Journal of Inequalities in Pure and Applied Mathematics COMPARISON OF GREEN FUNCTIONS FOR GENERALIZED SCHRÖDINGER OPERATORS ON C 1,1 -DOMAINS volume 4, issue 1, article 22, 2003. LOTFI RIAHI Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, Campus Universitaire 1060 Tunis, TUNISIA. EMail: Lotfi.Riahi@fst.rnu.tn Received 16 September, 2002; accepted 10 February, 2003. Communicated by: A.M. Fink Abstract Contents JJ J II I Home Page Go Back Close c 2000 Victoria University ISSN (electronic): 1443-5756 100-02 Quit Abstract We establish some inequalities on the 12 ∆-Green function G on bounded C 1,1domain. We use these inequalities to prove the existence of the 12 ∆ − µ Green function Gµ and its comparability to G, where µ is in some general class of signed Radon measures. Finally we prove that the choice of this class is essentially optimal. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 34B27, 35J10. Key words: Green function, Schrödinger operator, 3G-Theorem. Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Contents 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 Preliminaries and Notations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3 Inequalities on the Green Function G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4 The Class K (Ω) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 5 The Green Function for 12 ∆ − µ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 References Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 2 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au 1. Introduction The first aim of this paper is to prove some inequalities on the Green function G of 12 ∆ on bounded C 1,1 -domain Ω in Rn , n ≥ 3, where ∆ is the Laplacian operator. In particular we give an alternative and shorter proof of the 3G-Theorem established in [9] using long and sharp discussions. The 3G-Theorem includes the usual one proved in [11], [4] and [3], which was very useful to obtain some potential theoretic results. The second is to prove a comparison theorem between the Green function G and the Green function Gµ of the Schrödinger operator 12 ∆ − µ on Ω, where µ is allowed to be in some class of signed Radon measures. In contrast to [9], there is no restriction on the sign of µ in this work. This comparison theorem is very important in the sense that it enables us to deduce some potential theoretic results for 12 ∆ − µ which are known to hold for 1 ∆. This is stated at the end of the paper. Moreover our result covers the case 2 of signed Radon measures with bounded Newtonian potentials i.e, Z 1 sup |µ|(dy) < +∞. n−2 x∈Ω Ω |x − y| The Schrödinger operator 12 ∆ − f , with f belonging to the Kato class Knloc which is studied by several authors (see [1], [3], [4], [11]) is just the special case where µ has the density f with respect to the Lebesgue measure. In particular our results cover the ones proved by Zhao [11]. Finally we show that the choice of this class is essentially optimal. Our paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we give some notations and recall some known results. In Section 3, we prove some inequalities on the Green function of 12 ∆ on bounded Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 3 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au C 1,1 -domain. A