A note on hyperharmonic and polyharmonic functions (Q1876746)

Let \(h(G)\) be the set of hyperharmonic functions on a domain \(G\subset \mathbb R^N\), i.e. \(u\in C^2(G)\) and \[ (1-| x| ^2)\Delta u(x)+2(N-2) \sum_{j=1}^N x_j \partial u/\partial x_j =0, \] and \(H_m(G)\) be the set of \(m-\)polyharmonic functions, i.e. \(\Delta ^mu=0\), \(\Delta\) being the Laplacian. Let \(A(G)\) be the set of real analytic functions on \(G\). The authors study differences in properties of the hyperharmonic functions depending on the parity of \(N\). Here is a typical result. Theorem 2.1. Let \(N\geq 3\) and \(u\in h(G)\cap A(G)\). (i) If \(N\) is even, then \(u\in H_{N/2}(G)\). If in addition \(u\neq \text{const}\) and \(0\in G\), then \(u\in H_{N/2}(G)\setminus H_{N/2-1}(G)\). (II) If \(N\) is odd, \(0\in G\) and \(u\in H_m(G)\) for some \(m\), then \(u\) is constant.