Skip to main content
Log in

The Dirichlet problem for singular elliptic equations with general nonlinearities

  • Published:
Calculus of Variations and Partial Differential Equations Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, under very general assumptions, we prove existence and regularity of distributional solutions to homogeneous Dirichlet problems of the form

$$\begin{aligned} {\left\{ \begin{array}{ll} \displaystyle - \Delta _{1} u = h(u)f &{} \text {in}\, \Omega , \\ u\ge 0&{} \text {in}\ \Omega ,\\ u=0 &{} \text {on}\ \partial \Omega \,. \end{array}\right. } \end{aligned}$$

Here \(\Delta _{1} \) is the 1-Laplace operator, \(\Omega \) is a bounded open subset of \(\mathbb {R}^N\) with Lipschitz boundary, h(s) is a continuous function which may become singular at \(s=0^{+}\), and f is a nonnegative datum in \(L^{N,\infty }(\Omega )\) with suitable small norm. Uniqueness of solutions is also shown provided h is decreasing and \(f>0\). As a preparatory tool for our method a general theory for the same problem involving the p-Laplacian (with \(p>1\)) as principal part is also established. The main assumptions are further discussed in order to show their optimality.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Alter, F., Caselles, V., Chambolle, A.: A characterization of convex calibrable sets in \(\mathbb{R}^N\). Math. Ann. 332, 329–366 (2005)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. Alvino, A.: Sulla diseguaglianza di Sobolev in spazi di Lorentz. Boll. Un. Mat. Ital. A (5) 14(1), 148–156 (1977)

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. Ambrosio, L., Fusco, N., Pallara, D.: Functions of bounded variation and free discontinuity problems. In: Oxford Mathematical Monographs. The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, New York (2000)

  4. Andreu, F., Ballester, C., Caselles, V., Mazón, J.M.: The Dirichlet problem for the total variation flow. J. Funct. Anal. 180(2), 347–403 (2001)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. Andreu, F., Dall’Aglio, A., Segura de León, S.: Bounded solutions to the 1-Laplacian equation with a critical gradient term. Asymptot. Anal. 80(1–2), 21–43 (2012)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. Andreu, F., Caselles, V., Mazón, J.M.: Parabolic quasilinear equations minimizing linear growth functionals. Progress in Mathematics, 223, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel (2004)

  7. Anzellotti, G.: Pairings between measures and bounded functions and compensated compactness. Ann. Mat. Pura Appl. 135(4), 293–318 (1983)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Barozzi, E., Gonzalez, E., Tamanini, I.: The mean curvature of a set of finite perimeter. Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 99, 313–316 (1987)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  9. Bertalmio, M., Caselles, V., Rougé, B., Solé, A.: TV based image restoration with local constraints. Special issue in honor of the sixtieth birthday of Stanley Osher. J. Sci. Comput. 19(1–3), 95–122 (2003)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  10. Boccardo, L., Murat, F.: Almost everywhere convergence of the gradients of solutions to elliptic and parabolic equations. Nonlinear Anal. 19, 581–597 (1992)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  11. Boccardo, L., Orsina, L.: Semilinear elliptic equations with singular nonlinearities. Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 37, 363–380 (2010)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  12. Canino, A., Sciunzi, B., Trombetta, A.: Existence and uniqueness for \(p\)-Laplace equations involving singular nonlinearities. NoDEA Nonlinear Differ. Equ. Appl. 23, 8–18 (2016)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  13. Caselles, V.: On the entropy conditions for some flux limited diffusion equations. J. Differ. Equ. 250, 3311–3348 (2011)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  14. Cassani, D., Ruf, B., Tarsi, C.: Optimal Sobolev type inequalities in Lorentz spaces. Potential Anal. 39(3), 265–285 (2013)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  15. Chen, G.-Q., Frid, H.: Divergence-measure fields and hyperbolic conservation laws. Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 147(2), 89–118 (1999)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  16. Cicalese, M., Trombetti, C.: Asymptotic behaviour of solutions to \(p\)-Laplacian equation. Asymptot. Anal. 35, 27–40 (2003)

