On continuous functions , the exponentially weighted supremum norm is . It is equivalent to the ordinary supremum norm and often turns a Volterra integral map into a contraction mapping.
The preceding estimate gives constants such that, whenever ,
Choose so that , and then choose so that . If , the closed ball is mapped into itself.
For , factor the cubic gradient nonlinearity as
The same Sobolev embedding theorem and the Holder inequality imply
The elliptic estimate therefore yields
Shrinking further makes , so is a contraction mapping of the closed ball. This ball is complete because is a Banach space. The contraction mapping theorem gives a fixed point , and its defining equation is
Thus the nonlinear elliptic boundary value problem has a solution for sufficiently small .
Let and define the map suggested by the variation-of-constants formula:
The strong continuity of the evolution family and the continuity of imply that maps into itself. Because is unitary and ,
Equip with the exponentially weighted supremum norm
This equivalent norm makes a Banach space. Using that is a globally Lipschitz function and that the unitary operator preserves the norm,
Choose . Then is a contraction mapping, so the Banach fixed-point theorem gives a unique fixed point . This fixed point is exactly the required mild solution of an abstract Cauchy problem:
The weighted-norm argument works on the whole prescribed finite interval, so no subdivision of is needed.