Prof. Dr.

Sergio Conti
Jorge Justiniano

PDE and Functional Analysis

Winter term 2022/23, Problem set 5

Due: 14.11.2022 at 14:00 via eCampus

Problem 5.1 (Constants, 10 points)

Let Ω ⊂ Rd be open and connected. Let f ∈ L1loc (Ω) and assume that f has weak gradient ∇f = 0
a.e. in Ω. Show that f is constant a.e., i.e. there is c ∈ R with f = c a.e. in Ω.

Problem 5.2 (Absolutely continuous functions, 10 points)

´x
Let −∞ < a < b < +∞ and g ∈ L1 ((a, b)). Dene f : [a, b] → R by f (x) := a g(t) dt.

a) Show that f ∈ W 1,1 ((a, b)) with weak derivative f 0 = g .

b) Let h ∈ W 1,1 ((a, b)) with weak derivative h0 . Show that there is c ∈ R such that
ˆ x
h(x) = h0 (t) dt + c
a

almost everywhere. Conclude that there is h̃ ∈ C 0 ([a, b]) such that h̃ = h almost everywhere
in (a, b).
c) Let h ∈ W 1,p ((a, b)) with p ∈ (1, ∞]. Show that there is h̃ ∈ C 0,1−1/p ([a, b]) such that h = h̃
almost everywhere, and [h̃]1− 1 ≤ kh̃0 kLp .
p

Problem 5.3 (Chain rule, 10 points)

Let Ω ⊂ Rd open, p ∈ [1, ∞). Let f ∈ C 1 (R) with f 0 bounded and assume that f (0) = 0 if
Ld (Ω) = +∞. Show that for every u ∈ W 1,p (Ω), f ◦ u ∈ W 1,p (Ω) and D(f ◦ u) = f 0 (u)Du.
Hint: consider rst u ∈ C ∞ (Ω) ∩ W 1,p (Ω) and use density.

Problem 5.4 (Derivative of Sobolev functions, 10 points)

Let Ω ⊂ Rd open, p ∈ [1, ∞), and u ∈ W 1,p (Ω).

a) Show that |u|, u+ , u− ∈ W 1,p (Ω) where u+ (x) = max{u(x), 0}, u− (x) = min{u(x), 0}, and
that
(
Du(x) if u(x) > 0
Du+ (x) =
0 if u(x) ≤ 0,
(
0 if u(x) > 0
Du− (x) =
Du(x) if u(x) ≤ 0.

Hint: rst construct a sequence of functions fn ∈ C 1 (R) such that kfn0 kL∞ ≤ 1 and
|fn (t) − max{t, 0}| ≤ n1 for all t ∈ R and fn0 (t) → 1(0,∞) (t) pointwise.

b) Suppose that U ⊂ Ω is a measurable subset such that u = 0 a.e. on U . Show that Du = 0 a.e.
on U.