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# A duality approach for variational problems in domains with cracks

## 1. Introduction

Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ be a bounded connected and simply connected open subset of $`^2`$, let $`K`$ be a compact subset of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ and let $`gW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$. We consider the following variational problem:

$$\underset{w=gon_D\mathrm{\Omega }K}{\mathrm{min}}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}f(x,w)𝑑x,$$
$`(P)`$
where $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is a non-empty part of the boundary of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ with a finite number of connected components and the function $`f:\mathrm{\Omega }\times ^2`$ is a Borel function which satisfies the following assumptions: there exist positive constants $`\alpha `$, $`\beta `$, $`\gamma `$ such that, for almost every $`x\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and for every $`\xi ^2`$

$`\alpha |\xi |^pf(x,\xi )\beta |\xi |^p+\gamma ;`$ (1.1)
$`f(x,)\text{ is strictly convex}.`$ (1.2)
Our purpose in this paper is to study the asymptotic behaviour of the solutions $`u_K`$ of the problem ($`P`$) with respect to the variations of the compact set $`K`$ in the Hausdorff metric. This problem has been recently studied in  for $`f(x,\xi )=|\xi |^2/2`$ in order to give a precise mathematical formulation for the quasi-static growth of brittle fractures, following Griffith’s criterion of crack growth.

The study of the asymptotic behaviour of solutions of variational problems with respect to domain variations is also related to some shape optimization problems, where very often the nonexistence of solutions is due to the non stability of the state equation. By stability of problem $`(P),`$ more precisely stability of a given compact set $`K`$ along a sequence $`(K_h)`$ converging to $`K`$ in the Hausdorff distance, we mean the convergence in a suitable topology of the sequence of solutions $`(u_{K_h})`$ of $`(P)`$ to the function $`u_K`$. It is known that a necessary condition for stability is the convergence of the two-dimensional Lebesgue measure $`|K_n|`$ of $`K_n`$ to the two-dimensional Lebesgue measure $`|K|`$ of $`K`$ (see ).

If $`f(x,)`$ is differentiable, then the solution $`u_K`$ solves a nonlinear mixed type boundary value problem. In the literature there are various results on the asymptotic behaviour of solutions of elliptic PDE with purely Dirichlet boundary conditions, with respect to domains variations. In this case the type of limit problem is known even when there is no stability (see for instance , , ).

Concerning stability results for purely Neumann problems, we can mention for instance the papers , , , , , , where the families of domains satisfy suitable structural assumptions. In the literature there are well known examples showing that without these structural assumptions some additional term (typically depending on jumps on the limit set $`K`$) may appear in the limit problem (see , , ). However, unlike Dirichlet problems, there is not a general characterization of the limit problem with Neumann conditions.

In the first part of this paper we prove the following stability result using the duality argument of convex optimization.

###### Theorem 1.1.

Let $`(K_h)`$ be a sequence of compact subsets of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ which converges to a compact set $`K`$ in the Hausdorff metric. Assume that $`K_h`$ has a uniformly bounded number of connected components, $`|K_h|`$ converges to $`|K|`$, and that the intersection of the limits of two different connected components of $`K_h(\mathrm{\Omega }_D\mathrm{\Omega })`$ is either empty or has positive $`(1,q)`$-capacity, where $`q`$ is the conjugate exponent of $`p`$. Then the compact set $`K`$ is stable for the problem $`(P)`$ along the sequence $`(K_h)`$.

When $`p2`$ the stability result follows immediately from \[12, Theorem 6.3\] even when $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is not simply connected.

The approach by duality consists in proving the stability of the limit set $`K`$ for problem $`(P)`$ from its stability for the dual problem, which is more easy. Indeed, unlike problem $`(P)`$, the admissible functions in the dual problem for the approximating sequence $`(K_h)`$ belong all to the same space $`W^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$, with the constraint that these functions are constant on every connected components of $`K_h(\mathrm{\Omega }_D\mathrm{\Omega })`$. Then the assumptions of Theorem 1.1 give the same constraint for the limit set $`K`$.

In the second part of the paper we study several examples of non stability in the case $`p>2`$, using the tool of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-convergence. For instance, Example 5.2 shows that without the capacitary assumption in Theorem 1.1, we may have non stability even when $`K_h`$ has just two connected components. In the case of non stability, we do not yet have a general characterization of the limit problem. However, in Example 5.6, we are able to find the limit problem under some geometrical assumptions on the sequence $`(K_h)`$.

## 2. Notation and preliminaries

Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ be a bounded connected and simply connected open subset of $`^2`$ with Lipschitz continuous boundary $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Let $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega }`$ be a (non-empty) relatively open subset of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ composed of a finite number of connected components and $`_N\mathrm{\Omega }:=\mathrm{\Omega }_D\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

Let $`𝒦(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ be the class of compact subsets of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ and $`𝒦_m(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ be the subset of $`𝒦(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ whose elements have at most $`m`$ connected components.

