On non quasiconvex problems of the calculus of variations (Q2574737)

The authors study the existence of solutions to problems of calculus of variations of the form: Minimize \(I(u)\) over the set \(u_{\xi_0}+ W_0^{1,\infty}(\Omega; {\mathbb R}^{ m})\), where \(I(u) = \int_\Omega f(D u(x))dx\), \(\Omega\) is an open bounded subset of \({\mathbb R}^N\), \(N\geq 2\), \(f~:~ {\mathbb R}^{N \times m}\to \bar {\mathbb R}\) is a lower semicontinuous function, and \(u_{\xi_0}\) is an affine function such that \(Du_{\xi_0}=\xi_0 \in {\mathbb R}^{N \times m}\). The authors obtain new existence results when \(f\) is not quasiconvex. They also state necessary conditions on \(f\) and \(\xi_0\) for the existence of minimizers. Different examples illustrate the results of the paper.