Boundedness of the gradient of a solution and Wiener test of order one for the biharmonic equation

The behavior of solutions to the biharmonic equation is well-understood in smooth domains. In the past two decades substantial progress has also been made for the polyhedral domains and domains with Lipschitz boundaries. However, very little is known about higher order elliptic equations in the general setting. In this paper we introduce new integral identities that allow to investigate the solutions to the biharmonic equation in an arbitrary domain. We establish: (1) boundedness of the gradient of a solution in any three-dimensional domain; (2) pointwise estimates on the derivatives of the biharmonic Green function; (3) Wiener-type necessary and sufficient conditions for continuity of the gradient of a solution. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000)  35J40, 35J30, 35B65     

An elementary proof that the triharmonic Green function of an eccentric ellipse changes sign

The conjecture named after Boggio and Hadamard that a biharmonic Green function on convex domains is of fixed sign is known to be false. One might ask what happens for the triharmonic Green function on convex domains. On disks and balls it is known to be positive. We will show that also this Green function is not positive on some eccentric ellipse.     

On the existence of the biharmonic Green kernels and the adjoint biharmonic functions

We study the existence and the regularity of the biharmonic Green kernel in a Brelot biharmonic space whose associated harmonic spaces have Green kernels. We show by some examples that this kernel does not always exist. We then introduce and study the adjoint of the given biharmonic space. This study was initiated by Smyrnelis, however, it seems that several results were incomplete and we clarify them here.     

Asymptotic Analysis of Localized Solutions to Some Linear and Nonlinear Biharmonic Eigenvalue Problems

In an arbitrary bounded 2‐D domain, a singular perturbation approach is developed to analyze the asymptotic behavior of several biharmonic linear and nonlinear eigenvalue problems for which the solution exhibits a concentration behavior either due to a hole in the domain, or as a result of a nonlinearity that is nonnegligible only in some localized region in the domain. The specific form for the biharmonic nonlinear eigenvalue problem is motivated by the study of the steady‐state deflection of one of the two surfaces in a Micro‐Electro‐Mechanical System capacitor. The linear eigenvalue problem that is considered is to calculate the spectrum of the biharmonic operator in a domain with an interior hole of asymptotically small radius. One key novel feature in the analysis of our singularly perturbed biharmonic problems, which is absent in related second‐order elliptic problems, is that a point constraint must be imposed on the leading order outer solution to asymptotically match inner and outer representations of the solution. Our asymptotic analysis also relies heavily on the use of logarithmic switchback terms, notorious in the study of Low Reynolds number fluid flow, and on detailed properties of the biharmonic Green’s function and its associated regular part near the singularity. For a few simple domains, full numerical solutions to the biharmonic problems are computed to verify the asymptotic results obtained from the analysis.     

Representation for the Green’s function of the Dirichlet problem for polyharmonic equations in a ball

We explicitly construct the Green’s function for the Dirichlet problem for polyharmonic equations in a ball in a space of arbitrary dimension. The formulas for the Green’s function are of interest in their own right. In particular, the explicit representations for a solution to the Dirichlet problem for the biharmonic equation are important in elasticity.     

Biharmonic Green Functions on Homogeneous Trees

The study of biharmonic functions under the ordinary (Euclidean) Laplace operator on the open unit disk \mathbbD{\mathbb{D}} in \mathbbC{\mathbb{C}} arises in connection with plate theory, and in particular, with the biharmonic Green functions which measure, subject to various boundary conditions, the deflection at one point due to a load placed at another point. A homogeneous tree T is widely considered as a discrete analogue of the unit disk endowed with the Poincaré metric. The usual Laplace operator on T corresponds to the hyperbolic Laplacian. In this work, we consider a bounded metric on T for which T is relatively compact and use it to define a flat Laplacian which plays the same role as the ordinary Laplace operator on \mathbbD{\mathbb{D}}. We then study the simply-supported and the clamped biharmonic Green functions with respect to both Laplacians.     

On the integral representation of superbiharmonic functions

We consider a nonnegative superbiharmonic function w satisfying some growth condition near the boundary of the unit disk in the complex plane. We shall find an integral representation formula for w in terms of the biharmonic Green function and a multiple of the Poisson kernel. This generalizes a Riesz-type formula already found by the author for superbihamonic functions w satisfying the condition 0 ⩽ w(z) ⩽ C(1-|z|) in the unit disk. As an application we shall see that the polynomials are dense in weighted Bergman spaces whose weights are superbiharmonic and satisfy the stated growth condition near the boundary. Research supported in part by IPM under the grant number 83310011.     

