The \(L^ p\) Dirichlet problem for divergence form elliptic operators with non-smooth coefficients (Q1918980)

Let \(L_0\) and \(L_1\) be two divergence form, uniformly elliptic operators with bounded measurable coefficients. The author formulates a condition on the difference between \(L_0\) and \(L_1\) such that if the \(L^p\) Dirichlet problem (i.e., \(Lu= 0\) in \(D\), \(u= g\in L^p\) on \(\partial D\)) is solvable for the operator \(L_0\), then it is also solvable for the operator \(L_1\). Here \(D\) is the unit ball \(B_1\) in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) centered at the origin and the condition is shown to be sharp. Specifically, let \(L_i= \text{div } A_i \nabla u\), \(i= 0, 1\), where \(A_i\) is a real symmetric matrix of bounded measurable coefficients, \(a(X)= \sup|A_0(Y)- A_1(Y)|\) for \(Y\in B(X, \delta(X)/2)\) and \(\delta(X)= \text{dist}(X, \partial B_1)\), \(G_1(X)\) is the Green's function for \(L_1\) on \(B_1\) evaluated at the origin, \(\Delta= \Delta(Q, r)= B(Q, r)\cap \partial B_1\) for \(Q\in \partial B_1\) and \(T(\Delta)= \{Y\in B_1: |Y- Q|\leq r\}\), \(d\sigma\) is the surface measure on \(\partial B_1\), and \(\omega^X_L\) is the elliptic measure on \(\partial B_1\). The integral inequality condition is: \[ \Biggl[ \int_{T(\Delta)} {a^2(X)\over \delta(X)} \Biggl( {G_1(X)\over \delta(x)}\Biggr)^p {dX\over \sigma(\Delta)}{\Biggr]^{{1\over p}}} \leq C {\omega_1(\Delta)\over \sigma(\Delta)}, \] where \(C\) is a constant independent of \(\Delta\) and \(p\geq 2\). A more general solvability condition, with \(p> 1\) is also cited and the two conditions are shown to be equivalent for \(p\geq 2\).