Epsilon-regularity for the solutions of a free boundary system (Q6058050)

Summary: This paper is dedicated to a free boundary system arising in the study of a class of shape optimization problems. The problem involves three variables: two functions \(u\) and \(v\), and a domain \(\Omega\); with \(u\) and \(v\) being both positive in \(\Omega\), vanishing simultaneously on \(\partial \Omega\), and satisfying an overdetermined boundary value problem involving the product of their normal derivatives on \(\partial \Omega\). Precisely, we consider solutions \(u, v \in C(B_1)\) of \[ \begin{aligned} -\Delta u= f \text{ and } &-\Delta v=g \quad \text{in }\Omega=\{u>0\}=\{v>0\}, \\ &\frac{\partial u}{\partial n} \frac{\partial v}{\partial n} = Q \quad \text{on } \partial \Omega \cap B_1. \end{aligned} \] Our main result is an epsilon-regularity theorem for viscosity solutions of this free boundary system. We prove a partial Harnack inequality near flat points for the couple of auxiliary functions \(\sqrt{uv}\) and \(\frac{1}{2}(u+v)\). Then, we use the gained space near the free boundary to transfer the improved flatness to the original solutions. Finally, using the partial Harnack inequality, we obtain an improvement-of-flatness result, which allows to conclude that flatness implies \(C^{1, \alpha}\) regularity.