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is a two-dimensional
domain (for simplicity) pictured in the gure below, and let u
p
u
= f(x
2
) in
,
u
= 0 on
,
(1.1)
where
p
is the usual p-Laplace operator dened as
p
u := div(|u|
p2
u), p > 1, and
. Note that the p-Laplace operator reduces to the usual Laplacian when
p = 2. In this note, we mainly consider the case p = 2. One refers to [27] for results in the
linear case.
We notice that the data f of (1.1) depends only on the x
2
-variable. Of course, due to the
boundary conditions at the ends of the cylinder, u
be the solution to
_
p
u
= f(x
2
) in (1, 1),
u
(1) = u
(1) = 0.
(1.2)
Then a natural question is whether
u
||
p2
||
p2
c| |
1
(|| +||)
p2+
, (1.3)
_
||
p2
||
p2
,
_
c| |
2+
(|| +||)
p2
. (1.4)
2. A CONVERGENCE RESULT
Let us consider the problem mentioned above in a more general setting. Denote by X =
(X
1
, X
2
) = (x
1
, . . . , x
q
, x
q+1
, . . . , x
n
) any point in R
n
, and let
= (, )
q
, where is an open
bounded domain in R
nq
.
Assume that u
and u
are solutions to
_
p
u
= f(X
2
) in
,
u
= 0 on
(2.1)
and
_
p
u
= f(X
2
) in ,
u
= 0 on ,
(2.2)
respectively. We consider here the weak solutions to (2.1) and (2.2) and assume u
W
1,p
0
(
)
and u
W
1,p
0
(), where W
1,p
0
(
) and W
1,p
0
() stand for the usual Sobolev spaces. We refer, for
instance, to [2] for more information regarding these spaces.
Theorem 2.1. Suppose that f(X
2
) L
p
is a nondecreasing sequence of
nonnegative functions bounded above by u
in W
1,p
().
Proof. We notice that u
|u
|
p2
u
v dx =
_
fv dx v W
1,p
0
(
). (2.3)
Take v = u
W
1,p
0
(
, in (2.3). We obtain
_
|u
|
p2
u
dx =
_
fu
dx 0,
PROCEEDINGS OF THE STEKLOV INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS Vol. 261 2008
SOME ISSUES ON THE p-LAPLACE EQUATION 289
i.e.,
_
|u
|
p
dx 0.
Hence we derive that u
, the
solution to (2.2), is nonnegative.
Letting <
, one has
_
|u
|
p2
u
v dx =
_
fv dx v W
1,p
0
(
), (2.4)
_
|u
|
p2
u
v dx =
_
fv dx v W
1,p
0
(
). (2.5)
We remark that u
is nonnegative in
. So
(u
)
+
W
1,p
0
(
) ((u
)
+
is the positive part of u
).
Therefore, one derives from (2.4) and (2.5) that
_
|u
|
p2
u
(u
)
+
dx =
_
|u
|
p2
u
(u
)
+
dx.
The above equation (see (1.4)) leads to
(u
)
+
= 0,
which shows that {u
p
u
+
p
u
= 0 in
,
u
=
_
u
0 on (, )
q
,
0 on (, )
q
.
(2.6)
By the weak maximum principle, this implies
0 u
in
. (2.7)
Consider now a smooth nonnegative function (x) such that
0 1, 1 in
0
, 0 outside
0
+1
, || is bounded. (2.8)
Taking u
p
in (2.1), we obtain
_
|u
|
p2
u
{u
p
} dx =
_
fu
p
dx.
Therefore, for some constant c we have
_
0
+1
|u
|
p
p
dx = p
_
0
+1
|u
|
p2
u
p1
dx +
_
0
+1
fu
p
dx
c
_
0
+1
|u
|
p1
u
p1
dx +
_
0
+1
fu
p
dx.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE STEKLOV INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS Vol. 261 2008
290 M. CHIPOT, Y. XIE
Applying the Young inequality on the right-hand side, we come to
_
0
+1
|u
|
p
p
dx
1
2
_
0
+1
|u
|
p
p
dx + c
_
0
+1
u
p
dx +
_
0
+1
fu
p
dx (2.9)
for some constant c. Since (2.7) holds, we derive from (2.9) that
_
0
|u
|
p
dx 2c
_
0
+1
u
p
dx + 2
_
0
+1
fu
dx 2c
_
0
+1
u
p
dx + 2
_
0
+1
fu
dx C;
i.e., {u
} is uniformly bounded in
0
. Up to a subsequence of u
0
) vanishing on (
0
,
0
) such that
u
u
0
in L
p
(
0
), u
u
0
in W
1,p
(
0
).