For any $`x\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and $`\rho >0`$, $`B_\rho (x)`$ denotes the open ball of $`^2`$ centered at $`x`$ with radius $`\rho `$. For any subset $`E`$ of $`^2`$, $`1_E`$ is the characteristic function of $`E`$, $`E^c`$ is the complement of $`E`$, and $`|E|`$ is the Lebesgue measure of $`E`$. Given a subset $`F`$ of some vectorial space $`X`$, $`I_F`$ will denote the indicator function of $`F`$, i.e., $`I_F(x)`$ is equal $`0`$ if $`xF`$ and $`+\mathrm{}`$ otherwise.

Throughout the paper $`B`$ is an open ball containing $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ and $`p`$ and $`q`$ are real numbers, with $`1<p,q<+\mathrm{}`$ and $`p^1+q^1=1`$.

### 2.1. Conjugate function and duality argument in optimization

In this section we recall the concept of duality for the minimization of convex functionals. For more details, the reader is referred to .

Let $`X`$ be a reflexive Banach space and let $`X^{}`$ be its topological dual. Given a function $`F:X\overline{}`$ convex, lower semicontinuous and proper, the conjugate function $`F^{}:X^{}\overline{}`$ of $`F`$ is defined by:

$$F^{}(u^{}):=\underset{uX}{sup}\{u,u^{}F(u)\}u^{}X^{}$$

where $`,`$ denotes the duality brackets between $`X`$ and $`X^{}`$.
We recall that for functionals of the type $`F(u)=_\mathrm{\Omega }f(x,u(x))𝑑x`$, defined in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$, where $`f`$ satisfies for instance the assumptions (2.6)-(2.7) below, the following formula holds (see for instance \[20, Proposition 2.1\])

$$F^{}(u^{})=_\mathrm{\Omega }f^{}(x,u^{}(x))𝑑xu^{}L^q(\mathrm{\Omega },^2).$$
(2.1)
Now we consider the following minimization problem

$$\underset{uX}{\mathrm{min}}F(u).$$
$`(P)`$
Let $`Y`$ be a Banach space and let $`Y^{}`$ be its topological dual. The duality argument in the study of Problem $`(P)`$ is described as follows. We consider a family of perturbations of Problem $`(P)`$:

$$\underset{uX}{\mathrm{min}}\mathrm{\Phi }(u,\xi )$$
$`(P_\xi )`$
where $`\mathrm{\Phi }:X\times Y\overline{}`$ is a convex, lower semicontinuous and proper function such that

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(u,0)=F(u)uX.$$

The dual problem of $`(P)`$ with respect to $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is given by:

$$\underset{\xi ^{}Y^{}}{sup}\{\mathrm{\Phi }^{}(0,\xi ^{})\}.$$
$`(P^{})`$
The following proposition is proved in \[20, Proposition 2.4\].

###### Proposition 2.1.

Assume that $`inf_XF`$ is finite, that $`F`$ is coercive and that there exists $`u_0X`$ such that $`\xi \mathrm{\Phi }(u_0,\xi )`$ takes values in $``$ and is continuous in $`0`$.

Then the problems $`(P)`$ and $`(P^{})`$ each have at least one solution. Moreover

$$\underset{uX}{inf}F(u)=\underset{\xi ^{}Y^{}}{sup}\{\mathrm{\Phi }^{}(0,\xi ^{})\}$$
(2.2)
and the following relation is satisfied

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(\overline{u},0)+\mathrm{\Phi }^{}(0,\overline{\xi }^{})=0,$$
(2.3)
where $`\overline{u}`$ is a solution of $`(P)`$ and $`\overline{\xi }^{}`$ is a solution of $`(P^{})`$.

Conversely, if $`\overline{u}X`$ and $`\overline{\xi }^{}Y^{}`$ satisfy (2.3), then $`\overline{u}`$ is a solution of $`(P)`$ and $`\overline{\xi }^{}`$ is a solution of $`(P^{})`$.

In this paper, we will deal with functionals $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ of this type:

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(u,\xi )=F_1(u)+F_2(Au\xi ),$$
(2.4)
where $`F_1:X`$ and $`F_2:Y`$ are convex lower semicontinuous functions and $`A:XY`$ is a linear continuous operator. In this case, we have that

$$\mathrm{\Phi }^{}(0,\xi ^{})=F_1^{}(A^{}\xi ^{})+F_2^{}(\xi ^{}).$$
(2.5)
where $`A^{}:Y^{}X^{}`$ denotes the transpose of the operator $`A`$.

