Abstract
We establish the higher differentiability of integer and fractional order of the solutions to a class of obstacle problems assuming that the gradient of the obstacle possesses an extra (integer or fractional) differentiability property. We deal with the case in which the solutions to the obstacle problems satisfy a variational inequality of the form
where \(\mathcal {A}\) is a p-harmonic type operator, \(\psi \in W^{1,p}(\Omega )\) is a fixed function called obstacle and \(\mathcal {K}_{\psi }=\{w \in W^{1,p}(\Omega ): w \ge \psi \,\,\) a.e. in \(\Omega \}\) is the class of the admissible functions. We prove that an extra differentiability assumption on the gradient of the obstacle transfers to Du with no losses in the natural exponent of integrability, provided the partial map \(x\mapsto \mathcal {A}(x,\xi )\) possesses a suitable differentiability property measured either in the scale of the Sobolev space \(W^{1,n}\) or in that of the critical Besov–Lipschitz spaces \(B^\alpha _{\frac{n}{\alpha }, q}\), for a suitable \(1\le q\le +\infty \).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baiocchi, C., Capelo, A.: Disequazioni variazionali e quasi variazionali. Applicazioni a problemi di frontiera libera, Quaderni U.M.I. Pitagora, Bologna (1978). English transl. J. Wiley, Chichester (1984)
Baisón, A.L., Clop, A., Giova, R., Orobitg, J., Passarelli di Napoli, A.: Fractional differentiability for solutions of nonlinear elliptic equations. Potential Anal. 46(3), 403–430 (2017)
Baroni, P.: Lorentz estimates for obstacle parabolic problems. Nonlinear Anal. 96, 167–188 (2014)
Bildhauer, M., Fuchs, M., Mingione, G.: A priori gradient bounds and local \(\cal{C}^{1, \alpha }\)-estimates for (double) obstacle problems under non-standard growth conditions. Z. Anal. Anwend. 20(4), 959–985 (2001)
Bögelein, V., Duzaar, F., Mingione, G.: Degenerate problems with irregular obstacles. J. Reine Angew Math. 650, 107–160 (2011)
Bögelein, V., Lukkari, T., Scheven, C.: The obstacle problem for the porous medium equation. Math. Ann. 363(1), 455–499 (2015)
Brézis, H., Kinderlehrer, D.: The smoothness of solutions to nonlinear variational inequalities. Indiana Univ. Math. J. 23, 831–844 (1973–1974)
Byun, S.S., Cho, Y., Ok, J.: Global gradient estimates for nonlinear obstacle problem with non standard growth. Forum Math. 28(4), 729–747 (2016)
Byun, S.S., Cho, Y., Wang, L.: Calderón–Zygmund theory for nonlinear elliptic problems with irregular obstacles. J. Funct. Anal. 263(10), 3117–3143 (2012)
Caffarelli, L.: The regularity of elliptic and parabolic free boundaries. Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 82, 616–618 (1976)
Caffarelli, L.A., Kinderlehrer, D.: Potential methods in variational inequalities. J. Anal. Math. 37, 285–295 (1980)
Chipot, M.: Variational Inequalities and Flow in Porous Media. Springer, Berlin (1984)
Choe, H.: A regularity theory for a general class of quasilinear elliptic partial differential equations and obstacle problems. Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 114(4), 383–394 (1991)
Choe, H., Lewis, J.-L.: On the obstacle problem for quasilinear elliptic equations of \(p\) Laplacian type. SIAM J. Math. Anal. 22(3), 623–638 (1991)
Clop, A., Giova, R., Passarelli di Napoli., A.: Besov regularity for solutions of \(p\)-harmonic equations. Adv. Nonlinear Anal. (2017). https://doi.org/10.1515/anona-2017-0030
Eleuteri, M.: Regularity results for a class of obstacle problems. Appl. Math. 52(2), 137–169 (2007)
Eleuteri, M., Habermann, J.: Regularity results for a class of obstacle problems under non standard growth conditions. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 344(2), 1120–1142 (2008)
Eleuteri, M., Habermann, J.: Calderón–Zygmund type estimates for a class of obstacle problems with \(p(x)\) growth. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 372(1), 140–161 (2010)
Eleuteri, M., Habermann, J.: A Hölder continuity result for a class of obstacle problems under non standard growth conditions. Math. Nachr. 284(11–12), 1404–1434 (2011)
Eleuteri, M., Harjulehto, P., Lukkari, T.: Global regularity and stability of solutions to obstacle problems with nonstandard growth. Rev. Mat. Complut. 26(1), 147–181 (2013)
Fichera, G.: Problemi elastostatici con vincoli unilaterali: il problema di Signorini con ambigue condizioni al contorno. Atti Accad. Naz. Lincei Mem. Cl. Sci. Fis. Mat. Nat. Sez. Ia, 7(8), 91–140 (1963–1964)
Friedman, A.: Variational Principles and Free Boundary Problems. Wiley, New York (1982)
Fuchs, M., Mingione, G.: Full \(\cal{C}^{1, \alpha }-\)regularity for free and constrained local minimizers of elliptic variational integrals with nearly linear growth. Manuscr. Math. 102, 227–250 (2000)
