\) is necessary and sufficient for the sequential weak\(^*\)-\(W^{k,\infty}(\Omega; \mathbb{R}^m)\) lower semicontinuity of (1) with \(p= +\infty\). Finally, under additional growth assumptions on \(f\), he also proves that quasiconvexity with respect to \(z_k\) is sufficient for the sequential weak-\(W^{k,p}(\Omega; \mathbb{R}^m)\) lower semicontinuity of (1). The connections of quasiconvexity with respect to \(z_k\) with convexity when \(k>1\) are also discussed.