### 2.2. Deny-Lions spaces

Given an open subset $`U`$ of $`^2`$, the Deny-Lions space is defined by

$$L^{1,p}(U):=\{uL_{\mathrm{loc}}^p(U):uL^p(U,^2)\}.$$

It is well-known that $`L^{1,p}(U)`$ coincides with the Sobolev space $`W^{1,p}(U)`$ whenever $`U`$ is bounded and has a Lipschitz continuous boundary. It is also known that the set $`\{u:uL^{1,p}(U)\}`$ is a closed subspace of $`L^p(U,^2)`$. The Deny-Lions spaces $`L^{1,p}`$ are usually involved in minimization problems of the type (2.8) below in non-smooth domains, where Poincaré inequalities do not hold in general. For further properties of the spaces $`L^{1,p}`$ we refer the reader to  and .

### 2.3. The minimization problem

Let $`f:\mathrm{\Omega }\times ^2`$ be a Borel function which satisfies the following assumptions: there exist positive constants $`\alpha `$, $`\beta `$, $`\gamma `$ such that, for almost every $`x\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and for every $`\xi ^2`$

$`\alpha |\xi |^pf(x,\xi )\beta |\xi |^p+\gamma ;`$ (2.6)
$`f(x,)\text{ is strictly convex}.`$ (2.7)
Given $`K𝒦(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ and a function $`gW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$, we consider the following minimization problem

$$\underset{w}{\mathrm{min}}\{_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}f(x,w)𝑑x\text{}wL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K),w=g\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega }K\}$$
(2.8)
whose solution exits from direct methods of the calculus of variations and is unique in the sense of gradients.

### 2.4. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-convergence

Let us recall the definition of De Giorgi’s $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-convergence in metric spaces. Let $`(X,d)`$ be a metric space. We say that a sequence $`F_h:X[\mathrm{},+\mathrm{}]`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-converges to $`F:X[\mathrm{},+\mathrm{}]`$ (as $`h\mathrm{}`$) if for all $`uX`$ we have

* (lower limit inequality) for every sequence $`(u_h)`$ converging to $`u`$ in $`X`$,

$$\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim\; inf}F_h(u_h)F(u);$$
* (existence of a recovery sequence) there exists a sequence $`(u_h)`$ converging to $`u`$ in $`X`$, such that

$$\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}F_h(u_h)F(u).$$

The function $`F`$ is called $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-limit of $`(F_h)`$ (with respect to $`d`$), and we write $`F=\mathrm{\Gamma }\text{-}lim_hF_h`$. The peculiarity of this type of convergence is its variational character explained in the following proposition.

###### Proposition 2.2.

Assume that $`\{F_h\}`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-converges to $`F`$ and that there exists a compact set $`KX`$ such that

$$\underset{uK}{inf}F_h(u)=\underset{uX}{inf}F_h(u)h.$$

Then

* $`inf_XF_h`$ converges as $`h\mathrm{}`$ to $`\mathrm{min}_XF`$ and any limit point of any sequence $`(u_h)`$ such that

$$\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim}\left(F_h(u_h)\underset{uX}{inf}F_h(u)\right)=0$$

is a minimizer of $`F`$.
* $`(F_h+G)`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-converges to $`F+G`$ for any $`G:X]\mathrm{},+\mathrm{}[`$ continuous.

We refer the reader to  for an exhaustive treatment of this topic.

### 2.5. Hausdorff convergence

The Hausdorff distance between two closed subsets $`K_1`$ and $`K_2`$ of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ is defined by

$$d_H(K_1,K_2):=\mathrm{max}\{\underset{xK_1}{sup}\mathrm{dist}(x,K_2),\underset{xK_2}{sup}\mathrm{dist}(x,K_1)\},$$

with the conventions $`\mathrm{dist}(x,\mathrm{})=\mathrm{diam}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ and $`sup\mathrm{}=0`$, so that

$$d_H(\mathrm{},K)=\{\begin{array}{cc}0\hfill & \text{ if }K=\mathrm{},\hfill \\ \mathrm{diam}(\mathrm{\Omega })\hfill & \text{ if }K\mathrm{}.\hfill \end{array}$$

Let $`(K_h)`$ be a sequence of compact subsets of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$. We say that $`(K_h)`$ converges to $`K`$ in the Hausdorff metric if $`d_H(K_h,K)`$ converges to $`0`$. It is well-known (see e.g., \[22, Blaschke’s Selection Theorem\]) that $`𝒦(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ and $`𝒦_m(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ are compact with respect to the Hausdorff convergence.

In order to study the continuity of the solution $`u`$ of (2.8) with respect to the variations of the compact set $`K`$, we should be able to compare two solutions defined in two different domains. This is why, throughout this paper, given a function $`uL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$, we extend $`u`$ in $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ by setting $`u=0`$ in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K`$.

