Generalized Harnack inequality for nonhomogeneous elliptic equations (Q2340944)

In this paper, the author considers nonhomogeneous elliptic equations in nondivergence form \[ F(D^2u,Du,x)=0.\leqno{(\ast)} \] The map \(F\) has a drift term satisfying the growth condition \[ |F(0,p,x)| \leq \phi(|p|), \] where \(\phi : [0,\infty) \to [0,\infty)\) is locally Lipschitz continuous on \((0,\infty)\), increasing, and \(\phi(t) > t\) for every \(t>0\). Under those conditions, nonnegative solutions of \((*)\) do not satisfy the classical Harnack inequality. A new type of Harnack inequality for nonnegative solutions of \((*)\) is obtained. The novelty of this Harnack inequality is that it depends on \(\phi\). As an application, \(p(x)\)-harmonic functions are studied. That is local minimizers of the energy \[ \int_\Omega \frac{1}{p(x)}|Du|^{p(x)}dx, \] where \(1 < p(x) < \infty\). The author obtains an optimal Harnack type inequality for \(p(x)\)-harmonic functions which quantifies the strong minimum principle.