Harnack inequality for hypoelliptic second order partial differential operators


Abstract in English

We consider nonnegative solutions $u:Omegalongrightarrow mathbb{R}$ of second order hypoelliptic equations begin{equation*} mathscr{L} u(x) =sum_{i,j=1}^n partial_{x_i} left(a_{ij}(x)partial_{x_j} u(x) right) + sum_{i=1}^n b_i(x) partial_{x_i} u(x) =0, end{equation*} where $Omega$ is a bounded open subset of $mathbb{R}^{n}$ and $x$ denotes the point of $Omega$. For any fixed $x_0 in Omega$, we prove a Harnack inequality of this type $$sup_K u le C_K u(x_0)qquad forall u mbox{ s.t. } mathscr{L} u=0, ugeq 0,$$ where $K$ is any compact subset of the interior of the $mathscr{L}$-propagation set of $x_0$ and the constant $C_K$ does not depend on $u$.

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