Higher regularity and uniqueness for inner variational equations (Q2062985)

A mapping \(f\colon \mathbb D \to \mathbb D\) in the Sobolev class \(W^{1,1}_{\mathrm{loc}}(\mathbb D)\) is said to have \textit{finite distortion} if its Jacobian \(J(z,f)\) is locally integrable and there exists a finite measurable function \(K(z)\geq 1\) such that \(\|Df(z)\|^2\leq K(z) J(z,f)\) for almost every \(z\in \mathbb D\); here \(\|\cdot \|\) denotes the Hilbert-Schmidt norm. The smallest such function \(K(z)\) is denoted by \(\mathbb K(z,f)\). The authors consider functionals of the form \[\mathbb E_{\mathcal A}^*(h)= \int_{\mathbb D}\mathcal A( \mathbb K(w,h)) J(w,h) \, dw,\] on mappings \(h\colon \mathbb D\to \mathbb D\) of finite distortion, where \(\mathcal A\colon [1,\infty)\to [1,\infty)\) is a convex and increasing function satisfying \(p\mathcal A(t)\leq t\mathcal A'(t)\) for some \(p>1\). This functional is dual to \[\mathbb E_{\mathcal A}(f)= \int_{\mathbb D} \mathcal A( \mathbb K(z,f)) \, dz\] and we have \(\mathbb E_{\mathcal A}(f)=\mathbb E_{\mathcal A}^*(h)\) if \(f\) is a homeomorphism of \(\mathbb D\) of finite distortion and \(h=f^{-1}\). It is an open problem to prove that minimizers of \(\mathbb E_{\mathcal A}(f)\) among homeomorphisms \(\mathbb {\overline{D}} \to \mathbb {\overline{D}}\) of finite distortion with given homeomorphic boundary values exist and are diffeomorphisms. All mappings below refer to mappings of finite distortion. A result of \textit{T. Iwaniec} et al. [Duke Math. J. 162, No. 4, 643--672 (2013; Zbl 1319.49055)] shows that if \(h\) is a local minimizer of \(\mathbb E_{\mathcal A}^*(h)\) in \(W^{1,2}(\mathbb D)\), then \(h\) is locally Lipschitz. The current authors have shown in [The \(L^p\) Teichmüller theory: Existence and regularity of critical points, to appear] that if \(f\) is a local minimizer of \(\mathbb E_{\mathcal A}(f)\) and \(\mathbb K(z,f)\in L^r_{loc}(\mathbb D)\) for some \(r>p+1\), then \(f\) is a local diffeomorphism. In the current paper, using their previous result the authors show in Theorem 1.4 that if \(h\) is a local minimizer of \(\mathbb E_{\mathcal A}^*(h)\) with quasisymmetric boundary values and with \(\mathbb K(w,h)\in L^1(\mathbb D)\cap L^r_{loc}(\mathbb D)\) for some \(r>1\), then \(h\) is a diffeomorphism. In Theorem 1.6 the authors also provide a uniqueness statement for \(W^{1,2}(\mathbb D)\) local minimizers that are diffeomorphisms and have homeomorphic boundary values. Namely, let \(h\) be a mapping as above that satisfies the Ahlfors--Hopf equation \[ \mathcal A'(\mathbb K(w,h))h_w \overline{h_{\bar w}}=\Phi,\] where \(\Phi\) is holomorphic in \(\mathbb D\). If \(g\) is another solution to this equation that is a continuous mapping of \(\overline{\mathbb D}\) with finite distortion and homeomorphic boundary values (not necessarily the same as \(h\)) such that \(g(0)=h(0)\) and \(g(1)=h(1)\), then \(g\equiv h\).