A Dirichlet problem for nonlocal degenerate elliptic operators with internal nonlinearity

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Abstract: We study a Dirichlet problem in the entire space for some nonlocal degenerate elliptic operators with internal nonlinearities. With very mild assumptions on the boundary datum, we prove existence and uniqueness of the solution in the viscosity sense. If we further assume uniform ellipticity then the solution is shown to be classical, and even smooth if both the operator and the boundary datum are smooth.


The author studies a collection of fully nonlinear integro-differential operators \[ I[u,x ]=\int_{\mathbb{R}^n}\, \frac{F(u(x+y) + u(x-y) -2 u(x))}{|y|^{n+\sigma}} \, dy \tag{\(\ast\)} \] for \(F: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}\). These operators relate to diffusion processes with nonlocal effects where the generator takes the form \(I[u,x] = \inf_{\alpha} \sup_{\beta} L_{\alpha \beta} u(x)\) for \[ L_{\alpha \beta} u(x) = C \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}\, (u(x+y) +u(x-y) - 2u(x)) K_{\alpha \beta}(x,y) \, dy \;. \] Here \(K_{\alpha \beta}(x,y)\) generalizes the coefficient matrix of second order operators to allow for inhomogeneity and anisotropy. It is comparable to \(\frac{1}{|y|^{n+\sigma}}\) which corresponds to the fractional Laplacian \(\Delta^{\frac{\sigma}{2}}\). The Dirichlet problem corresponding to \((\ast)\) is \[ \begin{cases} \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}\, \frac{F(u(x+y) + u(x-y) -2 u(x))}{|y|^{n+\sigma}} \, dy = g(x,u- \phi) & \text{ in } \mathbb{R}^n ,\\ u(x)- \phi(x) \to 0 & \text{ as } x \to \infty. \end{cases}\tag{\(\ast\ast\)} \] \textit{L. Caffarelli} and \textit{L. Silvestre} defined a notion of viscosity solution for \((\ast\ast)\) in [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 62, No. 5, 597--638 (2009; Zbl 1170.45006)]. The author shows that for \[ \begin{cases} \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}\, \frac{F(v(x+y) + v(x-y) -2 v(x))}{|y|^{n+\sigma}} \, dy \geq g(x,v- \phi) & \text{ in } \mathbb{R}^n ,\\ v(x)- \phi(x) \to 0 & \text{ as } x \to \infty, \end{cases} \] and \[ \begin{cases} \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}\, \frac{F(w(x+y) + w(x-y) -2 w(x))}{|y|^{n+\sigma}} \, dy \leq g(x,w- \phi) & \text{ in } \mathbb{R}^n, \\ w(x)- \phi(x) \to 0 & \text{ as } x \to \infty, \end{cases} \] the comparison \(v \leq w\) holds in \(\mathbb{R}^n\). Combined with translation invariance of the operator, the author deduces an a priori estimate \[ [u ]_{C^{\frac{2-\sigma}{2}}} \leq C(1 + \|u - \phi\|_{L^{\infty}}) \] on solutions to \((\ast\ast)\). F. Charro and L. Caffarelli defined a notion of close to a cone at infinity. Assuming that \(\phi\) is close to a cone at infinity, the a priori estimate yields existence of a solution to \((\ast\ast)\) under the assumption that either \(F\) is concave or \(g(x,y)\) is superlinear in \(y\). Further assumptions on the regularity of \(F\) show agreement with classical solutions.











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