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RETRACTED ARTICLE: Minimally thin sets associated with the stationary Schrödinger operator

This article was retracted on 25 February 2021

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Abstract

This paper gives some new criteria for a-minimally thin sets at infinity with respect to the Schrödinger operator in a cone, which supplement the results obtained by Long-Gao-Deng.

MSC:31B05, 31B10.

1 Introduction and results

Let R and R + be the set of all real numbers and the set of all positive real numbers, respectively. We denote by R n (n2) the n-dimensional Euclidean space. A point in R n is denoted by P=(X, x n ), X=( x 1 , x 2 ,, x n 1 ). The Euclidean distance between two points P and Q in R n is denoted by |PQ|. Also |PO| with O the origin of R n is simply denoted by |P|. The boundary and the closure of a set S in R n are denoted by ∂S and S ¯ , respectively.

We introduce a system of spherical coordinates (r,Θ), Θ=( θ 1 , θ 2 ,, θ n 1 ), in R n which are related to Cartesian coordinates ( x 1 , x 2 ,, x n 1 , x n ) by x n =rcos θ 1 .

Let D be an arbitrary domain in R n and A a denote the class of nonnegative radial potentials a(P), i.e. 0a(P)=a(r), P=(r,Θ)D, such that a L loc b (D) with some b>n/2 if n4 and with b=2 if n=2 or n=3.

If a A a , then the stationary Schrödinger operator

Sch a =Δ+a(P)I=0,

where Δ is the Laplace operator and I is the identical operator, can be extended in the usual way from the space C 0 (D) to an essentially self-adjoint operator on L 2 (D) (see [[1], Ch. 11]). We will denote it Sch a as well. This last one has a Green a-function G D a (P,Q). Here G D a (P,Q) is positive on D and its inner normal derivative G D a (P,Q)/ n Q 0, where / n Q denotes differentiation at Q along the inward normal into D.

We call a function u that is upper semi-continuous in D a subfunction with respect to the Schrödinger operator Sch a if it values belong to the interval [,) and at each point PD with 0<r<r(P) the generalized mean-value inequality (see [1])

u(P) S ( P , r ) u(Q) G B ( P , r ) a ( P , Q ) n Q dσ(Q)

is satisfied, where G B ( P , r ) a (P,Q) is the Green a-function of Sch a in B(P,r) and dσ(Q) is a surface measure on the sphere S(P,r)=B(P,r). If −u is a subfunction, then we call u a superfunctions (with respect to the Schrödinger operator Sch a ). If a function u is both subfunction and superfunction, it is, clearly, continuous and is called an a-harmonic function (with respect to the Schrödinger operator Sch a ).

The unit sphere and the upper half unit sphere in R n are denoted by S n 1 and S + n 1 , respectively. For simplicity, a point (1,Θ) on S n 1 and the set {Θ;(1,Θ)Ω} for a set Ω, Ω S n 1 , are often identified with Θ and Ω, respectively. For two sets Ξ R + and Ω S n 1 , the set {(r,Θ) R n ;rΞ,(1,Θ)Ω} in R n is simply denoted by Ξ×Ω. By C n (Ω), we denote the set R + ×Ω in R n with the domain Ω on S n 1 . We call it a cone. We denote the set I×Ω with an interval on R by C n (Ω;I).

From now on, we always assume D= C n (Ω). For the sake of brevity, we shall write G Ω a (P,Q) instead of G C n ( Ω ) a (P,Q). Throughout this paper, let c denote various positive constants, because we do not need to specify them.

Let Ω be a domain on S n 1 with smooth boundary. Consider the Dirichlet problem

( Λ n + λ ) φ = 0 on  Ω , φ = 0 on  Ω ,

where Λ n is the spherical part of the Laplace operator Δ n

Δ n = n 1 r r + 2 r 2 + Λ n r 2 .

We denote the least positive eigenvalue of this boundary value problem by λ and the normalized positive eigenfunction corresponding to λ by φ(Θ). In order to ensure the existence of λ and a smooth φ(Θ), we put a rather strong assumption on Ω: if n3, then Ω is a C 2 , α -domain (0<α<1) on S n 1 surrounded by a finite number of mutually disjoint closed hypersurfaces (e.g. see [[2], pp.88-89] for the definition of C 2 , α -domain).

For any (1,Θ)Ω, we have (see [[3], pp.7-8])

c 1 rφ(Θ)δ(P)crφ(Θ),
(1)

where P=(r,Θ) C n (Ω) and δ(P)=dist(P, C n (Ω)).

