Behavior near the boundary of positive solutions of second order parabolic equations (Q1384988)

In this article the behaviour of positive solutions to the divergence parabolic equation of the type \[ Lu = \text{div} (a \nabla_x u) - \frac{\partial u}{\partial t} = 0 \quad \text{on \(Q = \Omega \times (0,T)\)} \] near an open portion of the lateral boundary (where u is assumed to vanish) is studied. Here \(\Omega\) is a bounded Lipschitz domain, and the uniformly positive definite matrix \(a(x,t)\) is supposed to consist of bounded, measurable functions on \(Q\). The main new result of the first part of the article is the backward Harnack inequality near the boundary. To quote it more precisely, we shall use the following notation. As \(\Omega \) is a Lipschitz domain, there is a local orthonormal coordinate system centered in \(y\) such that \[ \Omega \cap B_{r_0}(y) = \{(x',x_n);\;x' \in \mathbb{R}_{n-1},\;x_n >\varphi (x'),\;|x'|< r_0\}. \] The new coordinates of \(y\) are \((0,0),\) and \((y,s)\) is mapped on \((0,0,s)\). Put \(\overline{Y}_r = (0,r,s + 2r^2), \underline{Y}_r = (0,r,s-2r^2).\) Theorem. Let \(u\) be a nonnegative solution of \(Lu = 0\) in \(Q\) which continuously vanishes on \(S = \partial \Omega \times (0,\infty)\). Let \(Y= (y,s) \in S, s \geq \delta_0^2, 0 < r \leq \frac{1}{2}\text{min} (r_0,\delta_0).\) Then \[ u( \overline{Y}_r) \leq N u( \underline{Y}_r) \] where \(N\) depends only on \(n,\text{diam} \Omega, r_0, \delta_0\), the ellipticity constant and bounds of the coefficient matrix \(a\) and of the boundary. This backward Harnack inequality and a variation of the method of Jerison and Kenig can be used to derive the Hölder continuity of the quotient \(\frac{u}{v}\) near an open portion of \(S\) where both \(u\) and \(v\) are supposed to be positive solutions to \(Lu = 0\) and vanish smoothly near the considered open portion of \(S\).