A maximum principle for biharmonic functions in Lipschitz andC 1 domains

Partially supported by an Alfred Sloan Foundation fellowship and by the N.S.F.     

On estimates of biharmonic functions on Lipschitz and convex domains

Using Maz ’ya type integral identities with power weights, we obtain new boundary estimates for biharmonic functions on Lipschitz and convex domains in ℝⁿ. Forn ≥ 8, combinedwitharesultin[18], these estimates lead to the solvability of the L^p Dirichlet problem for the biharmonic equation on Lipschitz domains for a new range of p. In the case of convex domains, the estimates allow us to show that the L^p Dirichlet problem is uniquely solvable for any 2 − ε < p < ∞ and n ≥ 4.     

Boundary behaviour for p harmonic functions in Lipschitz and starlike Lipschitz ring domains

In this paper we prove new results for p harmonic functions, p≠2, 1<p<∞, in Lipschitz and starlike Lipschitz ring domains. In particular we prove the boundary Harnack inequality, Theorem 1, for the ratio of two positive p harmonic functions vanishing on a portion of the boundary of a Lipschitz domain, with constants only depending on p,n and the Lipschitz constant of the domain. For p capacitary functions, in starlike Lipschitz ring domains, we prove an even stronger result, Theorem 2, showing that the ratio is Hölder continuous up to the boundary. Moreover, for p capacitary functions in starlike Lipschitz ring domains we prove, Theorems 3 and 4, appropriate extensions to p≠2, 1<p<∞, of famous results of Dahlberg [12] and Jerison and Kenig [25] on the Poisson kernel associated to the Laplace operator (i.e. p=2).     

A sharp bilinear restriction estimate for paraboloids

Recently Wolff [W3] obtained a sharp L² bilinear restriction theorem for bounded subsets of the cone in general dimension. Here we adapt the argument of Wolff to also handle subsets of elliptic surfaces such as paraboloids. Except for an endpoint, this answers a conjecture of Machedon and Klainerman, and also improves upon the known restriction theory for the paraboloid and sphere.     

A Lipschitz estimate for Berezin's operator calculus

F. A. Berezin introduced a general ``symbol calculus" for linear operators on reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces. For the particular Hilbert space of Gaussian square-integrable entire functions on complex -space, , we obtain Lipschitz estimates for the Berezin symbols of arbitrary bounded operators. Additional properties of the Berezin symbol and extensions to more general reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces are discussed.

     

A prevalent transversality theorem for Lipschitz functions

This paper provides a version of the transversality theorem for a class of Lipschitz functions of the form , where is a convex subset of a normed vector space indexing the parameters in the problem. The set may be infinite-dimensional, and the notion of generic used is the measure-theoretic notion of prevalence introduced by Hunt, Sauer and Yorke (1992) and Christensen (1974). This paper also provides some results on sensitivity analysis for solutions to locally Lipschitz equations.

     

A global minimization algorithm for Lipschitz functions

The global optimization problem with and f(x) satisfying the Lipschitz condition , is considered. To solve it a region-search algorithm is introduced. This combines a local minimum algorithm with a procedure that at the ith iteration finds a region S _i where the global minimum has to be searched for. Specifically, by making use of the Lipschitz condition, S _i , which is a sequence of intervals, is constructed by leaving out from S _i-1 an interval where the global minimum cannot be located. A convergence property of the algorithm is given. Further, the ratio between the measure of the initial feasible region and that of the unexplored region may be used as stop rule. Numerical experiments are carried out; these show that the algorithm works well in finding and reducing the measure of the unexplored region.     

Spectral problems in Lipschitz domains

The paper is devoted to spectral problems for strongly elliptic second-order systems in bounded Lipschitz domains. We consider the spectral Dirichlet and Neumann problems and three problems with spectral parameter in conditions at the boundary: the Poincaré–Steklov problem and two transmission problems. In the style of a survey, we discuss the main properties of these problems, both self-adjoint and non-self-adjoint. As a preliminary, we explain several facts of the general theory of the main boundary value problems in Lipschitz domains. The original definitions are variational. The use of the boundary potentials is based on results on the unique solvability of the Dirichlet and Neumann problems. In the main part of the paper, we use the simplest Hilbert L ₂-spaces H _s , but we describe some generalizations to Banach spaces H ^s _p of Bessel potentials and Besov spaces B ^s _p at the end of the paper.     

A sharp estimate for extremal functions

We prove a sharp pointwise estimate for extremal functions of invariant subspaces of some weighted Bergman spaces on the unit disk. The allowed weights include standard radial weights and logarithmically subharmonic weights.

     

A rigidity result for biharmonic functions clamped at a corner

LetC be a curve which is conformal to a pair of line segments meeting at an angle strictly between 0 and ,u a biharmonic function analytic in a neighbourhood ofC, whose gradient vanishes onC. It is shown thatu(x, y) must be constant.     

The boundary Harnack inequality for infinity harmonic functions in Lipschitz domains satisfying the interior ball condition

In this note, we give a short proof for the boundary Harnack inequality for infinity harmonic functions in a Lipschitz domain satisfying the interior ball condition. Our argument relies on the use of quasiminima and the notion of comparison with cones.     

A fast interface solver for the biharmonic Dirichlet problem on polygonal domains

Summary. In this paper we propose and analyze an efficient discretization scheme for the boundary reduction of the biharmonic Dirichlet problem on convex polygonal domains. We show that the biharmonic Dirichlet problem can be reduced to the solution of a harmonic Dirichlet problem and of an equation with a Poincaré-Steklov operator acting between subspaces of the trace spaces. We then propose a mixed FE discretization (by linear elements) of this equation which admits efficient preconditioning and matrix compression resulting in the complexity . Here is the number of degrees of freedom on the underlying boundary, is an error reduction factor, or for rectangular or polygonal boundaries, respectively. As a consequence an asymptotically optimal iterative interface solver for boundary reductions of the biharmonic Dirichlet problem on convex polygonal domains is derived. A numerical example confirms the theory. Received September 1, 1995 / Revised version received February 12, 1996     

A minimal set-valued strong derivative for vector-valued Lipschitz functions

A set-valued derivative for a function at a point is a set of linear transformations whichapproximates the function near the point. This is stated precisely, and it is shown that, in general, there is not a unique minimal set-valued derivative for functions in the family of closed convex sets of linear transformations. For Lipschitz functions, a construction is given for a specific set-valued derivative, which reduces to the usual derivative when the function is strongly differentiable, and which is shown to be the unique minimal set-valued derivative within a certain subfamily of the family of closed convex sets of linear transformations. It is shown that this constructed set may be larger than Clarke's and Pourciau's set-valued derivatives, but that no irregularity is introduced.The author would like to thank Professor H. Halkin for numerous discussions of the material contained here.