Pointwise gradient estimates for a class of singular quasilinear equations with measure data (Q2286254)

The paper deals with quasilinear elliptic equations with measure data of the form \[ -\operatorname{div}\,\big(A(x,\nabla u)\big)=\mu\quad \text{in}\ \Omega, \] where \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^n\), \(n\geq2\), is an open and bouded set with Reifenberg flat boundary, \(\mu\) is a finite signed measure and the differential operator is modeled after the \(p\)-Laplacian. Precisely, the nonlinearity \(A(x,\xi)\) satisfies the following growth, ellipticity and continuity conditions: there exist \(\Lambda\geq1\), \(p\in(1,2)\), \(s\geq0\) and \(\alpha\in(0,2-p)\) such that \[ |A(x,\xi)|\leq \Lambda(s^2+|\xi|^2)^{(p-1)/2},\qquad |D_\xi A(x,\xi)|\leq \Lambda(s^2+|\xi|^2)^{(p-2)/2}, \] \[ \langle D_\xi A(x,\xi)\eta,\eta\rangle\geq \Lambda^{-1}(s^2+|\xi|^2)^{(p-2)/2}|\eta|^2, \] \[ |D_\xi A(x,\xi)-D_\xi A(x,\eta)|\leq \Lambda(s^2+|\xi|^2)^{(2-p)/2}(s^2+|\eta|^2)^{(2-p)/2} (s^2+|\xi|^2+|\eta|^2)^{(2-p-\alpha)/2}|\xi-\eta|^\alpha, \] \[ |A(x,\xi)-A(x_0,\xi)|\leq \Lambda \omega(|x-x_0|)(s^2+|\xi|^2)^{(p-1)/2}, \] where \(\omega\colon\ [0,\infty)\to[0,1]\) is a non-decreasing function, \(\omega(0)=0=\lim_{r\downarrow0}\omega(r),\) and it satisfies the Dini condition \[ \int_0^1 \omega(r)^{\gamma_0}\dfrac{dr}{r}<\infty \] for some \(\gamma_0\in \left(\frac{n}{2n-1},\frac{n(p-1)}{n-1}\right).\) The main result of the paper extends the pointwise gradient estimates from [\textit{F. Duzaar} and \textit{G. Mingione}, J. Funct. Anal. 259, 2961--2998 (2010; Zbl 1200.35313)] and [\textit{T. Kuusi} and \textit{G. Mingione}, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 207, No. 1, 215--246 (2013; Zbl 1266.31011)] to the singular case when \[ \dfrac{3n-2}{2n-1} < p \leq 2-\dfrac{1}{n}. \] The technique adopted relies on the comparison estimates from [\textit{Q.-H. Nguyen} and \textit{N.-C. Phuc}, Math. Ann. 374, No. 1--2, 67--98 (2019; Zbl 1432.35089)] and suitable sharp quantitative \(C^{1,\sigma}\)-estimates for the associated homogeneous equation.