The green functions for weighted biharmonic operators of the form Δω−1Δ in the unit diskin the unit disk

In the unit disk of the complex plane, the Green functions for weighted biharmonic operators of the form Δω⁻¹Δ are studied. The Green function is nonnegative everywhere if the weight function w is radial, logarithmically subharmonic, and area integrable. In the case of weighted Bergman classes, this fact allows us to establish the existence of a factorization of functions similar to the interior-exterior factorization in Hardy classes. Bibliography: 6 titles. Translated fromProblemy Matematicheskogo Analiza, No. 16. 1997, pp. 266–277.     

An expansive multiplier property for operator-valued Bergman inner functions

We show that operator-valued Bergman inner functions have the so-called expansive multiplier property generalizing a well-known result of Hedenmalm in the scalar case. This analysis leads to norm bounds for input output maps for a related class of discrete time linear systems. The proof uses properties of the biharmonic Green function (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On the bilaplacian problem with nonlinear boundary conditions

In this paper, we present a study for a nonlinear problem governed by the biharmonic equation in the plane. Using Green’s formula, the problem is converted into a system of nonlinear integral equations for the unknown data of the boundary. Existence and uniqueness of the solution of the system of nonlinear boundary integral equations is established.     

Biharmonic extensions on trees without positive potentials

Let T be a tree rooted at e endowed with a nearest-neighbor transition probability that yields a recurrent random walk. We show that there exists a function K biharmonic off e whose Laplacian has potential theoretic importance and, in addition, has the following property: Any function f on T which is biharmonic outside a finite set has a representation, unique up to addition of a harmonic function, of the form f=βK+B+L, where β a constant, B is a biharmonic function on T, and L is a function, subject to certain normalization conditions, whose Laplacian is constant on all sectors sufficiently far from the root. We obtain a characterization of the functions biharmonic outside a finite set whose Laplacian has 0 flux similar to one that holds for a function biharmonic outside a compact set in Rn for n=2,3, and 4 proved by Bajunaid and Anandam. Moreover, we extend the definition of flux and, under certain restrictions on the tree, we characterize the functions biharmonic outside a finite set that have finite flux in this extended sense.     

The green function for the weighted biharmonic operator Δ(1−∣z∣2)−αΔ, and factorization of analytic functions, and factorization of analytic functions

An explicit integral formula is obtained for the Green function of the weighted biharmonic operator Δ(1−∣z∣²)^−αΔ in the unit disk of the complex plane for the case α ∈ (−1, 0). The formula shows the positivity of the Green function. This is a basis for a theorem on factorization of analytic functions in the weighted Bergman spaces with the weights ω(z)=(1−∣z∣²)^α as products of a nonvanishing function and a function of special form responsible for the zeros. Bibliography: 16 titles. Translated fromZapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 222, 1995, pp. 203–221.     

The FFTRR-based fast direct algorithms for complex inhomogeneous biharmonic problems with applications to incompressible flows

We develop analysis-based fast and accurate direct algorithms for several biharmonic problems in a unit disk derived directly from the Green’s functions of these problems and compare the numerical results with the “decomposition” algorithms (see Ghosh and Daripa, IMA J. Numer. Anal. 36(2), 824–850 [17]) in which the biharmonic problems are first decomposed into lower order problems, most often either into two Poisson problems or into two Poisson problems and a homogeneous biharmonic problem. One of the steps in the “decomposition algorithm” as discussed in Ghosh and Daripa (IMA J. Numer. Anal. 36(2), 824–850 [17]) for solving certain biharmonic problems uses the “direct algorithm” without which the problem can not be solved. Using classical Green’s function approach for these biharmonic problems, solutions of these problems are represented in terms of singular integrals in the complex z?plane (the physical plane) involving explicitly the boundary conditions. Analysis of these singular integrals using FFT and recursive relations (RR) in Fourier space leads to the development of these fast algorithms which are called FFTRR based algorithms. These algorithms do not need to do anything special to overcome coordinate singularity at the origin as often the case when solving these problems using finite difference methods in polar coordinates. These algorithms have some other desirable properties such as the ease of implementation and parallel in nature by construction. Moreover, these algorithms have O(logN) complexity per grid point where N ² is the total number of grid points and have very low constant behind this order estimate of the complexity. Performance of these algorithms is shown on several test problems. These algorithms are applied to solving viscous flow problems at low and moderate Reynolds numbers and numerical results are presented.     