Giova, R.: Higher differentiability for n-harmonic systems with Sobolev coefficients. J. Differ. Equ. 259(11), 5667–5687 (2015)
Giova, R., di Napoli, A.P.: Regularity results for a priori bounded minimizers of non-autonomous functionals with discontinuous coefficients. Adv. Calc. Var. (2018). https://doi.org/10.1515/acv-2016
Giusti, E.: Direct Methods in the Calculus of Variations. World Scientific Publishing Co, Singapore (2003)
Hajłasz, P.: Sobolev spaces on an arbitrary metric space. Potential Anal. 5(4), 403–415 (1996)
Haroske, D.: Envelopes and Sharp Embeddings of Function Spaces. Chapman and Hall CRC, Boca Raton (2006)
Kinderlehrer, D., Stampacchia, G.: An Introduction to Variational Inequalities and Their Applications. Academic Press, Cambridge (1980)
Koskela, P., Yang, D., Zhou, Y.: Pointwise characterizations of Besov and Triebel–Lizorkin spaces and quasiconformal mappings. Adv. Math. 226(4), 3579–3621 (2011)
Kristensen, J., Mingione, G.: Boundary regularity in variational problems. Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 198, 369–455 (2010)
Kuusi, T., Mingione, G.: Universal potential estimates. J. Funct. Anal. 262(26), 4205–4269 (2012)
Kuusi, T., Mingione, G.: Guide to nonlinear potential estimates. Bull. Math. Sci. 4(1), 1–82 (2014)
Lindqvist, P.: Regularity for the gradient of the solution to a nonlinear obstacle problem with degenerate ellipticity. Nonlinear Anal. 12(11), 1245–1255 (1988)
Lions, J.L., Stampacchia, G.: Variational inequalities. Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 20, 493–519 (1967)
Michael, J.H., Ziemer, W.P.: Interior regularity for solutions to obstacle problems. Nonlinear Anal. 10(12), 1427–1448 (1986)
Ok, J.: Regularity results for a class of obstacle problems with nonstandard growth. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 444(2), 957–979 (2016)
Ok, J.: Calderón–Zygmund estimates for a class of obstacle problems with nonstandard growth. Nonlinear Differ. Equ. Appl. 23, 50 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00030-016-0404-z
Ok, J.: Gradient continuity for nonlinear obstacle problems. Mediterr. J. Math. 14, 16 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00009-016-0838-x
Passarelli di Napoli, A.: Higher differentiability of minimizers of variational integrals with Sobolev coefficients. Adv. Calc. Var. 7(1), 59–89 (2014)
Passarelli di Napoli, A.: Higher differentiability of solutions of elliptic systems with Sobolev coefficients: the case \(p = n = 2\). Potential Anal. 41(3), 715–735 (2014)
Passarelli di Napoli, A.: Regularity results for non-autonomous variational integrals with discontinuous coefficients. Atti Accad. Naz. Lincei Rend. Lincei Mat. Appl 26(4), 475–496 (2015)
Rodrigues, J.F.: Obstacle Problems in Mathematical Physics. Elsevier, Amsterdam (1987)
Stampacchia, G.: Formes bilineaires coercivitives sur les ensembles convexes. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 258, 4413–4416 (1964)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by L. Ambrosio.
The work of Michela Eleuteri is supported by GNAMPA (Gruppo Nazionale per l’Analisi Matematica, la Probabilità e le loro Applicazioni) of INdAM (Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica), through the projects GNAMPA 2016 “Regolarità e comportamento asintotico di soluzioni di equazioni paraboliche” (coord. Prof. S. Polidoro) and GNAMPA 2017 “Regolarità per problemi variazionali d’ostacolo e liberi” (coord. Prof. M. Focardi). The work of Antonia Passarelli di Napoli is supported by GNAMPA (Gruppo Nazionale per l’Analisi Matematica, la Probabilità e le loro Applicazioni) of INdAM (Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica), through the projects GNAMPA 2016 “Problemi di Regolarità nel Calcolo delle Variazioni e di Approssimazione” (coord. Prof. M. Carozza) and GNAMPA 2017 “Approssimazione con operatori discreti e problemi di minimo per funzionali del calcolo delle variazioni con applicazioni all’imaging” (coord. Dott. D. Costarelli). The work of the authors is also supported by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia through the project FAR2015 “Equazioni differenziali: problemi evolutivi, variazionali ed applicazioni” (coord. Prof. S. Polidoro). This reaserch started while A. Passarelli di Napoli was visiting the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. The hospitality of this Institution is warmly aknowledged.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Eleuteri, M., Passarelli di Napoli, A. Higher differentiability for solutions to a class of obstacle problems. Calc. Var. 57, 115 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00526-018-1387-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00526-018-1387-x