Existence and uniqueness for P-area minimizers in the Heisenberg group

In [3] we studied p-mean curvature and the associated p-minimal surfaces in the Heisenberg group from the viewpoint of PDE and differential geometry. In this paper, we look into the problem through the variational formulation. We study a generalized p-area and associated ( p-) minimizers in general dimensions. We prove the existence and investigate the uniqueness of minimizers. Since this is reduced to solving a degenerate elliptic equation, we need to consider the effect of the singular set and this requires a careful study. We define the notion of weak solution and prove that in a certain Sobolev space, a weak solution is a minimizer and vice versa. We also give many interesting examples in dimension 2. An intriguing point is that, in dimension 2, a C ²-smooth solution from the PDE viewpoint may not be a minimizer. However, this statement is true for higher dimensions due to the relative smallness of the size of the singular set.     

Global integrability for minimizers of anisotropic functionals

We consider integral functionals in which the density has growth p _i with respect to ${\frac{\partial u}{\partial x_i}}$ , like in $$\int\limits_{\Omega}\left( \left| \frac{\partial u}{\partial x_1}(x) \right|^{p_1} + \left|\frac{\partial u}{\partial x_2}(x)\right|^{p_2} + \cdots + \left|\frac{\partial u}{\partial x_n}(x) \right|^{p_n} \right) dx.$$ We show that higher integrability of the boundary datum forces minimizer to be more integrable.     

Metric normal and distance function in the Heisenberg group

We introduce a notion which is equivalent in the Heisenberg group to that of segment normal to a surface. Then, we study some regularity properties of the function measuring the Carnot-Carathéodory distance from an Euclidean surface S in in terms of the regularity of S.     

Heat content and horizontal mean curvature on the Heisenberg group

We identify the short time asymptotics of the sub-Riemannian heat content for a smoothly bounded domain in the first Heisenberg group. Our asymptotic formula generalizes prior work by van den Berg–Le Gall and van den Berg–Gilkey to the sub-Riemannian context, and identifies the first few coe?cients in the sub-Riemannian heat content in terms of the horizontal perimeter and the total horizontal mean curvature of the boundary. The proof is probabilistic, and relies on a characterization of the heat content in terms of Brownian motion.     

Euler equations and approximations for the minimizers of Heisenberg target

In this paper, we study the Euler equations and derive approximations of the minimizers for a Heisenberg group target. There are some techniques in the arguments for proving the results. This is in order to overcome the obstacles which are due to the nonlinear structure of the group laws.     

Uniqueness of vortexless Ginzburg-Landau type minimizers in two dimensions

In a simply connected two dimensional domain Ω, we consider Ginzburg-Landau minimizers u with zero degree Dirichlet boundary condition ${g \in H^{1/2}(\partial \Omega; \mathbb{S}^1)}$ . We prove uniqueness of u whenever either the energy or the Ginzburg-Landau parameter are small. This generalizes a result of Ye and Zhou requiring smoothness of g. We also obtain uniqueness when Ω is multiply connected and the degrees of the vortexless minimizer u are prescribed on the components of the boundary, generalizing a result of Golovaty and Berlyand for annular domains. The proofs rely on new global estimates connecting the variation of |u| to the Ginzburg-Landau energy of u. These estimates replace the usual global pointwise estimates satisfied by ${\nabla u}$ when g is smooth, and apply to fairly general potentials. In a related direction, we establish new uniqueness results for critical points of the Ginzburg-Landau energy.     

Higher integrability of the gradient for vectorial minimizers of decomposable variational integrals

We consider local minimizers of variational integrals , where F is of anisotropic (p, q)-growth with exponents . If F is in a certain sense decomposable, we show that the dimensionless restriction together with the local boundedness of u implies local integrability of for all exponents . More precisely, the initial exponents for the integrability of the partial derivatives can be increased by two, at least locally. If n = 2, then we use these facts to prove -regularity of u for any exponents .     

Local solvability for positive combinations of generalized sub-Laplacians on the Heisenberg group

As one step in a program to understand local solvability of complex coefficient second order differential operators on the Heisenberg group in a complete way, solvability of operators of the form , where the leading term is a ``positive combination of generalized and degenerate generalized sub-Laplacians', has been studied in a recent article by M. Peloso, F. Ricci and the first-named author (J. Reine Angew Math. 513 (1999)). It was shown that there exists a discrete set of ``critical' values , such that solvability holds for . The case remained open, and it is the purpose of this note to close this gap. Our results extend corresponding results in another article by the above-mentioned authors (J. Funct. Anal. 148 (1997)), by means of an even simplified approach which should allow for further generalizations.

     

Boundedness of the fractional maximal operator in generalized Morrey space on the Heisenberg group

In this paper we study the fractional maximal operator M _α , 0 ≤ α < Q on the Heisenberg group ? _n in the generalized Morrey spaces M _{p, ?}(? _n ), where Q = 2n + 2 is the homogeneous dimension of ? _n . We find the conditions on the pair (? ₁, ? ₂) which ensures the boundedness of the operator M _α from one generalized Morrey space M _{p, ?1}(? _n ) to another M _{q, ?2}(? _n ), 1 < p < q < ∞, 1/p?1/q = α/Q, and from the space M _{1, ?1}(? _n ) to the weak space WM _{q, ?2}(? _n ), 1 < q < ∞, 1 ? 1/q = α/Q. We also find conditions on the φ which ensure the Adams type boundedness of M _α from $M_{p,\phi ^{\tfrac{1} {p}} } \left( {\mathbb{H}_n } \right)$ to $M_{q,\phi ^{\tfrac{1} {q}} } \left( {\mathbb{H}_n } \right)$ for 1 < p < q < ∞ and from M _{1, ?}(? _n ) to $WM_{q,\phi ^{\tfrac{1} {q}} } \left( {\mathbb{H}_n } \right)$ for 1 < q < ∞. As applications we establish the boundedness of some Schrödinger type operators on generalized Morrey spaces related to certain nonnegative potentials V belonging to the reverse Hölder class B _∞(” _n ).     

Quasiconvexity in the Heisenberg group

We show that if A is a closed subset of the Heisenberg group whose vertical projections are nowhere dense, then the complement of A is quasiconvex. In particular, closed sets which are null sets for the cc-Hausdorff 3-measure have quasiconvex complements. Conversely, we exhibit a compact totally disconnected set of Hausdorff dimension three whose complement is not quasiconvex.     

Rectifiability and perimeter in the Heisenberg group

In this paper, we fully extend to the Heisenberg group endowed with its intrinsic Carnot-Carathéodory metric and perimeter the classical De Giorgi's rectifiability divergence theorems. Received: 27 March 2000 / Revised version: 13 December 2000 / Published online: 24 September 2001     

Accessible domains in the Heisenberg group

We study the problem of accessibility of boundary points for domains in the sub-Riemannian setting of the first Heisenberg group. A sufficient condition for accessibility is given. It is a Dini-type continuity condition for the horizontal gradient of the defining function. The sharpness of this condition is shown by examples.

     

Compensated compactness and the Heisenberg group

Work partially supported by the National Science Foundation