Higher integrability in the obstacle problem for the fast diffusion equation (Q2207665)

The authors prove local higher integrability of the spatial gradient for solutions to obstacle problems of porous medium type in the fast diffusion case \(\frac{(n-2)}{(n+2)}\) \(< m < 1\). The result holds for the natural range of exponents that is known from other regularity results for porous medium type equations. The case of signed solutions is also covered. On a technical level, the problem is to construct a system of intrinsic cylinders that compensates the possible degeneracy in \(|u|\) and at the same time, takes into account the size of the spatial gradient. This major problem was solved by \textit{U. Gianazza} and \textit{S. Schwarzacher} [J. Funct. Anal. 277, No. 12, Article ID 108291, 57 p. (2019; Zbl 1423.35218)] who established the self-improving property of higher integrability for the spatial gradient of non-negative solutions to the porous medium equation in the slow diffusion range \(m > 1\). In the fast diffusion case \(m < 1\), the different behaviour of the singular porous medium equation requires non-trivial adaptations of the previous techniques. For the degenerate porous medium equation, the higher integrability was extended to obstacle problems by \textit{Y. Cho} and \textit{C. Scheven} [NoDEA, Nonlinear Differ. Equ. Appl. 26, No. 5, Paper No. 37, 44 p. (2019; Zbl 1423.35227)]. The present work is devoted to the question whether the result of the previous work also applies in the singular case of the fast diffusion equation.