Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / iii / Paper 9 / 3 / b / Solution

Write $E(t)={\int }_{B_t(x_0)}|\nabla u{|}^2$. For $n\ge 2$, choose $c$ in the annular Caccioppoli inequality to be the integral average of $u$ over $A_R$. The supplied Poincare inequality on an annulus givesMoving the $E(R)$ term to the left is the hole-filling argument:Consequently $E(2^{-k}{r}_0)\le {\theta }^{k}E(r_0)$. Put $\beta =-{\log }_2\theta >0$ and choose $\mu =\min \{\beta /2,1/2\}\in (0,1)$. For $2^{-k-1}{r}_0<r\le 2^{-k}{r}_0$, monotonicity givesDyadic endpoints can be assigned to either adjacent interval. Since $E(r_0)\le {\int }_B|\nabla u{|}^2$, the requested dyadic energy decay isBoth constants depend only on the dimension and uniform ellipticity bounds, not on $u,x_0,r,r_0$.

There is a dimensional detail in the printed hint: an annulus is disconnected in dimension one, so that Poincare inequality with a single average is false there. The conclusion still holds. In one dimension the weak equation gives $a(x)u^{\prime }(x)=J$ almost everywhere for a constant flux for a one-dimensional divergence-form equation $J$. Since $\lambda \le a\le \Lambda$,This implies the required estimate with, for example, $\mu =1/2$ and $K=(\Lambda /\lambda {)}^2$. If $J=0$, the estimate is immediate. Thus the proof also covers dimension one without using the inapplicable hint.