We study solutions of an ordinary differential equation,

Q (r) n 1 r Q (r)+ ( λ r 2 + a ( r ) ) Q(r)=0,0<r<.
(2)

It is well known (see, for example, [4]) that if the potential a A a , then equation (2) has a fundamental system of positive solutions {V,W} such that V is nondecreasing with (see [5])

0V(0+)V(r)as r+,

and W is monotonically decreasing with

+=W(0+)>W(r)0as r+.

We will also consider the class B a , consisting of the potentials a A a such that the finite limit lim r r 2 a(r)=k[0,) exists, and moreover, r 1 | r 2 a(r)k|L(1,). If a B a , then the (sub)superfunctions are continuous (see [6]). In the rest of this paper, we assume that a B a and we shall suppress this assumption for simplicity.

Denote

ι k ± = 2 n ± ( n 2 ) 2 + 4 ( k + λ ) 2 ,

then the solutions to equation (2) have the asymptotic (see [2])

c 1 r ι k + V(r)c r ι k + , c 1 r ι k W(r)c r ι k as r.
(3)

It is well known that the Martin boundary of C n (Ω) is the set C n (Ω){}, each point of which is a minimal Martin boundary point. For P C n (Ω) and Q C n (Ω){}, the Martin kernel can be defined by M Ω a (P,Q). If the reference point P is chosen suitably, then we have

M Ω a (P,)=V(r)φ(Θ)and M Ω a (P,O)=cW(r)φ(Θ)
(4)

for any P=(r,Θ) C n (Ω).

In [5], Long-Gao-Deng introduce the notations of a-thin (with respect to the Schrödinger operator Sch a ) at a point, a-polar set (with respect to the Schrödinger operator Sch a ) and a-minimal thin sets at infinity (with respect to the Schrödinger operator Sch a ), which generalized earlier notations obtained by Brelot and Miyamoto (see [7, 8]). A set H in R n is said to be a-thin at a point Q if there is a fine neighborhood E of Q which does not intersect H{Q}. Otherwise H is said to be not a-thin at Q on C n (Ω). A set H in R n is called a polar set if there is a superfunction u on some open set E such that H{PE;u(P)=}. A subset H of C n (Ω) is said to be a-minimal thin at Q C n (Ω){} on C n (Ω), if there exists a point P C n (Ω) such that

R ˆ M Ω a ( , Q ) H (P) M Ω a (P,Q),

where R ˆ M Ω a ( , Q ) H is the regularized reduced function of M Ω a (,Q) relative to H (with respect to the Schrödinger operator Sch a ).

Let H be a bounded subset of C n (Ω). Then R ˆ M Ω a ( , ) H (P) is bounded on C n (Ω) and hence the greatest a-harmonic minorant of R ˆ M Ω a ( , ) H is zero. When by G Ω a μ(P) we denote the Green a-potential with a positive measure μ on C n (Ω), we see from the Riesz decomposition theorem (see [[1], Theorem 2]) that there exists a unique positive measure λ H a on C n (Ω) such that (see [[5], p.6])

R ˆ M Ω a ( , ) H (P)= G Ω a λ H a (P)

for any P C n (Ω) and λ H a is concentrated on I H , where

I H = { P C n ( Ω ) ; H  is not  a -thin at  P } .

The Green a-energy γ Ω a (H) (with respect to the Schrödinger operator Sch a ) of λ H a is defined by

γ Ω a (H)= C n ( Ω ) G Ω a λ H a d λ H a .

Also, we can define a measure σ Ω a on C n (Ω)

σ Ω a (H)= H ( M Ω a ( P , ) δ ( P ) ) 2 dP.

Recently, Long-Gao-Deng (see [[5], Theorem 2.5]) gave a criterion that characterizes a-minimally thin sets at infinity in a cone.

Theorem A A subset H of C n (Ω) is a-minimally thin at infinity on C n (Ω) if and only if

j = 0 γ Ω a ( H j )W ( 2 j ) V 1 ( 2 j ) <,

where H j =H C n (Ω;[ 2 j , 2 j + 1 )) and j=0,1,2, .

In this paper, we shall obtain a series of new criteria for a-minimally thin sets at infinity on C n (Ω), which complemented Theorem A by the way completely different from theirs. Our results are essentially based on Ren and Su (see [9, 10]).

First we have the following.

Theorem 1 The following statements are equivalent.

