Relaxation of the non-parametric Plateau problem with an obstacle (Q1822047)

Given a Borel function \(\psi\), defined on a bounded open set \(\Omega \subset {\mathbb{R}}^ n\) with Lipschitz continuous boundary \(\partial \Omega\), and a function \(\phi \in L^ 1(\partial \Omega)\), we prove an explicit representation formula for the greatest lower-semicontinuous functional on \(L^ 1(\Omega)\) which coincides with the non-parametric area functional on every \(u\in W^{1,1}(\Omega)\) such that \(u\geq \psi\) on \(\Omega\) and \(u=\phi\) on \(\partial \Omega.\) The proof of such an integral representation formula is based on two results concerning the approximation from above of a function of BV(\(\Omega)\) by means of a sequence in \(W^{1,1}(\Omega).\) The results obtained also hold for more general integral functionals with linear growth in the gradient.