The Green Function for Elliptic Systems in Two Dimensions

We construct the fundamental solution or Green function for a divergence form elliptic system in two dimensions with bounded and measurable coefficients. Our main goal is construct the Green function for the operator with mixed boundary conditions in a Lipschitz domain. Thus we specify Dirichlet data on part of the boundary and Neumann data on the remainder of the boundary. We require a corkscrew or non-tangential accessibility condition on the set where we specify Dirichlet boundary conditions. Our proof proceeds by defining a variant of the space BMO(Ω) that is adapted to the boundary conditions and showing that the solution exists in this space. We also give a construction of the Green function with Neumann boundary conditions and the fundamental solution in the plane.     

The Weyl-type asymptotic formula for biharmonic Steklov eigenvalues on Riemannian manifolds

Let Ω be a bounded domain with C²-smooth boundary in an n-dimensional oriented Riemannian manifold. It is well known that for the biharmonic equation Δ²u=0 in Ω with the condition u=0 on ∂Ω, there exists an infinite set {uk} of biharmonic functions in Ω with positive eigenvalues {λk} satisfying on ∂Ω. In this paper, by a new method we establish the Weyl-type asymptotic formula for the counting function of the biharmonic Steklov eigenvalues λk.     

Potential kernels,probabilities of hitting a ball,harmonic functions and the boundary Harnack inequality for unimodal Lévy processes

In the first part of this article, we prove two-sided estimates of hitting probabilities of balls, the potential kernel and the Green function for a ball for general isotropic unimodal Lévy processes. We also prove a supremum estimate and a regularity result for functions harmonic with respect to a general isotropic unimodal Lévy process.In the second part we apply the recent results on the boundary Harnack inequality and Martin representation of harmonic functions for the class of isotropic unimodal Lévy processes. As a sample application, we provide sharp two-sided estimates of the Green function of a half-space.     

Potential Theory of Geometric Stable Processes

In this paper we study the potential theory of symmetric geometric stable processes by realizing them as subordinate Brownian motions with geometric stable subordinators. More precisely, we establish the asymptotic behaviors of the Green function and the Lévy density of symmetric geometric stable processes. The asymptotics of these functions near zero exhibit features that are very different from the ones for stable processes. The Green function behaves near zero as 1/(|x|^d log ²|x|), while the Lévy density behaves like 1/|x|^d. We also study the asymptotic behaviors of the Green function and Lévy density of subordinate Brownian motions with iterated geometric stable subordinators. As an application, we establish estimates on the capacity of small balls for these processes, as well as mean exit time estimates from small balls and a Harnack inequality for these processes. The research of this author is supported in part by MZT grant 0037118 of the Republic of Croatia and in part by a joint US-Croatia grant INT 0302167. The research of this author is supported in part by a joint US-Croatia grant INT 0302167. The research of this author is supported in part by MZT grant 0037107 of the Republic of Croatia and in part by a joint US-Croatia grant INT 0302167.     

A General Approach to Equivariant Biharmonic Maps

In this paper we describe a 1-dimensional variational approach to the analytical construction of equivariant biharmonic maps. Our goal is to provide a direct method which enables analysts to compute directly the analytical conditions which guarantee biharmonicity in the presence of suitable symmetries. In the second part of our work, we illustrate and discuss some examples. In particular, we obtain a 1-dimensional stability result, and also show that biharmonic maps do not satisfy the classical maximum principle proved by Sampson for harmonic maps.     

Method of fundamental solutions for biharmonic equation based on Almansi-type decomposition

The aim of this paper is to analyze mathematically the method of fundamental solutions applied to the biharmonic problem. The key idea is to use Almansi-type decomposition of biharmonic functions, which enables us to represent the biharmonic function in terms of two harmonic functions. Based on this decomposition, we prove that an approximate solution exists uniquely and that the approximation error decays exponentially with respect to the number of the singular points. We finally present results of numerical experiments, which verify the sharpness of our error estimate.