new and a shorter proof of the 3G-Theorem established in [9] is given. In Section 4, we introduce a general class of signed Radon measures on Ω denoted by K(Ω) that will be considered in this work. We give some examples and we study some properties of this class. In Section 5, we prove a comparison theorem between the Green functions of 12 ∆ and the Schrödinger operator 12 ∆ − µ, where µ is in the class K(Ω). We also show that when µ is nonnegative the condition µ ∈ K(Ω) is necessary for the comparison theorem to hold. Throughout the paper the letter C will denote a generic positive constant which may vary in value from line to line. Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 4 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au 2. Preliminaries and Notations Throughout the paper Ω denotes a bounded C 1,1 -domain in Rn , n ≥ 3. This means that for each z ∈ ∂Ω there exists a ball B(z, R0 ), R0 > 0 and a coordinate system of Rn such that in these coordinates, B(z, R0 ) ∩ Ω = B(z, R0 ) ∩ {(x0 , xn )/x0 ∈ Rn−1 , xn > f (x0 )}, and B(z, R0 ) ∩ ∂Ω = B(z, R0 ) ∩ {(x0 , f (x0 ))/x0 ∈ Rn−1 }, where f is a C 1,1 -function. ∆ denotes the Laplacian operator on Rn and G its Green function on Ω. For a 1 signed Radon measure µ on Ω, we denote by Gµ the 2 ∆ − µ -Green function on Ω, when it exists. For x ∈ Ω let d(x) = d(x, ∂Ω), the distance from x to the boundary of Ω. We denote by d(Ω) the diameter of Ω. Since Ω is a bounded C 1,1 -domain, then it has the following geometrical property: There exists r0 > 0 depending only on Ω such that for any z ∈ ∂Ω and 0 < r ≤ r0 there exist two balls B1z (r) and B2z (r) of radius r such that B1z (r) ⊂ Ω, B2z (r) ⊂ Rn \ Ω and {z} = ∂B1z (r) ∩ ∂B2z (r). We recall the following interesting estimates on the Green function G which are due to Grüter and Widman [5], Zhao [11] and Hueber [6]. Theorem 2.1. There exists a constant C > 0 depending on the diameter of Ω, Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 5 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au on the curvature of ∂Ω and on the dimension n such that d(x)d(y) 1 −1 C min 1, ≤ G(x, y) 2 |x − y| |x − y|n−2 d(x)d(y) 1 ≤ C min 1, . |x − y|2 |x − y|n−2 for all x, y ∈ Ω. Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 6 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au 3. Inequalities on the Green Function G In this section we first give a new and a simple proof of the 3G-Theorem established in [9]. We also derive other inequalities on the Green function G that will be used in the next sections. Theorem 3.1 (3G-Theorem). There exists a constant C = C(Ω, n) > 0 such that for x, y, z ∈ Ω, we have G(x, z)G(z, y) d(z) d(z) ≤ C( G(x, z) + G(z, y)). G(x, y) d(x) d(y) Proof. The inequality of the theorem is equivalent to 1 1 1 (3.1) ≤C + . d(z)G(x, y) d(x)G(z, y) d(y)G(x, z) On the other hand, since for a > 0, b > 0, ab ab ≤ min(a, b) ≤ 2 , a+b a+b Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back then d(x)d(y) d(x)d(y) d(x)d(y) ≤ min 1, ≤2 , 2 2 |x − y| + d(x)d(y) |x − y| |x − y|2 + d(x)d(y) and hence, from Theorem 2.1, we obtain C −1 N (x, y) ≤ G(x, y) ≤ CN (x, y), Close Quit Page 7 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au where N (x, y) = |x − Therefore (3.1) is equivalent to d(x)d(y) . − y|2 + d(x)d(y)) y|n−2 (|x (3.2) |x − y|n−2 (|x − y|2 + d(x)d(y)) ≤ C(|z − y|n−2 (|z − y|2 + d(z)d(y)) + |x − z|n−2 (|x − z|2 + d(x)d(z))). Then, we shall prove (3.2). By symmetry we may assume that |x − z| ≤ |y − z|. We have (3.3) |x − y|n−2 ≤ (|x − z| + |z − y|)n−2 ≤ 2n−2 |z − y|n−2 , and Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents |x − y|2 + d(x)d(y) ≤ (|x − z| + |z − y|)2 + (|x − z| + d(z))d(y) (3.4) ≤ 4|z − y|2 + |z − y|d(y) + d(z)d(y). If |z − y| ≤ d(z), then JJ J II I Go Back |z − y|d(y) ≤ d(z)d(y). (3.5) If |z − y| ≥ d(z), then (3.6) Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains |z − y|d(y) ≤ |z − y|(d(z) + |z − y|) ≤ 2|z − y|2 . Close Quit Page 8 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au From (3.4), (3.5) and (3.6), we obtain |x − y|2 + d(x)d(y) ≤ 6(|z − y|2 + d(y)d(z)). (3.7) From (3.3) and (3.7), we obtain |x − y|n−2 (|x − y|2 + d(x)d(y)) ≤ 2n+1 |z − y|n−2 (|z − y|2 + d(z)d(y)). This proves (3.2) with C = 2n+1 . Lemma 3.2. There exists a constant C = C(Ω, n) > 0 such that for all x, y ∈ Ω, we have d(y) C G(x, y) ≤ . d(x) |x − y|n−2 d(y) C G(x, y) ≤ min d(x) |x − y|n−2 d(y) d(x) Lotfi Riahi Title Page Proof. By Theorem 2.1, we have Put t = Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains d(y) d(y)2 , d(x) |x − y|2 Contents . > 0. From the inequality |x − y| ≥ |d(y) − d(x)|, it follows JJ J II I Go Back min 2 d(y) d(y) , d(x) |x − y|2 2 d(y) d(y) , d(x) |d(y) − d(x)|2 t2 . = min t, (t − 1)2 ≤ min Close Quit Page 9 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au t2 Since min t, (t−1) ≤ 4, for all t > 0, then we obtain 2 d(y) 4C G(x, y) ≤ . d(x) |x − y|n−2 By symmetry we also have 4C d(x) G(x, y) ≤ . d(y) |x − y|n−2 This ends the proof. Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi The usual 3G-Theorem proved in [3, 4, 11] is well known under the following form which is a simple consequence of Theorem 3.1 and Lemma 3.2. Corollary 3.3. There exists a constant C = C(Ω, n) > 0 such that for x, y, z ∈ Ω, we have 1 1 G(x, z)G(z, y) ≤C + . G(x, y) |x − z|n−2 |z − y|n−2 Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 10 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au 4. The Class K (Ω) Definition 4.1. Let µ be a signed Radon measure on Ω. We say that µ is in the class K(Ω) if it satisfies Z d(y) ||µ|| ≡ sup G(x, y)|µ|(dy) < +∞, x∈Ω Ω d(x) where |µ| is the total variation of µ. In the following we study some properties of the class K(Ω) and to this end we first need to prove the following lemma. Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Lemma 4.1. For x, y ∈ Ω, we have If d(x)d(y) ≥ |x − y|2 , then 1 d(y) ≤ d(x) ≤ 3d(y). 3 If d(x)d(y) ≤ |x − y|2 , then Title Page Contents JJ J II I max(d(x), d(y)) ≤ 2|x − y|. Go Back Proof. If d(x)d(y) ≥ |x − y|2 , then in view of the inequality |x − y| ≥ |d(x) − d(y)|, we obtain d(x)d(y) ≥ |d(x) − d(y)|2 , Close Quit Page 11 of 31 which implies 3 d(x)d(y) ≥ d(x)2 + d(y)2 , J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au and then 1 d(y) ≤ d(x) ≤ 3 d(y). 3 If d(x)d(y) ≤ |x − y|2 , then in view of the inequality d(x) ≥ d(y) − |x − y|, we obtain d(y)(d(y) − |x − y|) ≤ |x − y|2 , which gives d(y)2 ≤ |x − y|2 + d(y)|x − y| 2 1 ≤ |x − y| + d(y) . 2 Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi The last inequality yields 1 d(y) ≤ |x − y|. 