The Wente problem associated to the modified Helmholtz operator (Q2465145)

This paper concerns solutions to the Wente problem with modified Helmholtz operator, that is, \(\Phi_{\alpha}\in H^1(\Omega)\cap C^0(\overline\Omega)\) satisfying \[ -\Delta \Phi_{\alpha}+\alpha\Phi_{\alpha} =a_{x_1}b_{x_2}-a_{x_2}b_{x_1} \;\text{in}\;\Omega, \;\;\Phi_{\alpha}=0 \;\text{on}\;\partial\Omega, \] where \(\Omega\) is a smooth and bounded domain in \(\mathbb R^2\), \(\alpha>0\) a constant, \((a,b)\in H^1(\Omega,\mathbb R^2)\). The authors prove that \[ \|\Phi_{\alpha}\|_{\infty} \leq\beta\|\nabla a\|_2 \|\nabla b\|_2, \] in which the best constant \(\beta\in[1/(2\pi),1/\pi]\) for all \(\alpha>0\), and \(\beta=1/(2\pi)\) (as is a known result for the case \(\alpha=0\)) when \(\Omega=\mathbb R^2\) and the boundary condition is replaced by \(\lim_{\|x\|\to+\infty}\Phi_{\alpha}(x)=0\). Moreover, the energy inequality is derived for the functional \(\|\nabla\Phi_{\alpha}\|_2^2 +\alpha\|\Phi_{\alpha}\|_2^2\), and corresponding best constant is also estimated.