  1. (I)

    A subset H of C n (Ω) is a-minimally thin at infinity on C n (Ω).

  2. (II)

    There exists a positive superfunction v(P) on C n (Ω) such that

    inf P C n ( Ω ) v ( P ) M Ω a ( P , ) =0
    (5)

    and

    H { P C n ( Ω ) ; v ( P ) M Ω a ( P , ) } .
  3. (III)

    There exists a positive superfunction v(P) on C n (Ω) such that even if v(P)c M Ω a (P,) for any PH, there exists P 0 C n (Ω) satisfying v( P 0 )<c M Ω a ( P 0 ,).

Next we shall state Theorem 2, which is the main result in this paper.

Theorem 2 If a subset H of C n (Ω) is a-minimally thin at infinity on C n (Ω), then we have

H d P ( 1 + | P | ) n <.

2 Lemmas

In our discussions, the following estimate for the Green a-potential G Ω a (P,Q) is fundamental, as follows from [1].

Lemma 1

c 1 V(r)W(t)φ(Θ)φ(Φ) G Ω a (P,Q)cV(r)W(t)φ(Θ)φ(Φ)

for any P=(r,Θ) C n (Ω) and any Q=(t,Φ) C n (Ω) satisfying t2r.

Lemma 2 If H is a bounded Borel subset of C n (Ω), then

σ Ω a (H)c γ Ω a (H).

Proof For any P R n C n (Ω) and any positive number r>0, there exists a positive constant c 0 such that

Cap ( { P + r 1 ( Q P ) R n ; Q B ( P , r ) ( R n C n ( Ω ) ) } ) c 0

from [[11], p.178], where Cap denotes the Newtonian capacity. Then there exists a positive constant c depending only on c 0 and n such that

C n ( Ω ) | Ψ ( P ) δ ( P ) | 2 dPc C n ( Ω ) |Ψ(P) | 2 dP
(6)

for every Ψ(P) C 0 ( C n (Ω)) (see [[11], Theorem 2]).

It is well known that the Green a-energy also can be represented as (see [[12], p.57])

γ Ω a (H)= C n ( Ω ) | G Ω a λ H a (P) | 2 dP.
(7)

From equation (1) and Lemma 1 we have

C n ( Ω ) | G Ω a λ H a ( P ) δ ( P ) | 2 dP<.
(8)

From equations (7) and (8) we obtain G Ω a λ H a (P) Γ Ω , where

Γ Ω = { f L loc 2 ( C n ( Ω ) ) ; f L 2 ( C n ( Ω ) ) , δ 1 f L 2 ( C n ( Ω ) ) }

equipped with the norm

f Γ Ω = ( f L 2 ( C n ( Ω ) ) 2 + δ 1 f L 2 ( C n ( Ω ) ) 2 ) 1 2 ,

and further G Ω a λ H a (P) Γ Ω 0 , where Γ Ω 0 denotes the closure of C 0 ( C n (Ω)) in Γ Ω .

Thus we obtain from equation (6) (see [[13], p.288])

C n ( Ω ) | G Ω a λ H a ( P ) δ ( P ) | 2 dPc C n ( Ω ) | G Ω a λ H a (P) | 2 dP.

Since G Ω a λ H a = M Ω a (,) quasi everywhere on H and hence a.e. on H, we have from equation (7)

γ Ω a ( H ) c 1 C n ( Ω ) ( G Ω a λ H a ( P ) δ ( P ) ) 2 d P c 1 C n ( Ω ) ( M Ω a ( P , ) δ ( P ) ) 2 d P = c 1 σ Ω a ( H ) ,

which gives the conclusion of Lemma 2. □

3 Proof of Theorem 1

We shall show that (II) follows from (I). Since

R ˆ M Ω a ( , ) H j (Q)= M Ω a (Q,)

for any Q I H j and λ H j is concentrated on I H j , we have

γ Ω a ( H j ) = I H j M Ω a ( Q , ) d λ H j a ( Q ) V ( 2 j ) I H j φ ( Φ ) d λ H j a ( Q )

for any Q=(t,Φ) C n (Ω) and hence from Lemma 1

R ˆ M Ω a ( , ) H j ( P ) c V ( r ) φ ( Θ ) I H j W ( t ) φ ( Φ ) d λ H j a ( Q ) c V ( r ) φ ( Θ ) W ( 2 j ) V 1 ( 2 j ) γ Ω a ( H j )
(9)

for any P=(r,Θ) C n (Ω) and any integer j satisfying 2 j 2r.

