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Interior regularity for divergence-form equations
Statement
Assume Countable Choice. Let be open, , , let be as in Uniformly elliptic divergence-form operators and their sesquilinear forms with constants and with satisfying , and let . If is a local weak solution of on (Local weak solutions of a divergence-form operator), then , and for all open sets there is with Consequently the equation holds pointwise almost everywhere with understood through the a.e. defined product , and the same estimate holds for complex-valued by taking real parts in the coercive energy bounds; no splitting of complex coefficients into real and imaginary equations is used. The scaffold wrote on the right-hand side, which is ill-posed for a datum known only to lie in (for instance on is locally but not globally square-integrable); the nested formulation above is the well-posed local statement, and the quantitative content is otherwise unchanged.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: Countable Choice; the open set ; coefficients with and the bounds and ellipticity of ; the datum ; and a local weak solution of .
Local weak solution: for every . (Local weak solutions of a divergence-form operator)
Coefficient package: , , , almost everywhere, and . (Uniformly elliptic divergence-form operators and their sesquilinear forms)
Localised difference-quotient pairing. Choose nested open sets and with on . For sufficiently small and a coordinate , the test belongs to , and the local weak identity extends to it by density. Discrete integration by parts in the principal part gives , where and for . The remainder contains only cutoff terms and first difference quotients of ; since , , and for every , , uniformly in small . Furthermore, by and the product rule. Therefore the lower-order and source pairings, estimated without differencing or , satisfy . (Local weak solutions of a divergence-form operator, The difference-quotient test function and its commutators, Young's inequality for conjugate real exponents, Holder's inequality for integrals, including the endpoint cases)
Local Caccioppoli control on nested bounded sets. If is bounded with , cover by finitely many inner balls whose concentric outer balls are compactly contained in . Applying the ball Caccioppoli estimate on each pair and summing gives , with allowed to depend on the finite cover, hence on , as well as (Scaled Caccioppoli inequality on concentric balls).
Difference-quotient characterisation of , : for and , and conversely a uniform bound for implies with . (The difference-quotient characterisation of for , Uniformly bounded difference quotients represent a weak derivative).
Young and Cauchy--Schwarz inequalities with a free . (Young's inequality for conjugate real exponents, Holder's inequality for integrals, including the endpoint cases)
If satisfies for every , then ; more generally is dense in . (Smooth compactly supported functions of an open set are dense in )
Proof
Nested localization. Fix and choose . Take equal to one on . For each coordinate and sufficiently small , the test class is supported in and belongs to ; the weak identity extends from smooth tests to by density, since the form is bounded and .
Principal and lower-order terms. Write the principal pairing as as in [F3]. The weak equation gives , so taking real parts and using [F3] bounds the right side directly, without differentiating or . Choosing small relative to and absorbing the error terms into gives with , uniformly in sufficiently small . This estimate uses derivatives only of the principal coefficients; enter without being differentiated. Young's inequality and Cauchy--Schwarz [F6] absorb the energy errors.
Removing the intermediate gradient. The Caccioppoli estimate [F4] applied to gives . Substitution into step 1.2 yields uniformly in .
Recovering all second derivatives. Since on and , step 2.1 bounds uniformly for every . Applying the directional weak-limit criterion cited in [F5] with any positive threshold below the actual cutoff-support margin gives with the same bound. Summing over proves and .
The strong form and the equation a.e. On , by step 3.1, so the proved multiplier rule of The cutoff difference-quotient commutator estimate gives with weak derivative . For every , integration by parts in [F1] gives . The bracket lies in , so it vanishes a.e. there by [F7]; as the pair was arbitrary, the equation holds pointwise almost everywhere on with read as the a.e. product .
Conclusion. Every that solves locally with uniformly elliptic, and lies in with the nested-domain estimate displayed in the Statement. The argument applies directly to complex-valued data and solutions by taking real parts in the coercive energy estimates, as in step 1.2.
Source notes
Hunter's Theorem 4.27 (printed pp. 112-113) assumes principal coefficients and proves interior regularity by difference quotients. The local proof above supplies the version and permits bounded lower-order coefficients. Laugesen's Theorem 5.6 (printed pp. 108-110) gives the constant-coefficient core. The scaffold's right-hand side is not defined for when is unbounded or when blows up at a boundary point, as on shows; the repaired statement uses the standard nested domains , matching the hypothesis and the estimates actually proved.
Depends on
Local weak solutions of a divergence-form operator
Uniformly elliptic divergence-form operators and their sesquilinear forms
The difference-quotient test function and its commutators
The difference-quotient characterisation of for
Absorption of lower-order Sobolev terms in the elliptic estimate
Scaled Caccioppoli inequality on concentric balls
Smooth compactly supported functions of an open set are dense in
Young's inequality for conjugate real exponents
Holder's inequality for integrals, including the endpoint cases
The Axiom of Countable Choice ()
The cutoff difference-quotient commutator estimate
Uniformly bounded difference quotients represent a weak derivative
A Euclidean bump for a compact set inside an open set