The thin obstacle problem for some variable coefficient degenerate elliptic operators

DOI10.1016/J.NA.2022.113052MaRDI QIDQ2157308zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Agnid Banerjee, Federico Buseghin, Nicola Garofalo

Publication date 27 July 2022

Published in Nonlinear Analysis. Theory, Methods \& Applications. Series A: Theory and Methods (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.13596

zbMATH Keywords

Almgren monotonicitydegenerate elliptic operatorsextension problemregularitythin obstacle problem

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Smoothness and regularity of solutions to PDEs (35B65) Boundary value problems for second-order elliptic equations (35J25) Degenerate elliptic equations (35J70) Unilateral problems for linear elliptic equations and variational inequalities with linear elliptic operators (35J86) Free boundary problems for PDEs (35R35)

Abstract: In this paper we establish the optimal interior regularity and the $C^{1,gamma}$ smoothness of the regular part of the free boundary in the thin obstacle problem for a class of degenerate elliptic equations with variable coefficients.

Review text

In this paper under review, the authors study the thin obstacle problem for a class of variable coefficient degenerate elliptic operators: \[ \begin{cases} \nabla\cdot (y^a A(x) \nabla_X U)=0, &\text{ in } \mathbb{B}_1^+,\\ \min(U(x,0)-\psi(x), -\lim_{y\rightarrow 0+}y^a\partial_yU(x,y)\}=0, &\text{ on } B_1, \end{cases} \] where \(\mathbb{B}_1^+:=\{X=(x,y)\in \mathbb{R}^n\times \mathbb{R}: |X|<1, y>0\}\), \(B_1:=\{x\in \mathbb{R}^n: |x|<1\}\), \(\psi:B_1\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is a given obstacle and \(A(x)=(a_{ij}(x))\) is symmetric and uniformly elliptic, which is of the form \begin{align*} (a_{ij}(x))=\sum_{i,j=1}^nb_{ij}(x) e_i\otimes e_j+ e_{n+1}\otimes e_{n+1}. \end{align*} The authors prove that if \(a\in [0,1)\), \(\psi\in C^{1,1}\) and \(b_{ij}\) is Lipschitz, then solutions have the optimal interior regularity: \(\nabla_xU\in C^{\frac{1-a}{2}}(\overline{\mathbb{B}_{1/2}^+})\), \(y^a\partial_yU\in C^{\frac{1+a}{2}}(\overline{\mathbb{B}_{1/2}^+})\). Moreover, let \(\Gamma_{\psi}:=\partial\{x\in B_1: U(x,0)=\psi(x)\}\) denote the free boundary and let \(\Gamma_{\psi}^{\frac{3-a}{2}}\) denote the regular free boundary, which consists of those free boundary points at which \(U-\psi\) has vanishing order equal to \(\frac{3-a}{2}\). The authors show that \(\Gamma_{\psi}^{\frac{3-a}{2}}\) is a relative open subset of the \(\Gamma_{\psi}\) and it is locally a \(C^{1,\gamma}\) graph. To prove the results, the authors first prove (sub-optimal) Hölder regularity of the gradients using the method of Campanato. Then they show the optimal regularity by establishing an Almgren's type monotonicity formula. The study of the regular free boundary relies on a Weiss type monotonicity formula as well as the known epiperimetric inequality for the Weiss energy.

Recommendations

• The variable coefficient thin obstacle problem: optimal regularity and regularity of the regular free boundary
• The variable coefficient thin obstacle problem: higher regularity
• The regular free boundary in the thin obstacle problem for degenerate parabolic equations
• The variable coefficient thin obstacle problem: Carleman inequalities
• Optimal regularity for the thin obstacle problem with \(C^{0,\alpha }\) coefficients

Cites work

• A Harnack inequality for fractional Laplace equations with lower order terms
• Almost minimizers for certain fractional variational problems
• An epiperimetric inequality approach to the regularity of the free boundary in the Signorini problem with variable coefficients
• An epiperimetric inequality for the thin obstacle problem
• Boundary Harnack estimates in slit domains and applications to thin free boundary problems
• Characterization of traces of the weighted Sobolev space $W^{1,p}(\Omega,d_M^\epsilon)$ on $M$
• Fractional elliptic equations, Caccioppoli estimates and regularity
• Fractional thoughts
• Further regularity for the signorini problem
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 203579 (Why is no real title available?)
• Liouville type theorems and regularity of solutions to degenerate or singular problems. I: Even solutions
• Liouville type theorems and regularity of solutions to degenerate or singular problems. II: Odd solutions
• Monotonicity of generalized frequencies and the strong unique continuation property for fractional parabolic equations
• Multiple Integrals in the Calculus of Variations and Nonlinear Elliptic Systems. (AM-105)
• New monotonicity formulas and the optimal regularity in the Signorini problem with variable coefficients
• On the measure and the structure of the free boundary of the lower dimensional obstacle problem
• On the regularity of the non-dynamic parabolic fractional obstacle problem
• Optimal regularity and the free boundaryin the parabolic Signorini problem
• Optimal regularity of lower dimensional obstacle problems
• Regularity estimates for the solution and the free boundary of the obstacle problem for the fractional Laplacian
• Regularity of free boundaries in obstacle-type problems
• Regularity of the free boundary for the obstacle problem for the fractional Laplacian with drift
• Regularity of the solution of a problem with a two-sided constraint on the boundary for elliptic and parabolic equations
• Some new monotonicity formulas and the singular set in the lower dimensional obstacle problem
• Structure and regularity of the singular set in the obstacle problem for the fractional Laplacian
• The local regularity of solutions of degenerate elliptic equations
• The regular free boundary in the thin obstacle problem for degenerate parabolic equations
• The smoothness of the solution of the boundary obstacle problem
• The structure of the free boundary for lower dimensional obstacle problems
• The structure of the singular set in the thin obstacle problem for degenerate parabolic equations
• The two membranes problem for different operators
• The variable coefficient thin obstacle problem: Carleman inequalities
• The variable coefficient thin obstacle problem: optimal regularity and regularity of the regular free boundary

Cited in

(9)

• The variable coefficient thin obstacle problem: higher regularity
• Optimal regularity for the thin obstacle problem with \(C^{0,\alpha }\) coefficients
• The variable coefficient thin obstacle problem: optimal regularity and regularity of the regular free boundary
• The variable coefficient thin obstacle problem: Carleman inequalities
• An Approach to the Thin Obstacle Problem foŕ Variational Functionals Depending on Vector Valued Functions
• Variable-coefficient parabolic theory as a high-dimensional limit of elliptic theory
• Epiperimetric inequalities in the obstacle problem for the fractional Laplacian
• Extension problem for the fractional parabolic Lamé operator and unique continuation
• Fractional parabolic theory as a high-dimensional limit of fractional elliptic theory

This page was built for publication: The thin obstacle problem for some variable coefficient degenerate elliptic operators

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q2157308)