\(C^{1,\alpha }\) theory for the prescribed mean curvature equation with Dirichlet data (Q645291)

The author studies solutions of the prescribed mean curvature equation over a general domain that do not necessarily attain the given boundary data. It is well-known that, if the boundary of a domain \(\Omega\) in \({\mathbb R}^{n+1}\) is of class \(C^2\), then a solution \(u\) exists for any continuous function \(\phi\) defined on the boundary \(\partial \Omega\) satisfying \(u = \phi\) on \(\partial \Omega\) provided some inequality on the mean curvature of the boundary is given. Using a variational approach to the Dirichlet problem and looking for a minimum \(u\) of the functional \[ \mathcal F(v) = \int_\Omega \sqrt{1+|Dv|^2}\, dx + \int_\Omega\int_0^{v(x)} H(x, x_{n+1})\, dx dx_{n+1} + \int_{\partial \Omega} |v-\phi|\, dx \] for \(\phi\in C^0(\partial \Omega)\) and \(v \in \text{BV}(\Omega)\), the author gives a complete and general discussion on the regularity of the hypersurface obtained by taking the union of \(\{(x, u(x)): x\in \Omega\}\) and the part of \(\partial \Omega \times {\mathbb R}\) which is closed by \(\{(x, u(x)): x \in \partial \Omega\}\) and \(\{(x, \phi (x)): x \in \partial \Omega\}\). Here, \(\text{BV}(\Omega)\) denotes the space of all functions in \(L^1(\Omega)\) that have bounded variation. The author proves that, if \(\partial \Omega\) is \(C^{1, \alpha}\) and \(\phi\in C^{1,\alpha}(\partial \Omega)\), then this hypersurface is a \(C^{1, \alpha}\) manifold-with-boundary with boundary equal to the graph of \(\phi\). Furthermore, he shows that this manifold can be obtained as the \(C^{1, \alpha}\)-limit of graphs of \(C^{1, \alpha}\)-functions over \(\overline{\Omega}\).