Sharp regularity for degenerate obstacle type problems: a geometric approach (Q1995546)

In this paper the authors prove sharp regularity estimates for solutions of obstacle type problems driven by a class of degenerate fully nonlinear operators. To describe the results proved in more detail, consider viscosity solutions of \[ \begin{cases} |Du|^{\gamma}F(x,D^2u)=f(x)\chi_{\{u>\phi\}} \text{ in } B_1\\ u(x)\ge \phi(x) \text{ in } B_1\\ u(x)=g(x) \text{ on } \partial B_1 \end{cases} \] where it is assumed that \(\gamma>0\), the obstacle \(\phi\in C^{1,\alpha}(B_1)\) for some \(\alpha\in(0,1]\), the boundary data \(g\) is continuous, and that \(f\in L^{\infty}(B_1)\cap C^0(B_1)\). Here \(F:B_1\times \text{Sym}(n)\rightarrow\mathbb{R}\) is a second order fully nonlinear operator, uniformly elliptic, satisfying minimal continuity assumptions on the coefficients. The authors prove that such viscosity solutions are \(C^{1,\beta}(B_{1/2})\), where \(\beta=\min\{\alpha,\frac{1}{\gamma+1}\}\). As a consequence, the authors obtain the sharp rate at which the gradient grows away from the free boundary. Finally, under a non-degeneracy assumption on the obstacle, the authors prove that the free boundary, \(\partial\{u>\phi\}\), has Hausdorff dimension less than \(n\). A key ingredient in their proof is a geometric decay argument along the free boundary points around which the equation degenerates. Here the authors use an improvement of flatness technique. The authors also use a ``Cutting lemma'' from [\textit{C. Imbert} and \textit{L. Silvestre}, Adv. Math. 233, No. 1, 196--206 (2013; Zbl 1262.35065)].