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Lax--Milgram solvability for coercive divergence-form equations
Statement
Assume the Axiom of Choice, inherited through the Poincaré supplier named below, together with Countable Choice. Let be open, nonempty and bounded in one direction, let and be as in Uniformly elliptic divergence-form operators and their sesquilinear forms with ellipticity constant , coefficient bounds (with the componentwise drift bounds ), and let be the Poincar'e constant of The Poincare inequality for zero-boundary Sobolev closures on domains bounded in one direction for . Assume the explicit smallness condition Then for every there is a unique weak solution of (Weak Dirichlet solutions for a divergence-form operator), and with it satisfies When , taking , the condition reduces to , the sign/smallness condition of the plan; in the model case , , , taking and , it gives and gives existence and uniqueness for the zero-boundary weak Poisson problem.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The Axiom of Choice and Countable Choice; an open, nonempty bounded in one direction; divergence-form coefficients with ellipticity constant and bounds , where componentwise; the Poincar'e constant for at ; the smallness assumption ; and the form on .
Pointwise ellipticity and coefficient bounds: a.e. and , a.e. (Uniformly elliptic divergence-form operators and their sesquilinear forms, The essential supremum of a measurable function with respect to a measure, The space of essentially bounded measurable functions).
The form is bounded on (The elliptic form is well defined and bounded on ) and is a Hilbert space with (The Sobolev space is a Hilbert space, Integer-order Sobolev spaces and their norms, Zero-boundary Sobolev space as a norm closure).
Poincar'e: for , hence (The Poincare inequality for zero-boundary Sobolev closures on domains bounded in one direction).
Lax--Milgram and the a priori estimate: a bounded coercive form on a Hilbert space with a bounded conjugate-linear datum has a unique solution; any solution satisfies for a coercivity constant (The Lax--Milgram theorem, Testing a coercive weak solution with itself gives the energy bound, The negative Sobolev space , Weak Dirichlet solutions for a divergence-form operator).
For , by Cauchy--Schwarz in the finite coordinate index (Cauchy-Schwarz with its equality case, the triangle inequality for , the parallelogram law and polarisation).
Proof
Coercivity: for , pointwise ellipticity and the coefficient bounds give since and [F5] bound the coordinate sum. Poincar'e gives , so the last two terms are at least and ; hence with . Since , this gives : the form is coercive on with constant , and it is bounded by [F2].
Solvability: applying Lax--Milgram [F4] to the Hilbert space , the bounded coercive form and the datum gives a unique with for every : a unique weak solution of .
Estimate: the a priori estimate of [F4] with gives . When , taking , the condition is , and in the model case , , , taking and , one has , recovering the zero-boundary Poisson theorem.
Depends on
The Axiom of Choice
Complex Lp classes and Euclidean test-function conventions
The Axiom of Countable Choice ()
The essential supremum of a measurable function with respect to a measure
The negative Sobolev space
The space of essentially bounded measurable functions
Integer-order Sobolev spaces and their norms
Uniformly elliptic divergence-form operators and their sesquilinear forms
Weak Dirichlet solutions for a divergence-form operator
Zero-boundary Sobolev space as a norm closure
Coercivity of the principal Dirichlet form
The elliptic form is well defined and bounded on
Testing a coercive weak solution with itself gives the energy bound
The Sobolev space is a Hilbert space
Cauchy-Schwarz with its equality case, the triangle inequality for , the parallelogram law and polarisation
The Lax--Milgram theorem
The Poincare inequality for zero-boundary Sobolev closures on domains bounded in one direction
Dependency tree · 2 levels
Sources
- John K. Hunter, Notes on Partial Differential Equations (UC Davis, revised 18 June 2014, complete 242-page two-quarter notes)
- Leon Simon, Lectures on Partial Differential Equations (Stanford, complete 223-page author scan)
- Gerald Teschl, Partial Differential Equations: From Classical to Modern (archived 2025 author manuscript)
- Haim Brezis, Functional Analysis, Sobolev Spaces and Partial Differential Equations (Springer Universitext, 2011, complete 614-page text)