The variable coefficient thin obstacle problem: Carleman inequalities (Q305740)

The authors obtain an almost optimal regularity for the variable coefficient thin obstacle problem by proving a Carleman estimate. To describe the variable coefficient thin obstacle, let \(a^{ij}:B_1^+=\{x\in B_1\subset \mathbb{R}^{n+1} \;| \;x_{n+1}\geq 0\} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}_{\mathrm{sym}}^{(n+1)\times (n+1)}\) be a symmetric, uniformly elliptic tensor field which is \(W^{1,p}\), for \(p> n+1\), regular. The authors consider local minimizers of \[ J(w)= \int_{B_1^+}a^{ij}(\partial_iw)(\partial_jw)dx, \] for \(w\in \mathcal{K}=\{v\in H^1(B_1^+) \;| \;v\geq 0 \text{ on } B_1'=B_1^+\cap\{x_{n+1}=0\}\}\). The key ingredient of this paper is a Carleman estimate for the solution of the problem at hand. Such estimate yields sufficient compactness properties to carry out a blow-up procedure with a non-trivial limit satisfying a constant coefficient thin obstacle problem. Furthermore, the Carleman estimate implies the existence of homogeneous blow-up limits along certain sequences, which then leads to an almost optimal regularity of the solution. This paper continues the work developed by \textit{N. Guillen} [Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 36, No. 4, 533--546 (2009; Zbl 1180.35579)] where optimal regularity was proved when the coefficients are in \(C^{1,\gamma}\), for \(\gamma>0\), and by \textit{N. Garofalo} and \textit{M. Smit Vega Garcia} [Adv. Math. 262, 682--750 (2014; Zbl 1295.35155)] where optimal regularity was obtained for coefficients in \(C^{0,1}\).