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  17. Crasta, G., De Cicco, V.: Anzellotti’s pairing theory and the Gauss-Green theorem. Adv. Math. 343, 935–970 (2019)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  18. De Cave, L.: Nonlinear elliptic equations with singular nonlinearities. Asymptot. Anal. 84(3–4), 181–195 (2013)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  19. De Cave, L.M., Oliva, F.: Elliptic equations with general singular lower order term and measure data. Nonlinear Anal. 128, 391–411 (2015)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  20. De Cave, L.M., Durastanti, R., Oliva, F.: Existence and uniqueness results for possibly singular nonlinear elliptic equations with measure data. NoDEA Nonlinear Differ. Equ. Appl. 25(3), 18 (2018)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  21. De Cicco, V., Giachetti, D., Segura de León, S.: Elliptic problems involving the \(1-\)laplacian and a singular lower order term. J. Lond. Math. Soc. 99(2), 349–376 (2019)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  22. Demengel, F.: On some nonlinear partial differential equations involving the “1”-Laplacian and critical Sobolev exponent. ESAIM Control Optim. Calc. Var. 4, 667–686 (1999)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  23. Donato, P., Giachetti, D.: Existence and homogenization for a singular problem through rough surfaces. SIAM J. Math. Anal. 48(6), 4047–4086 (2016)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  24. Evans, L.C., Gariepy, R.F.: Measure Theory and Fine Properties of Functions. Studies in Advanced Mathematics. CRC Press, Boca Raton (1992)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  25. Giachetti, D., Martínez-Aparicio, P.J., Murat, F.: A semilinear elliptic equation with a mild singularity at \(u = 0\): existence and homogenization. J. Math. Pures Appl. 107, 41–77 (2017)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  26. Giachetti, D., Martínez-Aparicio, P.J., Murat, F.: Definition, existence, stability and uniqueness of the solution to a semilinear elliptic problem with a strong singularity at \( u = 0 \). Ann. Scuola Normale Pisa (5) 18(4), 1395–1442 (2018)

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  27. Giacomelli, L., Moll, S., Petitta, F.: Nonlinear diffusion in transparent media: the resolvent equation. Adv. Calc. Var. 11(4), 405–432 (2018)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  28. Kawohl, B.: On a family of torsional creep problems. J. Reine Angew. Math. 410, 1–22 (1990)

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  29. Kawohl, B.: From \(p\)-Laplace to mean curvature operator and related questions. In: Chipot, M., Shafrir, I. (eds.) Progress in Partial Differential Equations: The Metz Surveys. Pitman Research Notes in Mathematics Series, vol. 249, pp. 40–56. Longman Sci. Tech., Harlow (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Kawohl, B., Schuricht, F.: Dirichlet problems for the \(1\)-Laplace operator, including the eigenvalue problem. Commun. Contemp. Math. 9(4), 515–543 (2007)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  31. Latorre, M., Segura de León, S.: Existence and comparison results for an elliptic equation involving the \(1\)-Laplacian and \(L^{1}\)-data. J. Evol. Equ. 18(1), 1–28 (2018)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  32. Lazer, A.C., McKenna, P.J.: On a singular nonlinear elliptic boundary-value problem. Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 111, 721–730 (1991)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  33. Meyer, Y.: Oscillating Patterns in Image Processing and Nonlinear Evolution Equations: The Fifteenth Dean Jacqueline B. Lewis Memorial Lectures. American Mathematical Society, Providence (2001)

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  34. Mercaldo, A., Segura de León, S., Trombetti, C.: On the behaviour of the solutions to \(p\)-Laplacian equations as \(p\) goes to \(1\). Publ. Mat. 52, 377–411 (2008)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  35. Mercaldo, A., Segura de León, S., Trombetti, C.: On the solutions to \(1\)-Laplacian equation with \(L^1\) data. J. Funct. Anal. 256(8), 2387–2416 (2009)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  36. Molino, A., Segura de León, S.: Elliptic equations involving the \(1\)-Laplacian and a subcritical source term. Nonlinear Anal. 168, 50–66 (2018)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  37. Moll, S., Petitta, F.: Large solutions for the elliptic 1-laplacian with absorption. J. Anal. Math. 125(1), 113–138 (2015)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  38. Oliva, F., Petitta, F.: On singular elliptic equations with measure sources. ESAIM Control Optim. Calc. Var. 22(1), 289–308 (2016)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  39. Oliva, F., Petitta, F.: Finite and infinite energy solutions of singular elliptic problems: existence and uniqueness. J. Differ. Equ. 264(1), 311–340 (2018)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  40. Osher, S., Sethian, J.: Fronts propagating with curvature-dependent speed: algorithms based on Hamilton-Jacobi formulations. J. Comput. Phys. 79(1), 12–49 (1988)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  41. Pick, L., Kufner, A., Oldrich, J., Fucík, S.: Function Spaces, 1. De Gruyter, Berlin (2012)

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  42. Sapiro, G.: Geometric Partial Differential Equations and Image Analysis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2001)

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  43. Singh, G.: Regularity of weak solutions for singular elliptic problems driven by \(m\)-Laplace operator. arXiv:1511.03219v1

  44. Sun, Y., Zhang, D.: The role of the power 3 for elliptic equations with negative exponents. Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 49(3–4), 909–922 (2014)

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  45. Talenti, G.: Best constant in Sobolev inequality. Ann. Mat. Pura Appl. 110, 353–372 (1976)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  46. Ziemer, W.P.: Weakly Differentiable Functions. Sobolev Spaces and Functions of Bounded Variation. Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 120. Springer, New York (1989)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesco Petitta.

Additional information

Communicated by J. Ball.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

De Cicco, V., Giachetti, D., Oliva, F. et al. The Dirichlet problem for singular elliptic equations with general nonlinearities. Calc. Var. 58, 129 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00526-019-1582-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00526-019-1582-4

Mathematics Subject Classification

Navigation