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A harmonic function on all of ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ with a finite global Hölder seminorm of exponent $0<\mu <1$ is constant. Indeed $|w(x)-w(0)|\le C|x{|}^{\mu }$, and the interior derivative estimate for a harmonic function on balls of radius $R$ bounds $|\nabla w(0)|$ by $C{R}^{\mu -1}$. Letting $R\to \infty$ makes this gradient zero, and translating the centre proves the assertion everywhere.

The interior elliptic regularity assertion for the Laplace equation is that a harmonic function is smooth, in fact real analytic, throughout $U$. No boundary regularity of its unspecified boundary values is implied.

First let $u\in C^2(U)$ and $\Delta u=0$. On a ball compactly contained in $U$, differentiating its spherical average and applying the divergence theorem expresses that derivative as a constant factor times ${\int }_{B_r}\Delta u$, which is zero. The spherical average tends to $u$ at the center as $r\to 0$. This proves the mean value property for harmonic functions.

Choose a radially symmetric smooth mollifier ${\eta }_r$, supported in $B_r$, with integral one. By integrating the spherical mean value property,whenever $B_r(x)⋐U$. For fixed $r$ the right side is a smooth convolution, since all derivatives can be placed on ${\eta }_r$. Thus $u$ is smooth. The same argument proves the Weyl lemma for a distributionally harmonic $u\in L_{\mathrm{loc}}^1$: first mollify $u$, apply the fixed-radius identity, and let the mollification radius tend to zero in distributions to obtain the same smooth representative.

To prove real analytic regularity, differentiating the fixed-radius convolution gives the interior derivative estimate for a harmonic functionfor any harmonic $v$. All derivatives of $u$ are harmonic. On nested balls between $B_R(a)$ and $B_{R/2}(a)$, apply this estimate $k$ times, decreasing the radius by $R/(2k)$ each time. For $|\alpha |=k$,The inequality $k^k\le e^{k}k!$ follows by integrating $\log s$ below the sum defining $\log (k!)$. Apply the one-dimensional Taylor theorem along each segment, expanding directional derivatives by the multinomial formula. The remainder is bounded by $M(A{\sum }_j|h_j|{)}^k$, so it tends to zero for sufficiently small $h$. This gives a locally convergent multivariate Taylor series. A harmonic function is real analytic in the interior.

The usual inhomogeneous elliptic regularity statement also follows: if $\Delta u=f$ and $f$ is smooth, take a cutoff $\chi$ equal to one near a given point and set $w=\Phi \ast (\chi f)$, where $\Phi$ is a fundamental solution of the Laplace equation with $\Delta \Phi =\delta$. Moving every derivative to the compactly supported smooth function $\chi f$ shows $w$ is smooth. Locally $u-w$ is harmonic, so $u$ is smooth there too.

Shift $u$ by a constant and, if necessary, change sign to obtain an entire nonnegative harmonic function $v$. The Harnack inequality for harmonic functions on arbitrarily large balls centred at $x_0$ gives $v(x)\le 3^{n}v(x_0)$ for every $x$. Thus $v$ is globally bounded. The interior derivative estimate for a harmonic function now gives $|Dv(x)|\le C\Vert v{\Vert }_{\infty }/R$ on balls of arbitrarily large radius $R$. Letting $R\to \infty$ proves $Dv=0$, hence $u$ is constant. This proves the one-sided harmonic Liouville theorem in every dimension.

Choose $0<r<\mathrm{dist}(x,\partial \Omega )$. Differentiating the ball mean-value formula with respect to its centre and then using the divergence theorem givesConsequently the interior derivative estimate for a harmonic function yieldsThe constant may depend on $x$ and its distance from the boundary, but it is independent of $u$.

On a relatively compact ball, mollification commutes with the Laplacian, so $u_{\epsilon }=u\ast {\eta }_{\epsilon }$ is a smooth harmonic function. Repeated interior derivative estimates, together with the Caccioppoli inequality, bound every derivative of $u_{\epsilon }$ on a smaller ball by the local $L^2$ norm of $u$, uniformly as $\epsilon \downarrow 0$. The Arzelà-Ascoli theorem and a diagonal argument give a smooth local limit, while mollification gives $u_{\epsilon }\to u$ in $L_{\mathrm{loc}}^2$. Thus the limit equals $u$ almost everywhere. After choosing this smooth representative, $u$ is harmonic pointwise. This is the Weyl lemma for an $H^1$ weak solution.

Iteration gives the interior derivative estimate for a harmonic functionThe growth hypothesis bounds the right side by $C^{\prime }{R}^{\alpha -1}+o(1)$, which tends to zero as $R\to \infty$. Thus every derivative of order $k+1$ vanishes everywhere. The Taylor theorem makes $u$ a polynomial of degree at most $k$, proving the polynomial-growth Liouville theorem for harmonic functions.