Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / iii / Paper 105 / 1 / c / i / Solution

Suppose the claimed Poincare-Wirtinger inequality were false. There would be $u_k\in H^1(U)$ such that, after settingwe have $(v_k{)}_U=0$, $\Vert v_k{\Vert }_2=1$, and $\Vert D{v}_k{\Vert }_2\to 0$. The sequence is bounded in $H^1(U)$, so part 1(b)(ii) supplies a subsequence converging strongly in $L^2(U)$ and weakly in $H^1(U)$ to some $v$.

The weak gradient of $v$ is zero. Because $U$ is connected, $v$ is a constant function; its mean is zero, so $v=0$. Strong convergence would then give $\Vert v_k{\Vert }_2\to 0$, contradicting $\Vert v_k{\Vert }_2=1$. Therefore