Conservation laws for even order elliptic systems in the critical dimension -- a new approach (Q2037123)

The authors consider the following elliptic systems of order \(2m\) in dimension \(2m\) \[ \Delta^m u = \sum_{k=0}^{m-1} \Delta^k \langle V_k, du\rangle + \sum_{k=0}^{m-2} \Delta^k \delta (w_k du) \] with coefficient functions \begin{align*} w_k&\in W^{2k+2-m,2}(B^{2m}, {\mathbb R}^{n\times n})\qquad\qquad\qquad\text{for }k\in\{0,\dots,m-2\}, \\ V_k&\in W^{2k+1-m,2}(B^{2m}, {\mathbb R}^{n\times n}\otimes \bigwedge^1 {\mathbb R}^{2m} )\qquad\text{for }k\in \{0,\dots,m-1\}, \text{ where} \\ V_0&= d\eta +F,~~\eta\in W^{2-m,2}(B^{2m}, so(n)),~~ F\in W^{2-m, \frac{2m}{m+1},1}(B^{2m}, {\mathbb R}^{n\times n}\otimes \bigwedge^1 {\mathbb R}^{2m}), \end{align*} where \(B^{2m}\) denotes the unit ball in \({\mathbb R}^{2m}\), \(\bigwedge^k{\mathbb R}^{2m},~k\in {\mathbb N}_0\) is the space of \(k\)-forms on \({\mathbb R}^{2m}\), \(d:W^{1,p}({\mathbb R}^{2m} , \bigwedge^k{\mathbb R}^{2m} ) \rightarrow L^p({\mathbb R}^{2m}, \bigwedge^{k+1}{\mathbb R}^{2m})\) is the exterior derivative, and \(\delta : W^{1,p}({\mathbb R}^{2m} , \bigwedge^k{\mathbb R}^{2m} ) \rightarrow L^p({\mathbb R}^{2m}, \bigwedge^{k-1}{\mathbb R}^{2m})\) is the codifferential. The motivating example behind this system are the \(m\)-polyharmonic maps \(u\in W^{m,2}(B^{2m},N)\), which are critical points of the functional \[ E_m(u)=\frac12 \int_{B^{2m}} |\nabla^{m}u|^2\, dv_g. \] A new conservation law for these systems is established. This implies continuity of weak solutions. The proofs are based on the extensions of the so-called Wente lemma and usage of a small perturbation of Uhlenbeck's gauge fixing matrix.