Calderón-Zygmund estimates for a class of quasilinear elliptic equations (Q502608)

Let \(a\in C^1((0,\infty))\) be a positive function satisfying \[ -1\leq \inf_{t>0}\frac{ta'(t)}{a(t)}\leq \sup_{t>0}\frac{ta'(t)}{a(t)}<+\infty, \] let \(\Omega\) be an open bounded domain in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), and let \({\mathbf f}:\Omega \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^n\) be a vector field. The authors consider the quasilinear elliptic equation \[ \operatorname{div}(a (|\nabla u|)\nabla u)=\operatorname{div}(a (|{\mathbf f}|)\mathbf f)\text{ in }\Omega\tag{1} \] and establish a local Calderòn-Zygmund estimate for weak solutions of equation (1). In particular, given any \(q\geq 1\), the authors prove that if \(B(|\mathbf f|)\in L_{\mathrm{loc}}^q(\Omega)\) and \(u\) is a solution to \((1)\), then \(B(|\nabla u|)\in L_{\mathrm{loc}}^q(\Omega)\), where \(B(t)=\int_0^t\tau a(\tau)d\tau\), \(t>0\), with the estimate \[ \int_{B_R(x_0)}B(|\nabla u|)^qdx\leq C\Biggl\{\int_{B_{2R}(x_0)}B(|\mathbf f|)^qdx+\Biggl(\int_{B_{2R}(x_0)}B\Biggl(\frac{1}{R}|u|\Biggr)dx\Biggr)^q\Biggr\}. \] Here \(R>0\) and \(x_0\in \Omega\) are such that \(B_{4R}(x_0)\subset \Omega\), and \(C\) is a constant independent of \(u,{\mathbf f}\). The proof is carried out in two steps: first the authors prove the result for \(q,R=1\) and \(x_0=0\) using a standard covering and iteration argument. Then, a strict monotonicity property of the differential operator involved in equation (1) and an \(L^q\)- estimate of the Hardy-Littlewood maximal function of locally integrable functions allow the authors to prove the result in the general case \(q\geq1\) via an approximation argument.