A compactness theorem for weak solutions of higher-dimensional \(H\)-systems (Q1880954)

It is proved that any weak limit of weak solutions \(u_k=(u_k^1,\ldots,u_k^{n+1})\colon\) \(\{x\in {\mathbb R}^{n}\colon\;| x| <1\}\to {\mathbb R}^{n+1},\) \(u_k\in W^{1,n},\) of the degenerate nonlinear elliptic system (perturbed H-system) \[ \text{div\,}(| \nabla u_k| ^{n-2}\nabla u_k)=H(u_k) {{\partial u_k}\over{\partial x_1}}\wedge\cdots \wedge {{\partial u_k}\over{\partial x_n}} +\Phi_k \] where \(\Phi_k\to0\) in \((W^{1,n})^*\) as \(k\to\infty,\) solves the limiting H-system \[ \text{div\,}(| \nabla u| ^{n-2}\nabla u)=H(u) {{\partial u}\over{\partial x_1}}\wedge\cdots \wedge {{\partial u}\over{\partial x_n}}. \] Here \(H\colon\;{\mathbb R}^{n+1}\to {\mathbb R}\) is a \(C^1\)-smooth function satisfying \[ \sup_{y\in {\mathbb R}^{n+1}} (| H(y)| +| \nabla H(y)| )\leq C \] and \(\wedge\) denotes the cross product of \(n+1\)-dimensional vectors.