The affine Bernstein and boundary value problems (Q2405333)

The paper under review is the beginning of the book and it is focused on the affine Bernstein problem and related boundary value problems. First, the concept of minimal graphs and affine maximal graphs are recalled. Then, the problem is translated in the PDE language and connections with other boundary value problems are investigated. Many PDE tools are recalled and used; among them, a key role is played by the \(W^{2,p}\) estimate for linear second order elliptic equations. The goal is to give a proof of the global \(W^{4,p}\) and \(C^{4,\alpha}\) estimates for the following problem. Given \(G:(0,+\infty) \to \mathbb R\) a smooth, strictly increasing and concave function, let us consider the equation \[ U^{ij}w_{ij} = f \text{ in }\Omega, \qquad w=G'(\det D^2 u), \qquad U=\det D^2u \, (D^2u)^{-1}, \] where \(u\) is a locally uniform convex function in \(\bar \Omega\). This is done by studying the connection with the second boundary value problem for the prescribed affine mean curvature equation. The key step to global \(W^{4,p}\) estimates consists in showing that the Hessian determinant \(\det D^2 u\) is bounded between two positive universal constants \(C_1\) and \(C_ 2\). Once this is done, the proof can be easily completed by using two global regularity results in Theorems 1.12 and 1.13. The proof of a uniform lower bound for \(\det D^2 u\) follows by an application of the Aleksandrov-Bakelman-Pucci (ABP) maximum principle. The most difficult part of the proof is to get a uniform upper bound on \(\det D^2 u\). The key is to prove a uniform upper bound for \(\det D^2 u\) and then apply the ABP estimate to the dual equation by using the Legendre transform. For this, a coercivity condition and a global gradient bound for \(u\) are needed. The proof of a global gradient bound for \(u\) is more involved. First, a global a priori bound on \(u\) is proved. By growth assumptions on the function \(G\), a uniform lower bound for \(\det D^2 u\) is proved. Next, by using boundary Hölder estimates for second-order equations with lower bound on the determinant of the coefficient matrix to \(U^{ij} w_{ij} = f\), the uniform bound for \(\det D^2 u\) near the boundary is obtained. This, together the global bound on \(u\), allows to construct barriers using the strict convexity of \(\partial \Omega\) to obtain the global gradient bound for \(u\). For the entire collection see [Zbl 1373.35006].