The extremal solution for the fractional Laplacian (Q2510357)

Let \(\Omega\) be a bounded smooth domain in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), let \(f:[0,\infty)\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) be a \(C^1\) non-decreasing function such that \(f(0)>0\) and \(\lim_{t\rightarrow +\infty}f(t)/t=+\infty\), and let \(\lambda\) be a positive parameter. Consider the following problem \[ \begin{cases} -\Delta u=\lambda f(u)\,\, &\text{ in}\,\, \Omega,\\ u=0 \,\, &\text{ in}\,\, \mathbb{R}^n\setminus\Omega.\end{cases}\tag{1} \] Under the above assumptions on \(f\), it is well known that there exists \(\lambda^*>0\) such that problem (1) admits a minimal positive solution \(u_\lambda\in C^2(\Omega)\cap C^0(\overline{\Omega})\) for \(0<\lambda<\lambda^*\), and no solution for \(\lambda>\lambda^*\). Moreover, for each \(x\in \Omega\), the function \(\lambda\in (0,\lambda^*) \rightarrow u_\lambda(x)\) is increasing and the function \(u^*\) defined by \(u^*(x)=\lim_{\lambda\uparrow\lambda^*}u_\lambda(x)\) for all \(x\in \Omega\) turns out to be a weak solution of problem (1), called the extremal solution. Several authors studied the boundedness of the extremal solution both for general nonlinearities \(f\) as well as for particular nonlinearities such as powers or exponentials. Some well known results give the boundedness of \(u^*\) in dependence on the dimension \(n\), the geometric properties of the domain \(\Omega\), and additional properties of the nonlinearity \(f\). In this paper, the authors consider problem \((1)\) with the fractional Laplacian operator \((-\Delta)^s\) (\(0<s<1\)) in place of the Laplacian operator and study the boundedness of the extremal solution in this setting. They obtain similar results as in the classical case \(s=1\) and, in particular, they prove that the extremal solution is bounded in the following cases: \(a)\) \(n<4s\) and \(f\) is convex, \(b)\) \(n<10s\) and \(f\) is \(C^2\) and such that the limit \[ \tau:=\lim_{t\rightarrow +\infty}\frac{f(t)f''(t)}{f'(t)^2} \] exists. Finally, for convex domains \(\Omega\), the authors also prove that the extremal solution belongs to \(H^s(\mathbb{R}^n)\), for all \(n\in \mathbb{N}\). The proof of the main result is based on some \(L^p\) and \(W^{2s,p}\) estimates for solutions of the problem \((-\Delta u)^s=g\) in \(\Omega\), \(u=0\) on \(\partial \Omega\), where \(g\in L^p(\Omega)\).