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The mean-zero Sobolev space is the closed subspaceOn a bounded connected Lipschitz domain, the Poincare-Wirtinger inequality makes $\Vert \nabla u{\Vert }_2$ an equivalent Hilbert norm on this space.

Testing the weak formulation with the constant function $1$ proves the necessary compatibility conditionAssume first that $U$ is connected and this condition holds. On the mean-zero Sobolev spaceuse the norm $\Vert v{\Vert }_{†}=\Vert Dv{\Vert }_{L^2(U)}$. To prove the needed Poincare-Wirtinger inequality, suppose it failed. There would be $v_k\in H_{†}^1(U)$ with $\Vert v_k{\Vert }_2=1$ and $\Vert D{v}_k{\Vert }_2\to 0$. The Rellich-Kondrachov compactness theorem gives a subsequence converging strongly in $L^2$ and weakly in $H^1$ to a function $v$. Its weak derivative vanishes, so connectedness makes $v$ constant; its zero mean makes it zero. This contradicts $\Vert v{\Vert }_2=1$. Hence $\Vert Dv{\Vert }_2$ is an equivalent Hilbert space norm on $H_{†}^1(U)$.

DefineBoundedness of $a^{ij}$ makes $B$ a bounded bilinear form, while uniform ellipticity givesso it is a coercive bilinear form. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality and the Poincare-Wirtinger inequality make $\ell$ a bounded linear functional. The Lax-Milgram theorem supplies a unique $u\in H_{†}^1(U)$ satisfying $B(u,v)=\ell (v)$ for every mean-zero $v$. For arbitrary $v\in H^1(U)$, subtract its mean; the omitted constant contributes zero on both sides because $D1=0$ and ${\int }_{U}f=0$. Thus $u$ solves the original problem.

If two solutions exist, their difference $w$ satisfies $B(w,w)=0$, so uniform ellipticity gives $Dw=0$. It is therefore constant on $U$. The solution is unique up to an additive constant, and its mean-zero representative is unique. If $U$ is disconnected, the precise condition is ${\int }_{U_j}f=0$ on every connected component $U_j$, and one independent additive constant remains on each component.

Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.