Hölder continuity of weak solutions for parabolic equations with nonstandard growh conditions (Q2508601)

Let \(\Omega\) be an open domain in \(\mathbb R^N\). The authors consider the following equation in \(Q \equiv \Omega \times (0, T)\): \[ u_t - \text{div}(|Du|^{p(x,t) - 2} Du) = 0, \] where \(p(x,t)\) is a measurable function in \(Q\), satisfying \( 1 < p_1 \leq p(x,t) \leq p_2 < \infty\) and \[ |p(x,t) - p(y,s)| \leq {C_1 \over \log\left({1 \over |x-y| + C_2 |t-s|^{p_2}}\right)}, \] if \(|x-y| + |t-s|\) is suitably small. A local weak sub(super)-solution is an element \(u\) of \(L^1(0, T; W^{1,1}\) \((\Omega)) \cap C([0, T]; L^2_{loc}(\Omega))\), such that \(\int_Q |D_x u|^{p(x,t)} dx dt < \infty\), and, if \(0< t_1 < t_2 < T\), and \( \phi \in C^1([t_1, t_2]; C_0^\infty(\Omega))\), \(\phi(x,t) \geq 0\), \[ \int_\Omega u \phi dx|_{t_1}^{t_2} + \int_{t_1}^{t_2} \{-u\phi_t + Du \cdot D\phi\} \,dx\, dt \leq (\geq) 0. \] A function \(u\) is a local weak solution if it is both a local weak subsolution and supersolution. The authors prove that: (I) if \(p_1 \geq \max\{1, 2N/(N+2)\}\), then every local weak solution is locally bounded in \(Q\); (II) if \(p_1 > 2\) and \(u\) is bounded local weak solution, then \(u\) is locally Hölder continuous.