### 2.6. Capacity

Let $`1<r<\mathrm{}`$. We recall that $`B`$ is a fixed open ball containing $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$. For every subset $`E`$ of $`B`$, the $`(1,r)`$-capacity of $`E`$ in $`B`$, denoted by $`C_r(E,B)`$ or simply by $`C_r(E)`$ (when there is no ambiguity), is defined as the infimum of $`_B|u|^r𝑑x`$ over the set of all functions $`uW_0^{1,r}(B)`$ such that $`u1`$ a.e. in a neighborhood of $`E`$. If $`r>2`$, then $`C_r(E)>0`$ for every nonempty set $`E`$. On the contrary, if $`r=2`$ there are nonempty sets $`E`$ with $`C_r(E)=0`$ (for instance, $`C_r(\{x\})=0`$ for every $`xB`$).

We say that a property $`𝒫(x)`$ holds $`C_r`$-quasi everywhere (abbreviated $`C_r`$-q.e.) in a set $`E`$ if it holds for all $`xE`$ except a subset $`N`$ of $`E`$ with $`C_r(N)=0`$. We recall that the expression almost everywhere (abbreviated a.e.) refers, as usual, to the Lebesgue measure.

A function $`u:E\overline{}`$ is said to be quasi-continuous if for every $`\epsilon `$ there exists $`A_\epsilon E`$, with $`C_r(A_\epsilon )<\epsilon `$, such that the restriction of $`u`$ to $`EA_\epsilon `$ is continuous. If $`r>2`$ every quasi-continuous function is continuous, while for $`r=2`$ there are quasi-continuous functions that are not continuous. It is well known that, for every open subset $`U`$ with $`\overline{U}B`$, any function $`uL^{1,r}(U)`$ has a quasi-continuous representative $`\overline{u}:U_LU`$ which satisfies

$$\underset{\rho 0^+}{lim}_{B_\rho (x)U}|u(y)\overline{u}(x)|𝑑y=0\text{for }C_r\text{-q.e. }xU_LU,$$

where $`_LU`$ denotes the Lipschitz part of the boundary $`U`$ of $`U`$. We recall that if $`u_h`$ converges to $`u`$ strongly in $`W^{1,r}(U)`$, then a subsequence of $`\overline{u}_h`$ converges to $`\overline{u}`$ pointwise $`C_r`$-q.e. on $`U_LU`$. To simplify the notation we shall always identify throughout the paper each function $`uL^{1,r}(U)`$ with its quasi-continuous representative $`\overline{u}`$.

For these and other properties on quasi-continuous representatives the reader is referred to , , , . The following lemma is proved in \[15, Lemma 4.1\] for $`p=2`$. The case $`p2`$ can be proved in the same way.

###### Lemma 2.3.

Let $`(K_h)`$ be a sequence in $`𝒦(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ which converges to a compact set $`K`$ in the Hausdorff metric. Let $`u_hL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K_h)`$ be a sequence such that $`u_h=0`$ $`C_p`$-q.e. on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }K_h`$ and $`(u_h)`$ is bounded in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$. Then, there exists a function $`uL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ with $`u=0`$ $`C_p`$-q.e. on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }K`$ such that, up to a subsequence, $`u_h`$ converges weakly to $`u`$ in $`L^p(A,^2)`$ for every $`A\mathrm{\Omega }K`$. If in addition $`|K_h|`$ converges to $`|K|`$, then $`u_h`$ converges weakly to $`u`$ in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$.

The following lemma will be crucial in the proof of our main results.

###### Lemma 2.4.

Let $`(K_h)𝒦_m(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ be a sequence which converges to a compact set $`K`$ in the Hausdorff metric, and let $`(v_h)`$ be a sequence in $`W^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ which converges to a function $`v`$ weakly in $`W^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$. Assume that the intersection of the limits of two different connected components of $`K_h`$ is either empty or has positive $`C_q`$-capacity and that every function $`v_h`$ is constant $`C_q`$-q.e. in each connected component of $`K_h`$. Then $`v`$ is constant $`C_q`$-q.e. in each connected component of $`K`$.

###### Proof.

By extending both functions $`v_h`$ and $`v`$ in the open ball $`B`$ containing $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ such that $`v_hv`$ weakly in $`W^{1,q}(B)`$ and arguing as in \[12, Lemma 3.5\] we obtain that $`v`$ is constant $`C_q`$-q.e. in the limit of each connected component of $`K_h`$. Now using the assumption that the intersection of the limits of two different connected components of $`K_h`$ is either empty or has positive $`C_q`$-capacity, we get that $`v`$ is constant $`C_q`$-q.e. in each connected component of $`K`$. ∎

The following lemma will be used in order to get the strong convergence of solutions in our main results.

