Electron. J. Diff. Eqns., Vol. 1997(1997), No. 18, pp 1-20.

Nonlinear weakly elliptic 2X2 systems of variational inequalities with unilateral obstacle constraints

D.R. Adams & H.J. Nussenzveig Lopes

Abstract:
We study 2X2 systems of variational inequalities which are only weakly elliptic; in particular, these systems are not necessarily monotone. The prototype differential operator is the (vector-valued) p-Laplacian. We prove, under certain conditions, the existence of solutions to the unilateral obstacle problem. This work extends the results by the authors in [Annali di Mat. Pura ed Appl., 169(1995), 183--201] to nonlinear operators.
In addition, we address the question of determining function spaces on which the p-Laplacian is a bounded nonlinear operator. This question arises naturally when studying existence for these systems.

Submitted July 28, 1997. Published October 31, 1997.
Math Subject Classification: 35J85, 35J45, 31C45.
Key Words: p-Laplacian, obstacle problem, non-monotone systems of variational inequalities.

Show me the PDF file (258 KB), TEX file, and other files for this article.


David R. Adams
Department of Mathematics, University of Kentucky, Patterson Office Tower, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
e-mail: dave@ms.uky.edu

Helena J. Nussenzveig Lopes
Departamento de Matematica, IMECC-UNICAMP. Caixa Postal 6065, Campinas, SP 13081-970, Brazil
e-mail: hlopes@ime.unicamp.br


Return to the EJDE home page