2 Title Page Contents Similarly, we have JJ J 1 d(x) ≤ |x − y|. 2 II I Go Back The following proposition provides some interesting examples of measures in the class K(Ω). Close Quit Proposition 4.2. For α ∈ R, the measure only if α < 2. 1 dy d(y)α is in the class K(Ω) if and Page 12 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au Proof. We first assume α < 2 and we will prove that Z d(y) 1 sup G(x, y) dy < +∞. d(y)α x∈Ω Ω d(x) By Theorem 2.1, we have Z (4.1) sup x∈Ω Ω 1 d(y) G(x, y) dy d(x) d(y)α Z ≤ C sup min x∈Ω Ω 1 1 , d(x)d(y) |x − y|2 d(y)2−α dy. |x − y|n−2 Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi On the other hand Z 1 1 d(y)2−α min , dy d(x)d(y) |x − y|2 |x − y|n−2 Ω Z Z = · · · dy + Ω∩(d(x)d(y)≥|x−y|2 ) (4.2) Ω∩(d(x)d(y)≤|x−y|2 ) ≡ I1 + I2 . We estimate I1 . From Lemma 4.1, we have Z d(y)1−α I1 = dy n−2 Ω∩(d(x)d(y)≥|x−y|2 ) d(x)|x − y| Z 1 −α ≤ Cd(x) dy √ n−2 |x−y|≤ 3 d(x) |x − y| Title Page Contents · · · dy JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 13 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au √ −α Z 3 d(x) ≤ Cd(x) rdr 0 (4.3) ≤ Cd(x)2−α ≤ Cd(Ω)2−α . Now we estimate I2 . From Lemma 4.1, we have Z d(y)2−α I2 = dy n Ω∩(d(x)d(y)≤|x−y|2 ) |x − y| Z 1 2−α ≤2 dy n−2+α Ω |x − y| Z d(Ω) 2−α ≤ 2 wn−1 r1−α dr 0 Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Title Page 2−α (4.4) = 2 wn−1 d(Ω)2−α , 2−α where wn−1 is the area of the unit sphere Sn−1 in Rn . Combining (4.1), (4.2), (4.3) and (4.4), we obtain Z d(y) 1 G(x, y) dy ≤ Cd(Ω)2−α < +∞. sup α d(y) x∈Ω Ω d(x) Now we assume α ≥ 2 and we will prove that Z d(y) 1 sup G(x, y) dy = +∞. d(y)α x∈Ω Ω d(x) Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 14 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au √ We first remark that when d(x) ≤ 5−1 |x 2 − y|, we have √ d(y) ≤ d(x) + |x − y| ≤ 5+1 |x − y| 2 and then d(x)d(y) ≤ |x − y|2 . By Theorem 2.1, we have Z d(y) 1 sup G(x, y) dy d(y)α x∈Ω Ω d(x) Z 1 1 d(y)2−α −1 ≥ C sup min , dy d(x)d(y) |x − y|2 |x − y|n−2 x∈Ω Ω Z d(y)2−α −1 (4.5) ≥ C sup dy. √ n x∈Ω Ω∩(d(x)≤ 5−1 |x−y|) |x − y| 2 ∂Ω and put x0 the center of B1z0 (r0 ). Let z0 ∈ Ω. For x ∈]z0 , x0 ], we have This means B1z0 (r0 ) Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Title Page = B(x0 , r0 ) ⊂ JJ J |y − x| ≤ |y − z0 | + d(x), and ( Contents II I Go Back √ 3− 5 y ∈ D : d(x) ≤ |y − z0 | 2 ) ( ⊂ y ∈ D : d(x) ≤ √ ) 5−1 |y − x| . 2 Close Quit Page 15 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au Hence for x ∈]z0 , x0 ], we have Z d(y)2−α (4.6) dy √ n |x − y| Ω∩(d(x)≤ 5−1 |x−y|) 2 Z ≥ √ Ω∩(d(x)≤ 3−2 5 |y−z0 |) |y − z0 |2−α dy. (|y − z0 | + d(x))n From (4.5) and (4.6), we obtain Z Z d(y) 1 1 −1 sup G(x, y) dy ≥ C dy α d(y) |y − z0 |n+α−2 x∈Ω Ω d(x) ZΩ 1 ≥ C −1 dy n+α−2 z0 B1 (r0 ) |y − z0 | Z 1 −1 =C dy n+α−2 |y−x0 |<r0 |y − z0 | Z 1 −1 (4.7) =C dy, n+α−2 |y|<r0 |y − ξ| where ξ = z0 − x0 with |ξ| = r0 . We take a spherical coordinate system (r, θ1 , . . . , θn−1 ) such that ξ = (|ξ|, 0, . . . , 0). Then, we have Z 1 dy (4.8) n+α−2 |y|<r0 |y − ξ| Z r0 Z π (sin θ1 )n−2 n−1 = wn−2 r dθ1 dr. n+α −1 0 0 (r 2 + r 2 − 2rr0 cos θ1 ) 2 0 Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 16 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au By making the change of variables t = tan θ21 , we obtain Z π (sin θ1 )n−2 