###### Lemma 2.5.

Let $`f:\mathrm{\Omega }\times ^2R`$ be a Borel function which satisfies the assumptions (2.6) and (2.7), and let $`(\xi _h)`$ be a sequence in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$ weakly converging to some $`\xi L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$. If $`_\mathrm{\Omega }f(x,\xi _h(x))𝑑x`$ converges to $`_\mathrm{\Omega }f(x,\xi (x))𝑑x`$, then $`\left(\xi _h\right)`$ converges to $`\xi `$ strongly in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$.

###### Proof.

By the convexity of $`f`$, we have the following lower semicontinuity inequality

$$_\mathrm{\Omega }f(x,\xi (x))𝑑x\underset{h}{lim\; inf}_\mathrm{\Omega }f(x,(\xi +\xi _h(x))/2)𝑑x.$$

Hence,

$`\underset{h}{lim\; sup}{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}f(x,\xi (x))+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}f(x,\xi _h(x))f(x,(\xi (x)+\xi _h(x))/2)\right]𝑑x`$
$`\underset{h}{lim\; sup}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}f(x,\xi _h(x))𝑑x{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}f(x,\xi (x))𝑑x\right]=0`$ (2.9)
On the other hand, by the convexity of $`f(x,)`$ we have that

$$\frac{1}{2}f(x,\xi (x))+\frac{1}{2}f(x,\xi _h(x))f(x,(\xi (x)+\xi _h(x))/2)$$

is non negative, and thus

$$\frac{1}{2}f(x,\xi (x))+\frac{1}{2}f(x,\xi _h(x))f(x,(\xi (x)+\xi _h(x))/2)0\text{ strongly in }L^1(\mathrm{\Omega }).$$
(2.10)
Up to a subsequence, we have

$$\frac{1}{2}f(x,\xi (x))+\frac{1}{2}f(x,\xi _h(x))f(x,(\xi (x)+\xi _h(x))/2)0\text{ a.e. in }\mathrm{\Omega }.$$

By the strict convexity of $`f(x,)`$, it easily follows that

$$\xi _h(x)\xi (x)\text{ a.e. in }\mathrm{\Omega }$$

and hence $`f(x,\xi _h(x))f(x,\xi (x))\text{ a.e. in }\mathrm{\Omega }.`$ Then by Fatou’s Lemma we get

$`\underset{h}{lim\; inf}{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}\left[f(x,\xi _h(x))+f(x,\xi (x))|f(x,\xi _h(x))f(x,\xi (x))|\right]𝑑x2{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}f(x,\xi (x))𝑑x`$ (2.11)
from which it follows that $`lim\; sup_h_\mathrm{\Omega }|f(x,\xi _h(x))f(x,\xi (x))|𝑑x0`$, that is

$$f(x,\xi _h(x))f(x,\xi (x))\text{ strongly in }L^1(\mathrm{\Omega }).$$
(2.12)
Now from (2.12) and by assumption (2.6), we have (up to a subsequence) that $`(\xi _h)`$ is dominated in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$, which together with the pointwise convergence above imply that $`\xi _h\xi `$ strongly in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$. ∎

## 3. The dual problem

According to the notation of Section $`2.1`$, we set

$`X:=L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K),Y:=L^p(\mathrm{\Omega }K,^2);`$
$`F_1(u):=I_{\{w\text{}w=g\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega }K\}}(u)uL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K);`$
$`F_2(\xi ):={\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K}}f(x,\xi )𝑑x\xi L^p(\mathrm{\Omega }K,^2);`$
$`Au:=uuL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K).`$
So, the functional to minimize in (2.8) is of the type (2.4), that is

$$F(u)=F_1(u)+F_2(Au).$$

According to formula (2.5), we need to compute $`F_1^{}`$ and $`F_2^{}`$. First of all, for every $`u^{}(L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K))^{}`$ there exists some $`\xi ^{}L^q(\mathrm{\Omega }K,^2)`$ such that

$$u^{},u=_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\xi ^{}udxuL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K).$$
(3.1)
Note that

$$A^{}\xi ^{}=u^{}$$
(3.2)
Using this representation, we have that

$$F_1^{}(u^{})=\underset{\begin{array}{c}uL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)\\ \\ u=g\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega }K\end{array}}{sup}\left[_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\xi ^{}udx\right]=\underset{\begin{array}{c}uL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)\\ \\ u=0\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega }K\end{array}}{sup}\left[_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\xi ^{}udx+_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\xi ^{}gdx\right].$$

