Levi equation for almost complex structures. (Q1880521)

The paper deals with the problem of finding a \(J\)-Levi flat hypersurface in \(\mathbb{R}^{4}\) with prescribed boundary. The considered hypersurface is a graph \[ M=\left\{ x_{4}=u(x_{1},x_{2},x_{3}):(x_{1},x_{2},x_{3})\in\Omega \subset\mathbb{R}^{3}\right\} \] and the almost complex structure \(J\) is defined by the following matrix \[ \begin{pmatrix} 0 & -1 & 0 & 0\\ 1 & 0 & 0 & 0\\ f & 0 & 0 & -1\\ 0 & -f & 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} , \] where \(f\) is a regular function. In this situation, the boundary problem for \(J\)-Levi flat hypersurfaces amounts to solve the following Dirichlet problem for a nonlinear, second order, elliptic degenerate operator \(\mathcal{L}^{J} ,\) called \(J\)-Levi operator for the almost complex structure \(J,\) \[ \begin{cases} \mathcal{L}^{J}u=D_{1}^{2}u+D_{2}^{2}u-D_{1}f=0&\text{ in }\Omega\\ u=g&\text{ on }b\Omega, \end{cases} \tag{Pb} \] where \(g\) is a given regular function on the boundary \(b\Omega\) of \(\Omega\) and \[ D_{1} =\partial_{1}+a(u)\partial_{3}\text{ , }D_{2}=\partial _{2}+b(u)\partial_{3} \] \[ a(u) =\frac{\partial_{2}u-\partial_{3}u(\partial_{1}u-f)}{1+(\partial _{3}u)^{2}} ,\;b(u)=\frac{\partial_{2}u\partial_{3}u+\partial_{1} u-f}{1+(\partial_{3}u)^{2}}. \] The main result of the paper is the following theorem. Assume that \(\Omega\) is bounded and \(b\Omega\) is strictly \(J\)-pseudoconvex. Let \(f\in C^{m+1}(\overline{\Omega}),\) \(g\in C^{2}(b\Omega)\) and either \(f=0\) or \(\sup\partial_{1}f<0\) in \(\overline{\Omega}.\) Then the problem (Pb) has a unique (viscosity) solution \(u\in \text{Lip}(\overline{\Omega} )\) whose Lie derivatives of order \(k\leq m,\) in the directions of the vector fields \(D_{i},\) are of class \(C_{loc}^{\alpha}\) for all \(\alpha<1.\) The solution \(u\) may not be regular in the usual sense but its graph is foliated by complex curves.