dθ1 n+α −1 0 (r 2 + r 2 − 2rr0 cos θ1 ) 2 0 Z +∞ α−n tn−2 (1 + t2 ) 2 n−1 =2 dt n+α 0 ((r + r0 )2 t2 + (r0 − r)2 ) 2 −1 α−n 2 r0 −r 2 2 n−2 1 + ( ) s n−1 1−n Z +∞ s r0 +r 2 (r0 + r) ds = n+α (r0 − r)α−1 (s2 + 1) 2 −1 0 k ≥ , (r0 − r)α−1 where k = k(r0 , α, n) > 0. This implies Z (4.9) 0 r0 rn−1 Z 0 Contents (sin θ1 )n−2 + r02 − 2rr0 cos θ1 ) dθ1 dr n+α −1 2 Z ≥k 0 r0 rn−1 dr = +∞. (r0 − r)α−1 From (4.7), (4.8) and (4.9), we obtain Z d(y) 1 G(x, y) dy = +∞. sup d(y)α x∈Ω Ω d(x) This ends the proof. Lotfi Riahi Title Page π (r2 Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 17 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au Now we compare the class K(Ω) with the class of signed Radon measures with bounded Newtonian potentials. A signed Radon measure µ is said to be of R bounded Newtonian potential if supx∈Ω Ω |x−y|1 n−2 |µ|(dy) < +∞. Proposition 4.3. The class K(Ω) properly contains the class of signed Radon measures with bounded Newtonian potentials. Proof. From definitions and Lemma 3.2, it is clear that the class of signed Radon measures with bounded Newtonian potentials is contained in K(Ω). In the sequel we will prove that for 1 ≤ α, Z 1 dy = +∞ α Ω d(y) and then Z sup x∈Ω Ω 1 1 dy = +∞. |x − y|n−2 d(y)α 1 In particular for 1 ≤ α < 2, d(y) α dy does not define a bounded Newtonian 1 potential and by Proposition 4.2, we know that d(y) α dy ∈ K(Ω). Without loss of generality we assume that 0 ∈ ∂Ω. We know that there exists R0 > 0 such that B(0, R0 ) ∩ Ω = B(0, R0 ) ∩ {(x0 , xn )/x0 ∈ Rn−1 , xn > f (x0 )}, and B(0, R0 ) ∩ ∂Ω = B(0, R0 ) ∩ {(x0 , f (x0 ))/x0 ∈ Rn−1 }, Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 18 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au where f is a C 1,1 -function. By the continuity of f , there exists ρ0 ∈ 0, R40 such that for |y 0 | < ρ0 , we have |f (y 0 )| < R20 . Hence for all y = (y 0 , yn ) such that |y 0 | < ρ0 and 0 < yn − f (y 0 ) < R40 , we have (y 0 , f (y 0 )) ∈ ∂Ω and y ∈ B(0, R0 ) ∩ Ω which give d(y) ≤ yn − f (y 0 ). Using these observations we have Z Z 1 1 dy ≥ dy α α Ω d(y) Ω∩B(0,R0 ) d(y) Z Z 1 ≥ dyn dy 0 0 ))α R (y − f (y 0 0 0 n |y |<ρ0 0<yn −f (y )< 4 Z Z R0 4 1 0 dr = +∞. = dy rα |y 0 |<ρ0 0 Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents We next prove that the Kato class Knloc is properly contained in K(Ω). For the reader’s convenience we recall the definition of the Kato class Knloc . Definition 4.2. A Borel measurable function f on Ω is in the Kato class Knloc if it satisfies Z |f (y)| lim sup dy = 0. r→0 x∈Ω (|x−y|<r)∩Ω |x − y|n−2 Proposition 4.4. The class K(Ω) properly contains the Kato class Knloc . JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 19 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au Proof. Let f be in Knloc . We have Z lim sup r→0 x∈Ω (|x−y|<r)∩Ω Then, there exists r > 0 such that Z (4.10) sup x∈Ω (|x−y|<r)∩Ω |f (y)| dy = 0. |x − y|n−2 |f (y)| dy ≤ 1. |x − y|n−2 This yields Z |f (y)|dy ≤ r sup x∈Ω n−2 . (|x−y|<r)∩Ω On the other hand, since Ω is a compact subset then there are x1 , . . . , xp ∈ Ω, p ∈ N∗ such that Ω = ∪pi=1 B(xi , r) ∩ Ω. Hence the last inequality gives Z |f (y)|dy ≤ prn−2 . Ω It follows that Z (4.11) sup x∈Ω Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains (|x−y|≥r)∩Ω |f (y)| dy ≤ p. |x − y|n−2 From (4.10) and (4.11) we obtain Z |f (y)| dy ≤ p + 1 < +∞. sup n−2 x∈Ω Ω |x − y| This means that f (y)dy defines a bounded Newtonian potential and the result holds from Proposition 4.3. Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 20 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au 5. The Green Function for 12 ∆ − µ In this section we prove that when µ ∈ K(Ω) the Green function Gµ of the Schrödinger operator 12 ∆ − µ exists and it is comparable to G. We first prove the following result. Theorem 5.1. There exists a constant C = C(Ω, n) > 0 such that for all µ ∈ K(Ω) and all nonnegative superharmonic function h on Ω, we have Z G(x, y)h(y)|µ|(dy) ≤ C||µ||h(x), Ω Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains for all x ∈ Ω. Lotfi Riahi Proof. By the 3G-Theorem, we have Z (5.1) G(x, y)G(y, z)|µ|(dy) ≤ 2C||µ||G(x, z), Ω for all x, z ∈ Ω. Now let h be a nonnegative superharmonic function on Ω; there is an increasing sequence (hn )n of nonnegative measurable functions on Ω such that Z h(x) = sup G(x, z)hn (z)dz, n Ω for all x ∈ Ω. From (5.1), we have Z Z Z G(x, y)G(y, z)|µ|(dy)hn (z)dz ≤ 2C||µ|| G(x, z)hn (z)dz, Ω Ω Ω Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 21 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au for all x ∈ Ω. By the Fubini’s theorem, we obtain Z Z Z G(x, y) G(y, z)hn (z)dz|µ|(dy) ≤ 2C||µ|| G(x, z)hn (z)dz, Ω Ω Ω for all x ∈ Ω. When n tends to +∞, we obtain Z G(x, y)h(y)|µ|(dy) ≤ 2C||µ||h(x), Ω Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains for all x ∈ Ω. Lotfi Riahi Corollary 5.2. Let µ ∈ K(Ω). Then Z sup G(x, y)|µ|(dy) < +∞. x∈Ω Ω Let µ be a signed Radon measure in the class K(Ω), i.e. ||µ|| < +∞. The Jordan decomposition into positive and negative parts says that µ = µ+ − µ− and |µ| = µ+ + µ− . From Corollary 5.2, the functions Z Z + x→ G(x, y)µ (dy) and x → G(x, y)µ− (dy) Ω Ω are two continuous potentials on Ω, and the real continuous function Z x→ G(x, y)µ(dy) Ω Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 22 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au corresponds to the difference of these two potentials. Hence from the perturbed theory studied in [2], it follows that there exists a Green function Gµ for the Schrödinger operator 21 ∆ − µ on Ω satisfying the resolvent equation: Z G(x, y) = Gµ (x, y) + G(x, z)Gµ (z, y)dµ(z), Ω for all x, y ∈ Ω. Our main result is the following. Theorem 5.3. Assume that µ ∈ K(Ω) with ||µ|| sufficiently small. Then the Green functions G and Gµ are comparable, i.e. there is a constant C = C(Ω, n, ||µ||) > 0 such that C −1 G ≤ Gµ ≤ CG. Proof. We have the resolvent equation: Z G(x, y) = Gµ (x, y) + G(x, z)Gµ (z, y)dµ(z) Ω ≡ Gµ (x, y) + G ∗ Gµ (x, y). Then Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Gµ = G − G ∗ Gµ . By iteration we obtain (5.2) Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Quit Page 23 of 31 Gµ = G + X m≥1 (−1)m G∗m+1 , J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au where Z ∗2 G (x, y) ≡ G ∗ G(x, y) = G(x, z)G(z, y)dµ(z), Ω and G∗m+1 = G∗m ∗ G. From the 3G-Theorem, we have Z 1 G(x, z)G(z, y)|µ|(dz) G(x, y) Ω Z Z d(z) d(z) ≤C G(x, z)|µ|(dz) + G(z, y)|µ|(dz) Ω d(y) Ω d(x) ≤ 2C||µ||. Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Title Page In particular, we have ∗2 |G | ≤ 2C||µ||G. By recurrence, we obtain (5.3) |G ∗m+1 m | ≤ (2C||µ||) G. Contents JJ J II I When ||µ|| is sufficiently small so that 2C||µ|| < 12 , we obtain, from (5.2) and (5.3), X |Gµ − G| ≤ (2C||µ||)m G Go Back m≥1 Page 24 of 31 2C||µ|| = G, 1 − 2C||µ|| Close Quit J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au which yields 1 − 4C||µ|| 1 − 2C||µ|| G ≤ Gµ ≤ 1 G. 1 − 2C||µ|| Recall that when µ is a nonnegative Radon measure, we know by [8] that the Green function Gµ of 12 ∆ − µ exists and satisfies the resolvent equation: Z G(x, y) = Gµ (x, y) + G(x, z)Gµ (z, y)dµ(z), Ω for all x, y ∈ Ω. Next we show that in this case, the condition µ ∈ K(Ω) is necessary and sufficient for the comparability result. Lemma 5.4. There exists a constant C = C(Ω, n) > 0 such that Z −1 C d(x) ≤ G(x, y)dy ≤ Cd(x), Ω Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents JJ J for all x ∈ Ω. Proof. From Theorem 2.1, we have C d(x)d(y) G(x, y) ≤ min 1, , |x − y|n−2 |x − y|2 II I Go Back Close Quit for all x, y ∈ Ω. If d(y) ≤ 2|x − y|, then (5.4) Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Page 25 of 31 G(x, y) ≤ 2C d(x) . |x − y|n−1 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au If d(y) ≥ 2|x − y|, then d(x) ≥ d(y) − |x − y| ≥ |x − y|, which implies G(x, y) ≤ (5.5) d(x) C ≤C . n−2 |x − y| |x − y|n−1 Combining (5.4) and (5.5), we obtain G(x, y) ≤ 2C d(x) , |x − y|n−1 Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains for all x, y ∈ Ω. This yields Z Lotfi Riahi Z G(x, y)dy ≤ 2Cd(x) Ω ZΩ 1 dy |x − y|n−1 ≤ 2Cd(x) 0≤|x−y|≤d(Ω) Z d(Ω) = 2Cwn−1 d(x) 1 dy |x − y|n−1 dr 0 = C1 d(x). From Theorem 2.1, we also have C −1 d(x)d(y) min 1, ≤ G(x, y), |x − y|n−2 |x − y|2 for all x, y ∈ Ω. Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 26 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au This implies C −1 d(x)d(y) ≤ G(x, y), d(Ω)n for all x, y ∈ Ω. Hence C −1 −n d(Ω) Z Z d(y)dy ≤ d(x) Ω which means G(x, y)dy, Ω Z C2 d(x) ≤ G(x, y)dy, Ω Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains for all x ∈ Ω. Lotfi Riahi Theorem 5.5. Let µ be a nonnegative Radon measure. Then, the Green function Gµ of 12 ∆ − µ on Ω is comparable to G if and only if µ ∈ K(Ω). Title Page Proof. We have the integral equation: Contents Z G(x, y) = Gµ (x, y) + G(x, z)Gµ (z, y)dµ(z), Ω for all x, y ∈ Ω. We first assume that Gµ and G are comparable which means that there exists a constant C ≥ 1 such that C −1 G ≤ Gµ ≤ G. Hence JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 27 of 31 Z G(x, z)G(z, y)dµ(z) ≤ (C − 1)G(x, y), Ω J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au for all x, y ∈ Ω. This implies Z Z Z G(x, z)G(z, y)dµ(z)dy ≤ (C − 1) Ω Ω G(x, y)dy. Ω for all x ∈ Ω. Using the Fubini’s theorem, it follows that Z Z Z G(x, z) G(z, y)dydµ(z) ≤ (C − 1) G(x, y)dy. Ω Ω Ω for all x ∈ Ω. From Lemma 5.4, we deduce that Z d(z)G(x, z)dµ(z) ≤ C 0 d(x), Ω Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents for all x ∈ Ω. This means that Z sup x∈Ω Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Ω d(z) G(x, z)dµ(z) ≤ C 0 , d(x) and then µ ∈ K(Ω). Now let µ ∈ K(Ω), which means ||µ|| < +∞. By Theorem 5.3 the Green µ µ of the Schrödinger operator ∆ − 8C||µ|| is comparable to G. function G 8C||µ|| This means that there exists C > 1 such that µ C −1 G ≤ G 8C||µ|| ≤ G. JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 28 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au By Theorem 1 in [10], it follows that C −8C||µ|| G ≤ Gµ ≤ G, which ends the proof. Remark 5.1. In view of the paper [7], our results hold also when we replace the Laplace operator by an elliptic operator n X n X ∂ ∂2 L= ai,j + bi ∂x ∂x ∂xi i j i,j=1 i=1 Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi which is uniformly elliptic with bounded Hölder continuous coefficients ai,j , bi . Remark 5.2. The comparison theorem serves as a main tool to obtain some potential-theoretic results. For example it implies the equivalence of 12 ∆ − µ potential and 12 ∆-potential of any measure with support contained in Ω and then the equivalence of 12 ∆ − µ -capacity and 12 ∆-capacity of any set in Ω. These equivalences say that the fine topology, polar sets, etc. are the same for 12 ∆ and 1 ∆ − µ. Following the argument in [7], the comparison theorem also implies 2 1 the equivalence of 2 ∆ − µ -harmonic measure and 12 ∆-harmonic measure on ∂Ω. This gives rise to a boundary Harnack principle and a comparison theorem for nonnegative 21 ∆ − µ -solutions and nonnegative 21 ∆-solutions vanishing continuously on a part of ∂Ω (see [4]). Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 29 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au References [1] A. AIZENMAN AND B. SIMON, Brownian motion and Harnack’s inequality for Schrödinger’s operators, Comm. Pure Appl. Math., 35 (1982), 209–273. [2] A. BOUKRICHA, W. HANSEN AND H. HUEBER, Continuous solutions of the generalized Schrödinger equation and perturbation of harmonic spaces, Expositiones Math., 5 (1987), 97–135. [3] K.L. CHUNG AND Z. ZHAO, From Brownian motion to Schrödinger’s equation, Springer Verlag, New York, 1995. [4] M. CRANSTON, E.B. FABES AND Z. ZHAO, Conditional gauge and potential theory for the Schrödinger operator, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., 307(1) (1988), 171–194. [5] M. GRÜTER AND K.O. WIDMAN, The Green function for uniformly elliptic equations, Manuscripta Math., 37 (1982), 303–342. [6] H. HUEBER, A uniform estimate for the Green functions on C domains, Bibos publication Universität Bielefeld, (1986). 1,1 - [7] H. HUEBER AND M. SIEVEKING, Uniform bounds for quotients of Green functions on C 1,1 -domains, Ann. Inst. Fourier, 32(1) (1982) 105– 117. [8] H. MAAGLI AND M. SELMI, Perturbation des résolvantes et des semigroupes par une mesure de Radon positive, Mathematische Zeitschrift, 205 (1990), 379–393. Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 30 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au [9] M. SELMI, Comparaison des noyaux de Green sur les domaines C 1,1 , Revue Roumaine de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées, 36 (1991), 91– 100. [10] M. SELMI, Critere de comparaison de certains noyaux de Green, Lecture Notes in Math., 1235 (1987), 172–193. [11] Z. ZHAO, Green function for Schrödinger operator and condioned Feynmann Kac Gauge, Jour. Math. Anal. Appl., 116 (1986), 309–334. Comparison of Green Functions for Generalized Schrödinger Operators on C 1,1 -Domains Lotfi Riahi Title Page Contents JJ J II I Go Back Close Quit Page 31 of 31 J. Ineq. Pure and Appl. Math. 4(1) Art. 22, 2003 http://jipam.vu.edu.au