Average gradient localisation for degenerate elliptic equations in the plane
Abstract
We consider Lipschitz solutions to the possibly highly degenerate elliptic equation $ {\rm div} G(\nabla u)=0$ in $B_1\subset\mathbb{R}^2 $, for any continuous strictly monotone vector field $G \colon \mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{R}^2$. We show that $u$ is either $C^1$ at $0$, or any blowup limit $v(x)=\lim \frac{u(δx)-u(0)}δ $ along a sequence $δ\to 0$ satisfies $ \nabla v\in \mathcal{D}\cap \mathcal{S} \text{ a.e} $. Here, $ \mathcal{D}$ and $\mathcal{S}$ can be roughly interpreted as the sets where ellipticity degenerates from below and above, that is, the symmetric parts of $ \nabla G$ and $(\nabla G)^{-1}$ have a zero eigenvalue. This is a strong indication in favor of the expected continuity of $H(\nabla u)$ for any continuous $H$ vanishing on $\mathcal{D}\cap \mathcal{S}$. In contrast with previous results in the same spirit, we do not make any assumption on the structure of $G$ besides its continuity and strict monotony.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations
Numerical methods in inverse problems
Geometric Analysis and Curvature Flows
Publication details
- Journal / source
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Publication date
- 6 January 2026
- Document type
- Preprint