Calculus of Variations and Geometric Measure Theory

X. Cabré - E. Cinti

Energy estimates and 1-D symmetry for nonlinear equations involving the half-Laplacian

created by cinti on 13 Sep 2012
modified on 06 Feb 2018

[BibTeX]

Published Paper

Inserted: 13 sep 2012
Last Updated: 6 feb 2018

Journal: Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst.
Volume: 28
Number: 3
Pages: 1179--1206
Year: 2010

Abstract:

We establish sharp energy estimates for some solutions, such as global minimizers, monotone solutions and saddle-shaped solutions, of the fractional nonlinear equation $(-\Delta)^{1/2} u=f(u)$ in $\mathbb R^n$. Our energy estimates hold for every nonlinearity $f$ and are sharp since they are optimal for one-dimensional solutions, that is, for solutions depending only on one Euclidian variable. As a consequence, in dimension $n=3$, we deduce the one-dimensional symmetry of every global minimizer and of every monotone solution. This result is the analog of a conjecture of De Giorgi on one-dimensional symmetry for the classical equation $-\Delta u=f(u)$ in $\mathbb R^n$.


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