Differential properties of minimizers of functionals which contain integrals over manifolds in \(\mathbb{R}^ n\) (Q1922641)

The work deals with the differential properties of local minimizers of the functional \({\mathcal F}:W^1_m(\Omega,\mathbb{R}^N)\to\mathbb{R}^1\), \[ {\mathcal F}(u)=\int_\Omega F(x,u(x),\nabla u(x))dx+ \int_\gamma g(x,\psi(u(x))d\gamma, \] where \(\Omega\) is a bounded domain in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), \(n\geq 2\), with \(C^1\) smooth boundary, \(\gamma=\Omega\cap\Gamma\) and \(\Gamma\) is an \((n-k)\)-dimensional \(C^1\) smooth manifold, \(1\leq k\leq n-1\). The main result reads as follows. Assume that \[ |p|^m-b_1|u|^\nu-f_1(x)\leq F(x,u,p)\leq a|p|^m+b_2|u|^\nu+f_2(x), \] where \(1\leq k<m\leq n\); \(\nu\geq 0\) for \(n=m\) and \(\nu\in[0,nm/(n-m)]\) for \(n>m\); \(f_1,f_2\in L_{1+\varepsilon}(\Omega)\), \(\varepsilon>0\); and \(a,b_1,b_2>0\). Let the derivative \({\partial g\over \partial v}(x,v)\) exist for almost all \(x\in\gamma\) and \[ \Biggl|{\partial g\over\partial v}(x,v)\Biggr|\leq \varphi(x)|v|^{(\ell-k)/k}+ \xi(x),\quad |\psi(u)|\leq C|u|^k, \] where \(\ell\in[k,\ell^*]\), \(\ell^*=m(n-k)/(n-m)\) for \(n>m\) and \(\ell\in[k,\infty)\) for \(n=m\); \(\varphi\in L_{r+\varepsilon}(\gamma)\), \(r=\ell^*/(\ell^*-\ell)\); and \(\xi,g(\cdot,0)\in L_{\ell^*/(\ell^*-k)+\varepsilon}(\gamma)\) for some \(\varepsilon>0\). Then any local minimizer of the functional \(\mathcal F\) belongs to \(W^1_p(\Omega,\mathbb{R}^N)\) with \(p>m\). This statement reinforces and generalizes the preceding regularity result by M. Giaquinta relating to the case \(\gamma=\emptyset\).