Dirichlet eigenfunction supremum estimate 2026-10-06
For and a bounded smooth domain, a Dirichlet Laplacian eigenfunction with eigenvalue satisfies the displayed estimate. A signed power test for a Laplacian eigenfunction and the zero-boundary Sobolev inequality give a Moser iteration with exponents . The geometric series gives the exact power of , while controls the remaining constant. The constant depends only on dimension, because the zero-boundary Sobolev inequality follows by extension by zero to the whole space.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 107 6 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use a signed power test for a Laplacian eigenfunction. For , test the Dirichlet Laplacian eigenfunction equation with . Its derivative is ; at the test function is just . Integration by parts gives the exact energy estimateSet . It belongs to the zero-boundary Sobolev space and obeys the Sobolev chain rule:For , the power map is with bounded derivative on the bounded range of . For , the absolute value map is Lipschitz, and almost everywhere; on the zero set, use the fact that a gradient of a Sobolev function vanishes on a level set. These facts justify the identity even when changes sign.
Apply the given Sobolev inequality with the Sobolev conjugate exponent :Testing with a signed power raises the integrability exponent from to . Absorbing the factor into gives precisely the requested inequality.