So, by the fact that the supremum of an affine function on a vector space is equal to $`0`$ or to $`\mathrm{}`$, we obtain

$$F_1^{}(u^{})=F_1^{}(A^{}\xi ^{})=\{\begin{array}{cc}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\xi ^{}gdx\hfill & \text{ if }\{\begin{array}{cc}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\xi ^{}\phi dx=0\hfill & \phi L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K),\hfill \\ \phi =0\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega }K,\hfill & \end{array}\hfill \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{}\\ +\mathrm{}\hfill & \text{ otherwise }.\hfill \end{array}$$
(3.3)
Note that the condition $`_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\xi ^{}\phi dx=0`$ $`\phi L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ with $`\phi =0\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega }K`$, is the weak formulation of

$$\{\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{div}\xi ^{}=0\hfill & \text{ in }\mathrm{\Omega }K,\hfill \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{}\\ \xi ^{}\nu =0\hfill & \text{ on }_N\mathrm{\Omega }K.\hfill \end{array}$$

On the other hand, from (2.1) we have also

$$F_2^{}(\xi ^{})=_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}f^{}(x,\xi ^{})𝑑x\xi ^{}L^q(\mathrm{\Omega }K,^2).$$
(3.4)
Finally, formula (2.5) in this case gives

$$\mathrm{\Phi }^{}(0,\xi ^{})=\{\begin{array}{cc}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\left[f^{}(x,\xi ^{})+\xi ^{}g\right]𝑑x\hfill & \text{ if }\{\begin{array}{cc}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\xi ^{}\phi dx=0\hfill & \phi L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K),\hfill \\ \phi =0\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega }K,\hfill & \end{array}\hfill \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{}\\ +\mathrm{}\hfill & \text{ otherwise}.\hfill \end{array}$$
(3.5)
The duality formula (2.2) in this case is given by

$$\underset{uL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)}{\mathrm{min}}F(u)=\underset{\begin{array}{c}\xi ^{}L^q(\mathrm{\Omega }K,^2)\\ \\ \begin{array}{c}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\xi ^{}\phi dx=0\\ \\ \phi L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K),\phi =0\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega }K\end{array}\end{array}}{sup}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\left[f^{}(x,\xi ^{})\xi ^{}g\right]𝑑x.$$
(3.6)
Note that all the results above are actually valid in any dimension, while in two dimensional domains, the dual problem in the right hand-side of (3.6) can be rewritten as a maximum problem in some suitable subspace of $`W^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$.

To this aim, let $`R`$ be the rotation on $`^2`$ defined by

$$R(y_1,y_2):=(y_2,y_1)$$

and let $`i:W^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })L^q(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$ be the mapping defined by

$$i(v):=RvvW^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega }).$$
(3.7)
For every compact set $`K\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ we set

$$W_K^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega }):=\left\{vW^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega }),_\mathrm{\Omega }v𝑑x=0\text{ and }v\text{ is constant }C_q\text{q.e. in every }𝒞.𝒞.\text{ of }K\right\}$$

where the notation $`𝒞.𝒞.`$ means connected component.
The following proposition establishes a bijection between the subspace $`W_{K_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ and the set of admissible functions for the dual problem in the right hand-side of (3.6).

###### Proposition 3.1.

Assume that the compact set $`K`$ has a finite number of connected components. Then the mapping $`i`$ defined in (3.7) establishes a bijection between the subspace $`W_{K_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ and the set of functions

$$\{\xi ^{}L^q(\mathrm{\Omega }K,^2):_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\xi ^{}\phi dx=0\phi L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K),\phi =0\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega }K\}.$$

###### Proof.

Let $`vW_{K_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$. Let $`C^1,\mathrm{},C^l`$ be the connected components of $`K_N\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Since $`v=c^i`$ $`C_q`$-q.e on $`C^i`$, by \[24, Theorem 4.5\] we can approximate $`v`$ strongly in $`W^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ by a sequence of functions $`v_nC_c^{\mathrm{}}(^2)`$ that are constant in a suitable neighborhood $`V_n^i`$ of $`C^i`$. Let $`\phi L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ with $`\phi =0`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }K`$ and let $`\phi _nW_0^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ such that $`\phi _n=\phi `$ in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_iV_n^i`$. Then we have that

$$_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}Rv_n\phi dx=_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}Rv_n\phi _ndx=0,$$
(3.8)
where the last equality follows from the fact that the vector field $`Rv_n`$ is divergence free. Then passing to the limit in (3.8) for $`n\mathrm{}`$, we get

$$_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}Rv\phi dx=0\phi L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)\text{ with }\phi =0\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega }K.$$

