Skip to main content
Log in

On positivity of solutions of degenerate boundary value problems for second-order elliptic equations

  • Published:
Israel Journal of Mathematics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper we study thedegenerate mixed boundary value problem:Pu=f in Ω,B u =gon Ω∂Г where ω is a domain in ℝn,P is a second order linear elliptic operator with real coefficients, Γ⊆∂Ω is a relatively closed set, andB is an oblique boundary operator defined only on ∂Ω/Γ which is assumed to be a smooth part of the boundary.

The aim of this research is to establish some basic results concerning positive solutions. In particular, we study the solvability of the above boundary value problem in the class of nonnegative functions, and properties of the generalized principal eigenvalue, the ground state, and the Green function associated with this problem. The notion of criticality and subcriticality for this problem is introduced, and a criticality theory for this problem is established. The analogs for the generalized Dirichlet boundary value problem, where Γ=∂Ω, were examined intensively by many authors.

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. S. Agmon,On positivity and decay of solutions of second order elliptic equations on Riemannian manifolds, inMethods of Functional Analysis and Theory of Elliptic Equations (D. Greco, ed.) (Naples, 1982), Liguori, Naples, 1983, pp. 19–52.

    Google Scholar 

  2. H. Amann,Fixed point equations and nonlinear eigenvalue problems in ordered Banach spaces, SIAM Review18 (1976), 620–709.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  3. H. Berestycki, L. A. Caffarelli and L. Nirenberg,Uniform estimates for regularization of free boundary problems, inAnalysis and Partial Differential Equations (C. Sadosky, ed.), Dekker, New York, 1990, pp. 567–619.

    Google Scholar 

  4. H. Berestycki, L. Nirenberg and S. R. S. Varadhan,The principal eigenvalue and maximum principle for second-order elliptic operators in general domains, Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics47 (1994), 47–92.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  5. L. A. Caffarelli, E. B. Fabes, S. Mortola and S. Salsa,Boundary behaviour of nonnegative solutions of elliptic operators in divergence form, Indiana University Mathematics Journal30 (1981), 621–640.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. M. Chicco,A maximum principle for mixed boundary value problem for elliptic equations in non-divergence form, Unione Matematica Italiana. Bollettino (7)11 (1997), 531–538.

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. R. Courant and D. Hilbert,Methods of Mathematical Physics, Wiley-Intenscience, New York, 1962.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. D. Daners,Robin boundary value problems on arbitrary domains, Transactions of the American Mathematical Society352 (2000), 4207–4236.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  9. D. Gilbarg and L. Hörmander,Intermediate Schauder estimates, Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis74 (1980), 297–318.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. D. Gilberg and J. Serrin,On isolated singularities of solutions of second order elliptic differential equations, Journal d’Analyse Mathématique4 (1955/6), 309–340.

    Google Scholar 

  11. P. Guan and E. Sawyer,Regularity estimates for the oblique derivative problem, Annals of Mathematics (2)137 (1993), 1–70.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  12. A. I. Ibragimov and E. M. Landis,Zaremba’s problem for elliptic equation in the neighborhood of a singular point or at infinity I–II, Applicable Analysis67 (1997), 269–282;69 (1998), 333–347.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  13. T. M. Kerimov,A mixed boundary value problem for a second order linear elliptic equation, Differential Equations13 (1977), 322–324.

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  14. G. M. Lieberman,The Perron process applied to oblique derivative problems, Advances in Mathematics55 (1985), 161–172.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  15. G. M. Lieberman,Mixed boundary value problem for elliptic and parabolic differential equations of second order, Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications113 (1986), 422–440.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  16. G. M. Lieberman,Nonuniqueness for some linear oblique derivative problems for elliptic equations, Commentationes Mathematicae Universitatis Carolinae40 (1999), 477–481.

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  17. J. López-Gómez,The maximum principle and the existence of principal eigenvalue for some linear weighted boundary value problem, Journal of Differential Equations127 (1996), 263–294.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  18. M. Murata,Structure of positive solutions to −Δ u+Vu =0 in ℝ n, Duke Mathematical Journal53 (1986), 869–943.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  19. R. D. Nussbaum and Y. Pinchover,On variational principles for the generalized principal eigenvalue of second order elliptic operators and some applications, Journal d’Analyse Mathématique59 (1992), 161–177.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  20. B. P. Paneah,The Oblique Derivative Problem. The Poincaré-Problem, Mathematical Topics17, Wiley-VCH Verlag, Berlin, 2000.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  21. Y. Pinchover,On positive solutions of second-order elliptic equations, stability results, and classification, Duke Mathematical Journal57 (1988), 955–980.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  22. Y. Pinchover,Criticality and ground states for second-order elliptic equations, Journal of Differential Equations80 (1989), 237–250.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  23. Y. Pinchover,On criticality and ground states for second-order elliptic equations II, Journal of Differential Equations87 (1990), 353–364.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  24. Y. Pinchover,On positive Liouville theorems and asymptotic behavior of solutions of Fuchsian type elliptic operators, Annales de l’Institut Henri Poincaré. Analyse Non Linéaire11 (1994), 313–341.

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  25. R. G. Pinsky,Positive Harmonic Function and Diffusion, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  26. M. H. Protter and H. F. Weinberger,Maximum Principles in Differential Equations, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1984.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  27. T. Saadon (Suez),On the generalized principal eigenvalue of degenerate boundary value problems for second-order elliptic equations, Ph.D. thesis, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, 2000.

  28. J. Serrin,A remark on the preceding paper of Herbert Amann, Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis44 (1971/72), 182–186.

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  29. B. Simon,Large time behavior of the L p norm of the Schrödinger semigroups, Journal of Functional Analysis40 (1981), 66–83.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  30. K. Taira,Existence and uniqueness theorems for semilinear elliptic boundary value problems, Advances in Differential Equations2 (1997), 509–534.

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yehuda Pinchover.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pinchover, Y., Saadon (Suez), T. On positivity of solutions of degenerate boundary value problems for second-order elliptic equations. Isr. J. Math. 132, 125–168 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02784508

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02784508

Keywords

Navigation