On Holder continuity of weak solutions to degenerate linear elliptic partial differential equations

Abstract

For degenerate elliptic partial differential equations, it is often desirable to show that a weak solution is smooth. The first and most difficult step in this process is establishing local Hölder continuity. Sufficient conditions for establishing continuity have already been documented in [FP], [SW1], and [MRW], and their necessity in [R]. However, the complexity of the equations discussed in those works makes it difficult to understand the core structure of the arguments employed. Here, we present a harmonic-analytic method for establishing Hölder continuity of weak solutions in context of a simple linear equation div(Q?u) = f in a homogeneous space structure in order to showcase the form of the argument. Ad- ditionally, we correct an oversight in the adaptation of the John-Nirenberg inequality presented in [SW1], restricting it to a much smaller class of balls.