Some special properties of solutions to obstacle problems (Q2266816)

The authors consider the variational inequality \((Lu,v-u)\geq \int_{G}(v-u)g\quad dx,\quad x\in K,\) where L is a uniformly elliptic operator, G is a bounded domain in \(R^ m\) and \(K=\{v\in H^ 1_ 0(G): v\geq \psi\) in \(G\}\) \((\psi \in H^ 1(G)\), \(\psi\leq 0\) on \(\delta\) G). Let I be the coincidence set, i.e. \(I=\{x\in G: u(x)=\psi (x)\}.\) The purpose is to give some information on I by using a symmetrization technique. As a typical result, the authors prove a sharp estimate for the measure of I, involving only the ellipticity of L, the measure of G and the data g and \(\psi\).