We remark here that due to the monotonicity of {u
(X
1
+ he
i
, X
2
) and
u
+h
(X
1
, X
2
) in the domain (, )
i1
( h, h) (, )
qi
. We have
p
u
(X
1
+ he
i
, X
2
) +
p
u
+h
(X
1
, X
2
) = f(X
2
) f(X
2
) = 0
in (, )
i1
( h, h) (, )
qi
,
together with the boundary condition
u
(X
1
+ he
i
, X
2
) u
+h
(X
1
, X
2
)
=
0 on (, )
i1
( h, h) (, )
qi
,
0 on (, )
i1
{ h} (, )
qi
,
u
+h
(X
1
, X
2
) 0 on (, )
i1
{ h} (, )
qi
.
By the maximum principle we have
u
(X
1
+ he
i
, X
2
) u
+h
(X
1
, X
2
) in (, )
i1
( h, h) (, )
qi
.
Passing to the limit in
0
leads to
u
0
(X
1
+ he
i
, X
2
) u
0
(X
1
, X
2
).
By changing h to h and noticing that this holds for all i, one has
u
0
(X
1
, X
2
) = u
0
(X
2
).
Now we denote by a smooth nonnegative function such that (this is slightly dierent from (2.8))
0 1, 1 in
0
1
, 0 outside
0
, || is bounded.
Taking v = (u
u
0
) W
1,p
0
(
0
) as a test function in (2.1), we obtain
_
0
|u
|
p2
u
{(u
u
0
)} dx =
_
0
f(u
u
0
) dx,
PROCEEDINGS OF THE STEKLOV INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS Vol. 261 2008
SOME ISSUES ON THE p-LAPLACE EQUATION 291
i.e.,
_
0
|u
|
p2
u
(u
u
0
) dx =
_
0
|u
|
p2
u
(u
u
0
) dx +
_
0
f(u
u
0
) dx. (2.10)
Since u
u
0
in L
p
(
0
), it follows that
_
0
f(u
u
0
) dx 0
and
0
|u
|
p2
u
(u
u
0
) dx
c
_
0
|u
|
p2
|u
| |u
u
0
| dx
c
0
|u
|
p
dx
1/p
0
|u
u
0
|
p
dx
1/p
C
0
|u
u
0
|
p
dx
1/p
0.
Then we can derive from (2.10)
_
0
|u
|
p2
u
(u
u
0
) dx 0.
Therefore, one has
_
0
{|u
|
p2
u
|u
0
|
p2
u
0
}(u
u
0
) dx
=
_
0
|u
|
p2
u
(u
u
0
) dx
_
0
|u
0
|
p2
u
0
(u
u
0
) dx 0.
(Recall that u
u
0
in W
1,p
(
0
).) We nd that when p 2 (see (1.4)),
_
0
|(u
u
0
)|
p
dx c
_
0
_
|u
|
p2
u
|u
0
|
p2
u
0
_
(u
u
0
) dx 0. (2.11)
When 1 < p < 2, it holds that
_
0
|(u
u
0
)|
p
dx
0
_
|u
| +|u
0
|
_
p2
|(u
u
0
)|
2
dx
p/2
0
_
|u
| +|u
0
|
_
p
dx
(2p)/2
c
0
_
|u
|
p2
u
|u
0
|
p2
u
0
_
(u
u
0
) dx
p/2
0
_
|u
| +|u
0
|
_
p
dx
(2p)/2
0. (2.12)
PROCEEDINGS OF THE STEKLOV INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS Vol. 261 2008
292 M. CHIPOT, Y. XIE
From above, we derive that for 1 < p < +
_
0
1
|(u
u
0
)|
p
dx
_
0
|(u
u
0
)|
p
dx 0,
which shows that
u
u
0
in W
1,p
(
0
1
).
Therefore, u
0
satises
p
u
0
= f.
We nally conclude that u
0
= u
since u
0
is independent of X
1
. This completes the proof of the
theorem.
Remark 2.2. Some other convergence results including some rate of convergence are available.
We refer the reader to [9] for details.
