Energy minimisers with prescribed Jacobian (Q2065721)

In this quite interesting article, the authors present a sequel of their previous works: [\textit{A. Guerra} et al., Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 60, No. 1, Paper No. 55, 15 p. (2021; Zbl 1460.35074); ``Nonlinear open mapping principles, with applications to the Jacobian equation and other scale-invariants, PDEs'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2010.10497}]. Here it is considered the existence and regularity to the equation \[ \mathrm{J}u = \det Du = f \text{ in } \Omega, \] where \(\Omega\) is a subset of \(\mathbb{R}^n\),\, \(f\) belongs to \(L^1(\Omega)\) and \(u\) is an orientation-preserving diffeomorphism. Firstly, it is handled the Dirichlet problem over the unit ball \(B\) in \(\mathbb{R}^n\): \[ \begin{cases} \mathrm{J}u = f &\text{a.e in }B,\\ u = \mathrm{id} &\text{on }\partial B. \end{cases} \] It is assumed that \(f\) satisfies the conditions (C): \[ \int_B f\, dx=1, \quad \underset{B}{\mathrm{ess}\,\inf} f \ge c > 0, \] As in their previous works the authors introduce the complete metric spaces: \[ X^p(B)\equiv\begin{cases} \{f\in L^p(B): (\mathrm{C})\text{ holds}\} &\text{if } p >1\\ \{f\in \log L(B) : (\mathrm{C}) \text{ holds}\} &\text{if } p=1 \end{cases} \] \noindent For a function \(f\) in \(X^p(B)\) it is introduced the quantity: \[ \lambda[f] = \underset{r\in[0,1]}{\mathrm{ess}\,\sup} \, \frac{|f(r)|}{\int_{B_r(0)}f\,dx}\;. \] \noindent Recall that \(f\) is said to be radially symmetric if \(|x|=|y| \Rightarrow f(x) = f(y)\). For such functions one defines: \(\phi_1(z) \equiv \rho(|z|) \frac{z}{|z|}\,\, \text{ where }\,\, \rho(r) = \sqrt{\int_0^r 2sf(s)ds}\;.\) The first result of the paper states: \bigskip Proposition (Regularity of symmetric solutions): Let \(1 \le p < \infty\) then we have the estimate \[ \|D\phi_1\|^2_{L^{2p}(B)} \lesssim (1+\lambda|f|^2)||f||_{X^p(B)}. \] However, in general \(\lambda[f] = +\infty\) and \(D\phi_1 \in L^p\setminus L^{p+\epsilon}(B)\) for any \(\epsilon > 0\). \smallskip \noindent The main result of the paper concerns, in the planar case, whether the symmetric solutions have minimal energy (Hélein's problem, see e.g. question 9 in [\textit{D. Ye}, Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. Non Linéaire 11, No. 3, 275--296 (1994; Zbl 0834.35047)]). \smallskip \noindent Before stating the main result one needs first to introduce the following: \bigskip Definition. For \(p \ge 1\) and \(f \in L_{\mathrm{loc}}^1(\Omega)\), we define the \(np\)-energy of \(f\) as \[ \mathcal{E}_{np}(f,\Omega) \equiv \inf \left\{\int_\Omega |Dv|^{np}\,dx : v \in \dot{W}^{1,np}(\Omega,\mathbb{R}^n) \,\, \text{satisfies} \quad Jv=f \quad a.e. \,\, in \quad \Omega\right\}. \] Given \(f \in L_{\mathrm{loc}}^1(\Omega)\), we say that \(u \in \dot{W}^{1,np}(\Omega,\mathbb{R}^n\) is an \(np\)-energy minimiser for \(f\) if \[ \mathcal{E}_{np}(f,\Omega) = \int_\Omega |Du|^{np}\,dx \quad \text{ and }\quad Ju=f \quad\text{ a.e. in }\quad\Omega. \] \noindent The main result states: \bigskip Theorem (Symmetry versus symmetry breaking). Let \(1 \le p < \infty\) and \(f \in X^p(B)\) be radially symmetric. We have two regimes: (i) If \(\lambda[f] \le 1\) then \(\phi_1\) is the unique \(2p\)-energy minimiser for \(f\) in \(W_{\mathrm{id}}^{1,2p}(B,\mathbb{R}^2)\); (ii) if \(\lambda[f] \gg 1\) then there may be non-symmetric energy minimisers. More precisely, for any \(p_0 \in (1,\infty)\), there is \(f \in X^\infty(B)\) such that, for any \(p \in [1,p_0]\), there are uncountably many \(2p\)-energy minimisers for \(f\) in \(W_{\mathrm{id}}^{1,2p}(B,B)\), none of which is symmetric. \smallskip \noindent In the sequel, the authors present a detailed analysis concerning the conclusions of their main result. The domain in the initial problem is then taken to be the whole space \(\mathbb{R}^n\) and the following open problem set by \textit{R. Coifman} et al. [J. Math. Pures Appl. (9) 72, No. 3, 247--286 (1993; Zbl 0864.42009)] is considered: \noindent Is the Jacobian \(J:\dot{W}^{1,np} (\mathbb{R}^n,\mathbb{R}^n) \to \mathcal{H}^p (\mathbb{R}^n)\) surjective? Here \(\mathcal{H}^p(\mathbb{R}^n)\) denotes the real Hardy spaces. \textit{T. Iwaniec} [J. Fourier Anal. Appl. 3, 775--796 (1997; Zbl 0915.42007)] posed a conjecture with respect to the previous open problem: \medskip \noindent Conjecture: For each \(p \in [1,\infty)\), the Jacobian has a continuous right inverse: there is a continuous map \(E\colon \mathcal{H}^p(\mathbb{R}^n) \to \dot{W}^{1,np}(\mathbb{R}^n,\mathbb{R}^n)\) such that \(\mathrm{J}\circ E = \mathrm{id}\), and proposed a strategy to attack it in the form of three claims. The authors show that, when adapted to \(\mathbb{R}^2\), the item (i) of their main result provides conditions on \(f\) under which the first two claims of the Iwaniec strategy hold. On the other hand, they prove further in their final result that -- in general -- the second Iwaniec claim is false. This is stated as: Theorem (Non-uniqueness). Fix \(1 \le p < \infty\). There exists a \(C^1\) radially symmetric function \(f \in \mathcal{H}^p(\mathbb{R}^2)\) which has uncountably many \(2p\)-energy minimisers, modulo rotations.