So, $`i`$ maps the space $`W_{K_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ in the set of admissible function in the dual problem.
Now, let $`\xi ^{}L^q(\mathrm{\Omega }K,^2)`$ be such that $`_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\xi ^{}\phi dx=0\phi L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K),\phi =0`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }K.`$ By extending $`\xi ^{}`$ by zero on $`K`$ and still denoting this extension by $`\xi ^{}`$, we obtain

$$_\mathrm{\Omega }\xi ^{}\phi dx=0\phi 𝒟(\mathrm{\Omega }),$$

i.e., $`\mathrm{div}\xi ^{}=\mathrm{curl}(R\xi ^{})=0`$ in $`𝒟^{}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$. Since $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is simply connected, there exists $`vW^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ such that $`R\xi ^{}=v`$ a.e. in $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. It is not restrictive to assume that $`_\mathrm{\Omega }v𝑑x=0`$. So, we have to prove that $`v`$ is constant on every connected component of $`K_N\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Let $`C`$ a connected component of $`K_N\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and, for every $`\epsilon >0`$, let

$$C_\epsilon :=\{x\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}\text{}\mathrm{dist}(x,C)<\epsilon \}K_\epsilon :=K_N\mathrm{\Omega }\overline{C_\epsilon }.$$

Let $`\xi _\epsilon ^{}`$ be the solution of the dual problem in the right hand of (3.6) with $`K`$ replaced by $`K_ϵ`$. By the monotonicity of $`\mathrm{\Omega }K_\epsilon `$, it is easy to see that $`\xi _\epsilon ^{}\xi ^{}`$ strongly in $`L^q(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$ when $`\epsilon 0`$. As above, let $`v_\epsilon W^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ be such that $`_\mathrm{\Omega }v_ϵ𝑑x=0`$ and $`R\xi _\epsilon ^{}=v_\epsilon `$ a.e. in $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. By the fact that $`v_\epsilon =0`$ in $`C_\epsilon ,v_\epsilon v`$ strongly in $`W^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$, and that $`CC_\epsilon `$, we get that $`v`$ is constant $`C_q`$-q.e. on $`C`$, so $`vW_{K_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$. ∎

Using Proposition 3.1, the dual problem can be rewritten as

$$\underset{vW_{K_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })}{sup}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\left[f^{}(x,Rv)+Rvg\right]𝑑x.$$
(3.9)
So, the duality formula (3.6) in two dimensional domains becomes

$$\underset{uL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)}{\mathrm{min}}F(u)=\underset{vW_{K_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })}{sup}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\left[f^{}(x,Rv)+Rvg\right]𝑑x.$$
(3.10)
Let $`uL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ be a solution of the left hand-side of (3.10). A solution $`vW_{K_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ of the right hand-side of (3.10) is called conjugate of $`u`$.

The duality relation between $`u`$ and $`v`$ is

$$_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}f(x,u)𝑑x=_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\left[f^{}(x,Rv)+Rvg\right]𝑑x.$$
(3.11)
###### Remark 3.2.

Since $`u=g`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }K`$ and $`vW_{K_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ it follows that

$$_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}Rvgdx=_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}Rvudx.$$

Hence (3.11) becomes

$$_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\left[f(x,u)+f^{}(x,Rv)Rvu\right]𝑑x=0.$$
(3.12)
Since the integrand in (3.12) is positive, we get

$$f(x,u)+f^{}(x,Rv)Rvu=0\text{a.e. in }\mathrm{\Omega }K.$$

That is

$$Rv_\xi f(x,u)$$

where $`_\xi f(x,u)`$ denotes the subdifferential of $`f(x,)`$ at the point $`u`$. Whenever $`f(x,)`$ is also of class $`C^1`$, then $`f^{}(x,)`$ is strictly convex and hence the dual problem as a unique solution $`v`$ such that $`Rv=_\xi f(x,u)`$.

For $`f(\xi ):=\frac{1}{p}|\xi |^p`$ we obtain

$$Rv=|u|^{p2}u\text{a.e. in }\mathrm{\Omega }K.$$

In particular for $`p=2`$ we obtain the classical notion of harmonic conjugate.

## 4. Stability for the minimum problem

Let $`(K_h)𝒦_m(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ be a sequence which converges to a compact set $`K`$ in the Hausdorff metric. We say that $`K`$ is stable for the problem $`(P)`$ along the sequence $`(K_h)`$ if for every function $`f`$ that satisfies conditions (2.6)-(2.7) and for every $`gW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }),`$ we have

$$u_hu\text{ strongly in }L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2),$$

where $`u_h`$ and $`u`$ are solutions of (2.8) in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K_h`$ and in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K`$ respectively.

In the following theorem, we prove the equivalence between the stability of $`K`$ for the minimum problem (2.8) and for its dual under the condition that $`f(x,)`$ is of class $`C^1`$.