3. A LIOUVILLE TYPE THEOREM
As we have seen at the end of the proof of Theorem 2.1, a key point in the convergence issue is
the uniqueness of the solution to
_
p
u
0
= f(X
2
) in R
q
,
u
0
= 0 on R
q
,
(3.1)
when, eventually, some other assumptions on u
0
, like boundedness, are imposed. This has a avor
of the Liouville theorem. In this direction let us prove
Theorem 3.1. Let u L
(R
q
; L
p
()) be a weak solution to
_
p
u = 0 in R
q
,
u = 0 on R
q
.
(3.2)
Then u 0; i.e., problem (3.2) does not admit any nontrivial solution.
Before turning to the proof of the theorem, let us make our assumptions precise. L
(R
q
; L
p
())
denotes the space of functions from R
q
with values in L
p
() that are essentially bounded. By a
weak solution to (3.2) we mean a function u such that, for any domain (, )
q
,
u W
1,p
((, )
q
) L
(R
q
; L
p
()), u = 0 on (, )
q
,
_
(,)
q
|u|
p2
uv dx = 0 v W
1,p
0
((, )
q
).
(3.3)
Let us now prove the above theorem.
Proof of Theorem 3.1. Let be a nonnegative smooth function such that
0 1, 1 in
_
1
2
,
1
2
_
, 0 outside (1, 1), |
| is bounded,
and set
(x) =
_
x
_
, :=
q
i=1
(x
i
). We have, if
p
denotes the pth power of ,
u
p
W
1,p
0
((, )
q
).
PROCEEDINGS OF THE STEKLOV INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS Vol. 261 2008
SOME ISSUES ON THE p-LAPLACE EQUATION 293
Plugging the above function into (3.3) leads to
_
(,)
q
|u|
p2
u(u
p
) dx = 0.
Therefore, we derive that
_
(,)
q
|u|
p2
uu
p
dx =
_
(,)
q
|u|
p2
u
p
udx
= p
_
(,)
q
|u|
p2
uu
p1
dx
_
(,)
q
|u|
p1
|u|
p1
dx.
Applying the Holder inequality to the right-hand side of the above inequality, we obtain
_
(,)
q
|u|
p
p
dx
c
_
(,)
q
|u|
p
p
dx
(p1)/p
_
(,)
q
|u|
p
dx
1/p
,
which is equivalent to
_
(,)
q
|u|
p
p
dx
c
p
_
(,)
q
|u|
p
dx. (3.4)
We remark that u vanishes on R
q
, i.e., for a.e. X
1
, u(X
1
, ) W
1,p
0
(). Exploiting Poincares
inequality in the X
2
-direction (see [3]) yields
_
(,)
q
|u|
p
p
dx
c
p
_
(,)
q
|
X
2
u|
p
dx
(
X
2
= (x
q+1
, . . . , x
n
)). Due to the choice that we made for , we obtain
_
(
2
,
2
)
q
|u|
p
dx
c
p
_
(,)
q
|u|
p
dx.
After iterating k 1 times this inequality, it comes that
_
(
2
,
2
)
q
|u|
p
dx
c
p(k1)
_
(2
k1
, 2
k1
)
q
|u|
p
dx.
Hence we derive from (3.4) that
_
(
2
,
2
)
q
|u|
p
dx
c
pk
_
(2
k
, 2
k
)
q
|u|
p
dx.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE STEKLOV INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS Vol. 261 2008
294 M. CHIPOT, Y. XIE
Since u L
(R
q
; L
p
()), we obtain
_
(
2
,
2
)
q
|u|
p
dx
c
pk
(2
k+1
)
q
ess sup |u(X
1
, )|
p
L
p
()
(ess sup denotes the essential supremum in X
1
). Choosing k so large that pk > q and letting
lead to
u = 0.
This completes the proof of the theorem.
Remark 3.2. One should notice that one cannot remove entirely the assumption
u L
(R
q
; L
p
()). (3.5)
Indeed, suppose that
p = 2, q = 1, = (, ). (3.6)
Then the function
u = e
x
1
sin x
2
(3.7)
is a nontrivial weak solution to
_
u = 0 in R ,
u = 0 on R .
(3.8)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors have been supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation under the contracts
#20-103300/1 and #20-111543/1.
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(2001).
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This article was submitted by the authors in English
PROCEEDINGS OF THE STEKLOV INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS Vol. 261 2008