Convexity properties of Dirichlet integrals and Picone-type inequalities (Q487292)

The authors study three convexity principles: convexity of generalized kinetic energy, general hidden convexity, and the general Picone inequality. These principles are given in the following three propositions. { Proposition 1} (Convexity of generalized kinetic energy) Let \(1<p<\infty\) and let \(H: \mathbb{R}^N \rightarrow [0,\infty)\) be a convex positively \(p\)-homogeneous function. For every \(0<\beta \leq p-1\), the function \[ (m,\phi) \mapsto \frac{H(\phi)}{m^\beta}, \;\;\;(m,\phi) \in (0,\infty)\times \mathbb{R}^N \] is convex. { Proposition 2} (General hidden convexity) Let \(1<p<\infty\) and \(1<q\leq p\). Let \(H: \mathbb{R}^N \rightarrow [0,\infty)\) be a convex positively \(p\)-homogeneous function. For every pair of differentiable functions \(u_0,u_1\geq 0\), define \[ \sigma_t(x)=[(1-t)u_0(x)^q+tu_1(x)^q]^{1/q}, \;\;\;t\in [0,1],\;x\in \Omega. \] Then there holds \[ H(\nabla \sigma_t) \leq (1-t)H(\nabla u_0)+tH(\nabla u_1), \;\;\;t\in [0,1]. \] { Proposition 3} (General Picone inequality) Let \(1<q\leq p\) and let \(H: \mathbb{R}^N \rightarrow [0,\infty)\) be a convex positively \(p\)-homogeneous function. For every pair of positive differentiable functions \(u,v\) with \(u>0\), we have \[ \frac 1p \left\langle \nabla H(\nabla u), \nabla\left( \frac{v^q}{u^{q-1}}\right) \right\rangle \leq H(\nabla v)^{q/p} H(\nabla u)^{(p-q)/p}. \] The authors prove that these convexity principles are equivalent and give some applications.