Abstract
We prove Liouville type theorems for \(p\)-harmonic functions on exterior domains of \({\mathbb {R}}^{d}\), where \(1<p<\infty \) and \(d\ge 2\). We show that every positive \(p\)-harmonic function satisfying zero Dirichlet, Neumann or Robin boundary conditions and having zero limit as \(|x|\) tends to infinity is identically zero. In the case of zero Neumann boundary conditions, we establish that any semi-bounded \(p\)-harmonic function is constant if \(1<p<d\). If \(p\ge d\), then it is either constant or it behaves asymptotically like the fundamental solution of the homogeneous \(p\)-Laplace equation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arendt, W., Warma, M.: The Laplacian with Robin boundary conditions on arbitrary domains. Potential Anal. 19, 341–363 (2003). doi:10.1023/A:1024181608863
Ávila, A.I., Brock, F.: Asymptotics at infinity of solutions for \(p\) -Laplace equations in exterior domains. Nonlinear Anal. 69, 1615–1628 (2008). doi: 10.1016/j.na.2007.07.003
Axler, S., Bourdon, P., Ramey, W.: Harmonic function theory, 2nd edn. Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 137, Springer, New York (2001). doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-8137-3
Bidaut-Véron, M.-F., Pohozaev, S.: Nonexistence results and estimates for some nonlinear elliptic problems. J. Anal. Math. 84, 1–49 (2001). doi:10.1007/BF02788105
Brezis, H., Chipot, M., Xie, Y.: Some remarks on Liouville type theorems, Recent advances in nonlinear analysis, pp. 43–65. World Sci. Publ., Hackensack (2008). doi:10.1142/9789812709257_0003
Chill, R., Hauer, D., Kennedy, J.: Nonlinear semigroups generated by \(j\) -elliptic functionals (2014, in press)
Chipot, M.: Elliptic equations: an introductory course, Birkhäuser Advanced Texts: Basler Lehrbücher. [Birkhäuser Advanced Texts: Basel Textbooks], Birkhäuser, Basel (2009). doi:10.1007/978-3-7643-9982-5
Dancer, E.N.: Superlinear problems on domains with holes of asymptotic shape and exterior problems. Math. Z. 229, 475–491 (1998). doi:10.1007/PL00004666
Dancer, E.N., Daners, D., Hauer, D.: Uniform convergence of solutions to elliptic equations on domains with shrinking holes (2014, in press)
Daners, D.: Robin boundary value problems on arbitrary domains. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 352, 4207–4236 (2000). doi:10.1090/S0002-9947-00-02444-2
Daners, D., Drábek, P.: A priori estimates for a class of quasi-linear elliptic equations. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 361, 6475–6500 (2009). doi:10.1090/S0002-9947-09-04839-9
Fraas, M., Pinchover, Y.: Positive Liouville theorems and asymptotic behavior for \(p\) -Laplacian type elliptic equations with a Fuchsian potential. Confluentes Math. 3, 291–323 (2011). doi: 10.1142/S1793744211000321
Fraas, M., Pinchover, Y.: Isolated singularities of positive solutions of \(p\) -Laplacian type equations in \(\mathbb{R}^d\). J. Differ. Equ. 254, 1097–1119 (2013). doi: 10.1016/j.jde.2012.10.006
Gilbarg, D., Trudinger, N.S.: Elliptic partial differential equations of second order, Classics in Mathematics, Springer, Berlin (2001) [Reprint of the 1998 edition]
Heinonen, J., Kilpeläinen, T., Martio, O.: Nonlinear potential theory of degenerate elliptic equations, Oxford Mathematical Monographs, The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, Oxford Science Publications, New York (1993)
Kichenassamy, S., Véron, L.: Singular solutions of the \(p\)-Laplace equation. Math. Ann. 275, 599–615 (1986). doi: 10.1007/BF01459140
Krasnosel’skii, M.A.: Topological methods in the theory of nonlinear integral equations, Translated by A. H. Armstrong; translation edited by J. Burlak. A Pergamon Press Book, The Macmillan Co., New York (1964)
Poláčik, P., Quittner, P., Souplet, P.: Singularity and decay estimates in superlinear problems via Liouville-type theorems. I. Elliptic equations and systems. Duke Math. J. 139, 555–579 (2007). doi:10.1215/S0012-7094-07-13935-8
Protter, M.H., Weinberger, H.F.: Maximum principles in differential equations, Springer, New York (1984) [Corrected reprint of the 1967 original]. doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-5282-5
Serrin, J.: Local behavior of solutions of quasi-linear equations. Acta Math. 111, 247–302 (1964)
Serrin, J.: Singularities of solutions of nonlinear equations. In: Proc. Sympos. Appl. Math., vol. XVII, Am. Math. Soc., Providence, pp. 68–88 (1965)
Serrin, J., Zou, H.: Cauchy-Liouville and universal boundedness theorems for quasilinear elliptic equations and inequalities. Acta Math. 189, 79–142 (2002). doi:10.1007/BF02392645
Vainberg, M.M.A.: Variational methods for the study of nonlinear operators. Holden-Day Inc, San Francisco (1964)
Acknowledgments
We thank the referees for the careful reading and pointing out some mistakes in an earlier version of the manuscript. Also we thank for the suggestion to state Lemma 3.2 explicitely.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dancer, E.N., Daners, D. & Hauer, D. A Liouville theorem for \(p\)-harmonic functions on exterior domains. Positivity 19, 577–586 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11117-014-0316-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11117-014-0316-2
Keywords
- Elliptic boundary-value problems
- Liouville-type theorems
- \(p\)-Laplace operator
- \(p\)-Harmonic functions
- Exterior domain