Power convexity of a class of elliptic equations involving the Hessian operator in a 3-dimensional bounded convex domain (Q388468)

Let \(D^2u\) denote the Hessian of \(u\) and let \(\sigma_2(D^2u)\) be the second elementary symmetric function of the eigenvalues of \(D^2u\). This paper is concerned with the strict power convexity of the Hessian equation in a bounded strictly convex domain \(\Omega\subset{\mathbb R}^3\). More precisely, for any \(p\in [0,2)\) and \(\lambda>0\), the author studies the nonlinear problem (P): \[ \sigma_2(D^2u)=\lambda (-u)^p\quad\text{in}\;\Omega, \] with \(u<0\) in \(\Omega\) and \(u=0\) on \(\partial\Omega\). Under these assumptions, the main result of this paper establishes that if \(u\) is a smooth admissible solution of problem (P) then the function \(v=-(-u)^{(2-p)/4}\) is strictly convex in \(\Omega\). The proof combines the constant rank theorem and boundary convexity estimates.