The variational capacity with respect to nonopen sets in metric spaces

We pursue a systematic treatment of the variational capacity on metric spaces and give full proofs of its basic properties. A novelty is that we study it with respect to nonopen sets, which is important for Dirichlet and obstacle problems on nonopen sets, with applications in fine potential theory. Under standard assumptions on the underlying metric space, we show that the variational capacity is a Choquet capacity and we provide several equivalent definitions for it. On open sets in weighted R^n it is shown to coincide with the usual variational capacity considered in the literature. Since some desirable properties fail on general nonopen sets, we introduce a related capacity which turns out to be a Choquet capacity in general metric spaces and for many sets coincides with the variational capacity. We provide examples demonstrating various properties of both capacities and counterexamples for when they fail. Finally, we discuss how a change of the underlying metric space influences the variational capacity and its minimizing functions

Obstacle and Dirichlet problems on arbitrary nonopen sets, and fine topology

We study the double obstacle problem for p-harmonic functions on arbitrary bounded nonopen sets E in quite general metric spaces. The Dirichlet and single obstacle problems are included as special cases. We obtain Adams' criterion for the solubility of the single obstacle problem and establish connections with fine potential theory. We also study when the minimal p-weak upper gradient of a function remains minimal when restricted to a nonopen subset. Most of the results are new for open E (apart from those which are trivial in this case) and also on R^n

Local and semilocal Poincar\'e inequalities on metric spaces

We consider several local versions of the doubling condition and Poincar\'e inequalities on metric spaces. Our first result is that in proper connected spaces, the weakest local assumptions self-improve to semilocal ones, i.e. holding within every ball. We then study various geometrical and analytical consequences of such local assumptions, such as local quasiconvexity, self-improvement of Poincar\'e inequalities, existence of Lebesgue points, density of Lipschitz functions and quasicontinuity of Sobolev functions. It turns out that local versions of these properties hold under local assumptions, even though they are not always straightforward. We also conclude that many qualitative, as well as quantitative, properties of p-harmonic functions on metric spaces can be proved in various forms under such local assumptions, with the main exception being the Liouville theorem, which fails without global assumptions

Tensor products and sums of p-harmonic functions, quasiminimizers and p-admissible weights

The tensor product of two p-harmonic functions is in general not p-harmonic, but we show that it is a quasiminimizer. More generally, we show that the tensor product of two quasiminimizers is a quasiminimizer. Similar results are also obtained for quasisuperminimizers and for tensor sums. This is done in weighted R^n with p-admissible weights. It is also shown that the tensor product of two p-admissible measures is p-admissible. This last result is generalized to metric spaces.Comment: 9 page

Poincar\'e inequalities and Newtonian Sobolev functions on noncomplete metric spaces

Let $X$ be a noncomplete metric space satisfying the usual (local) assumptions of a doubling property and a Poincar\'e inequality. We study extensions of Newtonian Sobolev functions to the completion $\widehat{X}$ of $X$ and use them to obtain several results on $X$ itself, in particular concerning minimal weak upper gradients, Lebesgue points, quasicontinuity, regularity properties of the capacity and better Poincar\'e inequalities. We also provide a discussion about possible applications of the completions and extension results to $p$-harmonic functions on noncomplete spaces and show by examples that this is a rather delicate issue opening for various interpretations and new investigations.Comment: Second version: with a correction at the end (last three pages). The main paper is identical to the first versio

The Kellogg property and boundary regularity for p-harmonic functions with respect to the Mazurkiewicz boundary and other compactifications

In this paper boundary regularity for p-harmonic functions is studied with respect to the Mazurkiewicz boundary and other compactifications. In particular, the Kellogg property (which says that the set of irregular boundary points has capacity zero) is obtained for a large class of compactifications, but also two examples when it fails are given. This study is done for complete metric spaces equipped with doubling measures supporting a p-Poincar\'e inequality, but the results are new also in unweighted Euclidean spaces.Comment: Third version: with a correction at the end (last two pages), filling in a gap in the argument. The main paper is identical to the first version. In the second version only the title changed in the metadata (it didn't correspond to the title in the paper

The Dirichlet problem for p-harmonic functions on the topologist's comb

In this paper we study the Perron method for solving the p-harmonic Dirichlet problem on the topologist's comb. For functions which are bounded and continuous at the accessible points, we obtain invariance of the Perron solutions under arbitrary perturbations on the set of inaccessible points. We also obtain some results allowing for jumps and perturbations at a countable set of points.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figur

The tusk condition and Petrovski criterion for the normalized p\mspace{1mu}-parabolic equation

We study boundary regularity for the normalized p\mspace{1mu}-parabolic equation in arbitrary bounded domains. Effros and Kazdan (Indiana Univ. Math. J. 20 (1970), 683-693) showed that the so-called tusk condition guarantees regularity for the heat equation. We generalize this result to the normalized p\mspace{1mu}-parabolic equation, and also obtain H\"older continuity. The tusk condition is a parabolic version of the exterior cone condition. We also obtain a sharp Petrovski criterion for the regularity of the latest moment of a domain. This criterion implies that the regularity of a boundary point is affected if one side of the equation is multiplied by a constant

The quasisuperminimizing constant for the minimum of two quasisuperminimizers in R^n

It was shown in Bj\"orn--Bj\"orn--Korte ("Minima of quasisuperminimizers", Nonlinear Anal. 155 (2017), 264-284) that $u:=\min\{u_1,u_2\}$ is a $\overline{Q}$-quasisuperminimizer if $u_1$ and $u_2$ are $Q$-quasisuperminimizers and $\overline{Q}=2Q^2/(Q+1)$. Moreover, one-dimensional examples therein show that $\overline{Q}$ is close to optimal. In this paper we give similar examples in higher dimensions. The case when $u_1$ and $u_2$ have different quasisuperminimizing constants is considered as well

Sharp capacity estimates for annuli in weighted R^n and in metric spaces

We obtain estimates for the nonlinear variational capacity of annuli in weighted R^n and in metric spaces. We introduce four different (pointwise) exponent sets, show that they all play fundamental roles for capacity estimates, and also demonstrate that whether an end point of an exponent set is attained or not is important. As a consequence of our estimates we obtain, for instance, criteria for points to have zero (resp. positive) capacity. Our discussion holds in rather general metric spaces, including Carnot groups and many manifolds, but it is just as relevant on weighted R^n. Indeed, to illustrate the sharpness of our estimates, we give several examples of radially weighted R^n, which are based on quasiconformality of radial stretchings in R^n.Comment: 42 page