An elementary proof of Harnack's inequality for Schrödinger operators and related topics (Q910922)

For \(G\subset {\mathbb{R}}^ N\) an open set, the author deals with distributional solutions of \(-\Delta u+Vu=f\) where \(V,f\in K^ N_{loc}(G)\). Here, \(K^ N(G)\) denotes a class of functions introduced for Schrödinger equations by T. Kato. Main topics are the continuity of distributional solutions and the validity of Harnack's inequality as well as stronger versions of it which were (for \(f=0)\) originally established by Aizenman and Simon using analytic and probabilistic tools. Meanwhile purely analytic approaches to those results are known. In the present paper, a new and straightforward approach is presented which is essentially based on local representations of the solution u by means of fundamental solution and Green's function to the Laplacian. Remembering that the class \(K^ N(G)\) is defined in terms of the fundamental solution of the Laplacian, the new approach appears very natural.