Stability estimates for parabolic problems with Wentzell boundary conditions (Q952109)

The authors consider the uniformly parabolic problem \[ \begin{aligned} &u_t(t,x)={\text{div}}(\mathcal A\nabla u(t,x)),\qquad (t,x)\in (0,\infty) \times\Omega,\\ &u(0,x)=f(x),\qquad x\in\Omega,\\ &u_t(t,x')+\beta\partial^{\mathcal A}_{\nu}u(t,x')+\gamma u(t,x')-q\beta\Delta_{LB}u(t,x')=0,\;\;(t,x')\in (0,\infty)\times\partial\Omega, \end{aligned} \] where \(\Omega \subset \mathbb R^N\) is a bounded open set with \(C^2\) boundary; \(\mathcal A=\{a_{ij}(x)\}\) is real, hermitian, uniformly positive definite \(N\times N\) matrix; \(\beta,\gamma\in C(\overline{\Omega})\) with \(0<\beta_0\leq \beta(x)\leq\beta_1\), \(|\gamma(x)|\leq\gamma_1\) for every \(x\in\partial\Omega\); \(q\geq 0\); \(\Delta_{LB}\) is the Laplace-Beltrami operator on \(\partial\Omega\); \(\partial^{\mathcal A}_{\nu}\) is the conormal derivative with respect to \(\mathcal A\), namely, \(\partial^{\mathcal A}_{\nu}u=\sum_{ij}a_{ij}\partial_{x_i}u \nu_j\), where \(\nu\) is the unit outer normal at \(\partial\Omega\). All the coefficients are assumed to real-valued. Under suitable conditions on \(f\), the solution of this well-posed problem depends continuously on \(\mathcal A\), \(\beta\), \(\gamma\), \(q\), and \(f\). It has been shown using semigroup methods in some previous study of the authors jointly with A. Favini and S. Romanelli. More precisely, take a sequence of the above problems with solutions \(u_n\), and if \(\mathcal A_n\to\mathcal A\), \(\beta_n\to\beta\), etc. in a suitable sense, then \(u_n\to u\), the solution of the limiting problem, also in some suitable sense. The abstract analysis associated with operator semigroup theory gives this conclusion, but no rate of convergence. Determining how fast the convergence of the solution is requires detailed estimates. Such estimates are provided in this paper. For the sake of completeness, the authors start with the stability estimate for the problems associated to the resolvent of the parabolic ones, namely, they consider the following elliptic problems with Wentzell boundary conditions \[ \begin{aligned} &\lambda u(x)-{\text{div}}(\mathcal A\nabla u(x))=h_1(x), \qquad x\in \Omega,\\ &\beta(x')\partial^{\mathcal A}_{\nu}u(x')+(\lambda+\gamma(x'))u(x')-q\beta(x')\Delta_{LB}u(x')=h_2(x'),\;\;x'\in\partial\Omega. \end{aligned} \] Under suitable restrictions on \(h_1, h_2\), and \(\lambda\), the authors prove stability estimates for the above problem, too.