A priori estimates for a class of degenerate elliptic equations

In this paper we investigate the regularity of solutions for the following degenerate partial differential equation $$\left \{\begin{array}{ll} -\Delta_p u + u = f \qquad {\rm in} \,\Omega,\\ \frac{\partial u}{\partial \nu} = 0 \qquad \qquad \,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\, {\rm on} \,\partial \Omega, \end{array}\right.$$ when ${f \in L^q(\Omega), p > 2}$ and q ≥ 2. If u is a weak solution in ${W^{1, p}(\Omega)}$ , we obtain estimates for u in the Nikolskii space ${\mathcal{N}^{1+2/r,r}(\Omega)}$ , where r = q(p ? 2) + 2, in terms of the L ^q norm of f. In particular, due to imbedding theorems of Nikolskii spaces into Sobolev spaces, we conclude that ${\|u\|^r_{W^{1 + 2/r - \epsilon, r}(\Omega)} \leq C(\|f\|_{L^q(\Omega)}^q + \| f\|^{r}_{L^q(\Omega)} + \|f\|^{2r/p}_{L^q(\Omega)})}$ for every ${\epsilon > 0}$ sufficiently small. Moreover, we prove that the resolvent operator is continuous and compact in ${W^{1,r}(\Omega)}$ .