Density estimates for vector minimizers and applications (Q255551)

The authors consider the Euler-Lagrange equations for the functional \[ J_D (u) = \int_D \Big( \frac{1}{2} \sum_{i,j} \gamma_{ij} \frac{\partial u}{\partial x_i} \frac{\partial u}{\partial x_j} + W(x,u) \Big) dx \] with \(u : D \subset {\mathbb R}^n \to {\mathbb R}^m\). The set \(D\) is open and the coefficient \(\gamma_{ij}\) are \(C^1\) and satisfy \[ \sum_{i,j} \gamma_{ij} \xi_i \xi_j \geqslant \gamma_0 |\xi|^2 \quad \forall \xi \in {\mathbb R}^n \qquad \text{and} \qquad \gamma_{ij} = \gamma_{ji} . \] The authors make the following assumptions, which I quote literally: ``\textbf{(HA)} \(W : D \times {\mathbb R}^m \to {\mathbb R}\) is non-negative and \[ W(x ,a) = 0 , \quad \text{for some } a \in {\mathbb R}^m , x \in D \, . \] We assume that \(W(x,u)\) is continuous in \(x\) and there is \(\alpha \in (1,2]\) such that \(W(x,\cdot) \in C^{\alpha} ({\mathbb R}^m; {\mathbb R})\) and \(W(x,\cdot) \in C^{1} ({\mathbb R}^m \setminus \{ W = 0 \}; {\mathbb R})\) if \(\alpha \in (0,1]\) and \[ W_u (x, a + \rho \, \nu) \cdot \nu \geqslant C^{\ast} \rho^{\alpha - 1}, \quad \text{for } 0 < \rho \leqslant \rho_0 \, , \;|\nu| = 1 \] for some \(C^{\ast}\), \(\rho_0 > 0\) independent of \(x \in D\) where \(\cdot\) denotes the Euclidean inner product in \({\mathbb R}^m\) and \(| \cdot |\) the associated norm'' and ``\textbf{(HB)} \(u : D \subset {\mathbb R}^n \to {\mathbb R}^m\), \(u \in W^{1,2}_{\text{loc}} (D; {\mathbb R}^m) \cap L^{\infty}(D; {\mathbb R}^m)\), is minimal in the sense that \[ J_{\Omega} (u) \leqslant J_{\Omega} (u + v) , \quad \text{for } v \in W^{1,2}_0(\Omega; {\mathbb R}^m) \] for every open bounded set \(\Omega \subset D\). Moreover we assume \[ |u - a| < M\, , \quad | \nabla u | < M \, , \quad \text{on } {\mathbb R}^n . \text{''} \] The authors confine themselves to consider uniformly bounded functions which are \textit{minimal} in the sense of \textbf{(HB)} and for those they give two different extensions of the Caffarelli-Cordoba density estimates, in particular lower density estimates. Then they give some applications.