Perturbations of local maxima and comparison principles for boundary-degenerate linear differential equations

DOI10.1090/TRAN/7246zbMATH Open1442.35052arXiv1305.5098OpenAlexW2963148109MaRDI QIDQ3298964FDOQ3298964

Publication date: 17 July 2020

Published in: Transactions of the American Mathematical Society (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We develop strong and weak maximum principles for boundary-degenerate elliptic and parabolic linear second-order partial differential operators,

A u := - m a t h r m t r (a D^{2} u) - < b, D u > + c u

, with partial Dirichlet boundary conditions. The coefficient,

a (x)

, is assumed to vanish along a non-empty open subset,

p a r t i a l_{0} m a t h s c r O

, called the emph{degenerate boundary portion}, of the boundary,

p a r t i a l m a t h s c r O

, of the domain

m a t h s c r O s u b s e t m a t h b b R^{d}

, while

a (x)

is non-zero at any point of the emph{non-degenerate boundary portion},

p a r t i a l_{1} m a t h s c r O := p a r t i a l m a t h s c r O s e t m i n u s o v e r l i n e p a r t i a l_{0} m a t h s c r O

. If an

A

-subharmonic function,

u

in

C^{2} (m a t h s c r O)

or

W_{m a t h r m l o c}^{2, d} (m a t h s c r O)

, is

C^{1}

up to

p a r t i a l_{0} m a t h s c r O

and has a strict local maximum at a point in

p a r t i a l_{0} m a t h s c r O

, we show that

u

can be perturbed, by the addition of a suitable function

w i n C^{2} (m a t h s c r O) c a p C^{1} (m a t h b b R^{d})

, to a strictly

A

-subharmonic function

v = u + w

having a local maximum in the interior of

m a t h s c r O

. Consequently, we obtain strong and weak maximum principles for

A

-subharmonic functions in

C^{2} (m a t h s c r O)

and

W_{m a t h r m l o c}^{2, d} (m a t h s c r O)

which are

C^{1}

up to

p a r t i a l_{0} m a t h s c r O

. Only the non-degenerate boundary portion,

p a r t i a l_{1} m a t h s c r O

, is required for boundary comparisons. Our results extend those in Daskalopoulos and Hamilton (1998), Epstein and Mazzeo [arXiv:1110.0032], and the author [arXiv:1204.6613, 1306.5197], where