The inhomogeneous Dirichlet Problem for natural operators on manifolds

Abstract

We shall discuss the inhomogeneous Dirichlet problem for: $f(x,u, Du, D^2u) = ψ(x)$ where $f$ is a "natural" differential operator, with a restricted domain $F$, on a manifold $X$. By "natural" we mean operators that arise intrinsically from a given geometry on $X$. An important point is that the equation need not be convex and can be highly degenerate. Furthermore, the inhomogeneous term can take values at the boundary of the restricted domain $F$ of the operator $f$. A simple example is the real Monge-Ampère operator ${\rm det}({\rm Hess}\,u) = ψ(x)$ on a riemannian manifold $X$, where ${\rm Hess}$ is the riemannian Hessian, the restricted domain is $F = \{{\rm Hess} \geq 0\}$, and $ψ$ is continuous with $ψ\geq0$. A main new tool is the idea of local jet-equivalence, which gives rise to local weak comparison, and then to comparison under a natural and necessary global assumption. The main theorem applies to pairs $(F,f)$, which are locally jet-equivalent to a given constant coefficient pair $({\bf F}, {\bf f})$. This covers a large family of geometric equations on manifolds: orthogonally invariant operators on a riemannian manifold, G-invariant operators on manifolds with G-structure, operators on almost complex manifolds, and operators, such as the Lagrangian Monge-Ampère operator, on symplectic manifolds. It also applies to all branches of these operators. Complete existence and uniqueness results are established with existence requiring the same boundary assumptions as in the homogeneous case [10]. We also have results where the inhomogeneous term $ψ$ is a delta function.