If we define a measure μ on C n (Ω) by

μ= j = 0 λ H j a ,

then

G Ω a μ(P)= j = 0 R ˆ M Ω a ( , ) H j (P).

From equation (9), (I), and Theorem A, we know that G Ω a μ(P) is a finite superfunction on C n (Ω) and

G Ω a μ(P) R ˆ M Ω a ( , ) H j (P)=V(r)φ(Θ)

for any P=(r,Θ) I H j (j=0,1,2,3,) and from Lemma 1

G Ω a μ(P) c 1 V(r)φ(Θ)

for any P=(r,Θ) C n (Ω;(0,1)) and

c 1 = c 1 C n ( Ω ; [ 2 r , ) ) W(t)φ(Φ)dμ(Q).

If we set H = j = 1 I H j , where

H 1 =H C n ( Ω ; ( 0 , 1 ) ) ,
(10)

and c 2 =min{ c 1 ,1}, then

H { P = ( r , Θ ) C n ( Ω ) ; G Ω a μ ( P ) c 2 V ( r ) φ ( Θ ) }

and H is equal to H except a polar set H 0 . If we define a positive measure η on C n (Ω) such that G Ω a μ is identically +∞ on H 0 and define a measure ν on C n (Ω) by ν= c 2 1 (μ+η), then

H { P = ( r , Θ ) C n ( Ω ) ; G Ω a ν ( P ) V ( r ) φ ( Θ ) } .

If we put v(P)= G Ω a ν(P), then this shows that v(P) is the function required in (II).

Now we shall show that (III) follows from (II). Let v(P) be the function in (II). It follows that v(P) M Ω a (P,) for any PH. On the other hand, from equation (5) we can find a point P 0 C n (Ω) such that v( P 0 )< M Ω a ( P 0 ,). Therefore v(P) satisfies (III) with c=1.

Finally, we shall prove that (I) follows from (III). Let v(P) be the function in (III). If we put

inf P C n ( Ω ) v ( P ) M Ω a ( P , ) =c(,v)

and

u(P)=v(P)c(,v) M Ω a (P,),

then we have

inf P C n ( Ω ) u ( P ) M Ω a ( P , ) =0,

where c(,v) is a positive constant depending only on ∞ and v. Since there exists P 0 C n (Ω) satisfying v( P 0 )< c 3 M Ω a ( P 0 ,), we note that c 3 >c(,v). Now we obtain u(P)( c 3 c(,v)) M Ω a (P,) for any PH. Hence by a result of [[12], p.69], H is a-minimally thin at infinity on C n (Ω) with respect to the Schrödinger operator, which is the statement of (I). Thus we complete the proof of Theorem 1.

4 Proof of Theorem 2

First of all, we remark that

H d P ( 1 + | P | ) n = H 1 d P ( 1 + | P | ) n + j = 0 H j d P ( 1 + | P | ) n | H 1 | + j = 0 2 j n | H j | ,
(11)

where H 1 is the set in equation (10) and | H j | is the n-dimensional Lebesgue measure of  H j .

We have from equations (1) and (3)

σ Ω a ( H j ) = H j ( M Ω a ( P , ) δ ( P ) ) 2 d P c H j ( V ( r ) φ ( Θ ) r φ ( Θ ) ) 2 d P c H j r 2 ι k + 2 d P c H j 2 j ( 2 ι k + 2 ) d P = c 2 j ( 2 ι k + 2 ) | H j | .

By using Lemma 2, we obtain

γ Ω a ( H j ) c 1 σ Ω a ( H j )c 2 j ( 2 ι k + 2 ) | H j |.
(12)

If H is a-minimally thin at infinity on C n (Ω), then from Theorem A, equations (3), (11), and (12), we have

H d P ( 1 + | P | ) n | H 1 | + c j = 0 2 j ( 2 ι k + 2 ) | H j | W ( 2 j ) V 1 ( 2 j ) | H 1 | + c j = 0 γ Ω a ( H j ) W ( 2 j ) V 1 ( 2 j ) < ,

which is the conclusion of Theorem 2.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants Nos. 11301140 and U1304102. The author would like to thank two anonymous referees for numerous insightful comments and suggestions, which have greatly improved the paper.

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Zhao, T. RETRACTED ARTICLE: Minimally thin sets associated with the stationary Schrödinger operator. J Inequal Appl 2014, 67 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/1029-242X-2014-67

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