On the Neumann problems for certain degenerate elliptic operators (Q1327788)

The aim of this paper is to study the homogeneous Dirichlet and Neumann problems for the degenerate elliptic equation \[ -\text{div} (\varphi^ \alpha \nabla u) + c(x) \varphi^{\alpha - 1} u = f \quad \text{ in } \quad \Omega, \] where \(\alpha \in C^ 2 (\Omega)\), and \(\varphi (x)\) is a given nonnegative smooth function on \(\Omega\) equivalent to a distance to the boundary: \(\Omega = \{\varphi (x) > 0\}\), \(\partial \Omega = \{\varphi (x) = 0\}\), \(\alpha (x) \in C^ 2 (\Omega)\). It is proved that if \(\alpha (x) < 0\) and \(\partial \alpha/ \partial n = 0\) on \(\partial \Omega\) and \(\inf_{x \in \Omega} c(x) > 0\), then for every \(f \in C^ \mu (\Omega)\) there exists a unique solution \(u = \varphi^{1 - \alpha} v\) to the Dirichlet problem and \(\varphi v \in C^{2 + \mu} (\overline \Omega)\). If \(\alpha (x) > - 1\) and \(\max \{-1 + \mu,- 1 + \mu-\alpha (x), - 1 - \alpha (x)/2\} < \tau < 0\) on \(\partial \Omega\), then the Neumann problem has a unique solution in the space \(\Lambda^{2 + \mu}_{2 + \tau} (\Omega)\) for every \(f\) such that \(f/ \varphi^ \alpha \subset \Lambda^ \mu_ \tau (\Omega)\). The proof of the theorem is based upon a priori estimates for solutions, the method of continuity and the Green function for the approximate problem. An example of an unbounded solution to the Neumann problem is given.