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Global regularity for the free boundary in the obstacle problem for the fractional Laplacian
- American Journal of Mathematics
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 140, Number 2, April 2018
- pp. 415-447
- 10.1353/ajm.2018.0010
- Article
- Additional Information
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abstract:
We study the regularity of the free boundary in the obstacle problem for the fractional Laplacian under the assumption that the obstacle $\varphi$ satisfies $\Delta\varphi\leq 0$ near the contact region. Our main result establishes that the free boundary consists of a set of regular points, which is known to be a $(n-1)$-dimensional $C^{1,\alpha}$ manifold by the results obtained by Caffarelli, Salsa, and Silvestre ({\it Invent. Math.} 2008), and a set of singular points, which we prove to be contained in a union of $k$-dimensional $C^1$-submanifold, $k=0,\ldots, n-1$. Such a complete result on the structure of the free boundary, proved by L. A. Caffarelli ({\it Acta Math.} 1977 and {\it J. Fourier Anal. Appl.} 1998), was known only in the case of the classical Laplacian, and it is new even for the Signorini problem (which corresponds to the particular case of the ${1\over 2}$-fractional Laplacian). A key ingredient behind our results is the validity of a new non-degeneracy condition $\sup_{B_r(x_0)}(u-\varphi)\geq c\,r^2$, valid at all free boundary points $x_0$.