###### Theorem 4.1.

Let $`(K_h)𝒦_m(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ be a sequence which converges to a compact set $`K`$ in the Hausdorff metric and such that $`|K_h|`$ converges to $`|K|`$. Assume that $`f(x,)`$ is of class $`C^1`$. Let $`gW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$. Let $`u_h`$ and $`u`$ be solutions of (2.8) in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K_h`$ and in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K`$ respectively. Let $`v_h`$ and $`v`$ be the solutions of the problem (3.9) in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K_h`$ and in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K`$ respectively. Then

$$u_hu\text{ strongly in }L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)\text{if and only if}v_hv\text{ strongly in }L^q(\mathrm{\Omega },^2).$$

###### Proof.

Assume that $`v_hv`$ strongly in $`L^q(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$. By (3.11), we have

$$_{\mathrm{\Omega }K_h}f(x,u_h)𝑑x=_{\mathrm{\Omega }K_h}\left[f^{}(x,Rv_h)+Rv_hg\right]𝑑x.$$
(4.1)
By the growth assumptions (2.6) on the function $`f`$, we have that $`u_h`$ is bounded in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$. So applying Lemma 2.3 to $`u_hg`$, we obtain that $`u_h`$ converges (up to a subsequence) to $`\stackrel{~}{u}`$ weakly in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$ for some function $`\stackrel{~}{u}L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ with $`\stackrel{~}{u}=g`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }K`$. So passing to the limit in (4.1) we get

$`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K}}f(x,\stackrel{~}{u})𝑑x\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim\; inf}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K_h}}f(x,u_h)𝑑x\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K_h}}f(x,u_h)𝑑x`$
$`=\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K_h}}\left[f^{}(x,Rv_h)+Rv_hg\right]𝑑x={\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K}}\left[f^{}(x,Rv)+Rvg\right]𝑑x`$
$`={\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K}}f(x,u)𝑑x`$ (4.2)
where the last equality follows from the duality relation between $`u`$ and $`v`$. From (4) and the fact that $`f(x,)`$ is strictly convex, we get $`u=\stackrel{~}{u}`$ a.e. in $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, and then all the inequalities in (4) are equalities. Therefore, all the sequence $`(u_h)`$ converges weakly in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$ and

$$\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K_h}f(x,u_h)𝑑x=_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}f(x,u)𝑑x.$$

Using the convention $`u_h=0`$ on $`K_h`$, $`u=0`$ on $`K`$, and the fact that $`|K_h||K|`$, we get also

$$\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim}_\mathrm{\Omega }f(x,u_h)𝑑x=_\mathrm{\Omega }f(x,u)𝑑x.$$
(4.3)
Now using the strict convexity of $`f(x,)`$, we get from (4.3) and from Lemma 2.5 that $`(u_h)`$ converges to $`u`$ strongly in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$.
Viceversa, suppose that $`u_hu`$ strongly in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$. Since $`f(x,)`$ is of class $`C^1`$, from Remark 3.2, we have $`Rv_h=f_\xi (x,u_h)`$ a.e. in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K_h`$ and $`Rv=f_\xi (x,u)`$ a.e. in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K`$. Then from the growth assumptions on $`f`$ we obtain that $`v_hv`$ strongly in $`L^q(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$. ∎

In the following theorem, we give sufficient conditions on the sequence $`(K_h)`$ which guarantee the stability for Problem (2.8).

###### Theorem 4.2.

Let $`(K_h)𝒦_m(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ be a sequence which converges to a compact set $`K`$ in the Hausdorff metric and such that $`|K_h|`$ converges to $`|K|`$. Let $`gW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$. Let $`u_h`$ and $`u`$ be solutions of (2.8) in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K_h`$ and in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K`$ respectively. Assume that the intersection of the limits of two different connected components of $`K_h_N\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is either empty or has positive $`(1,q)`$-capacity. Then $`u_h`$ converges strongly to $`u`$ in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`v_hW_{K_h_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ and $`vW_{K_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ be conjugates of $`u_h`$ and $`u`$ respectively. Up to a subsequence, $`v_h\stackrel{~}{v}`$ weakly in $`W^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ for some $`\stackrel{~}{v}W^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$. By the fact that the intersection of the limits of two different connected components of $`K_h_N\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is either empty or has positive $`(1,q)`$-capacity, it follows from Lemma 2.4 that $`\stackrel{~}{v}W_{K_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$.

By the growth assumptions (2.6) on the function $`f`$, we have that $`u_h`$ is bounded in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$. So applying Lemma 2.3 to $`u_hg`$, we obtain that $`u_h`$ converges (up to a subsequence) to $`\stackrel{~}{u}`$ weakly in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$ for some function $`\stackrel{~}{u}L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ with $`\stackrel{~}{u}=g`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }K`$.
Since $`vW_{K_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$, using \[24, Theorem 4.5\] we can approximate strongly in $`W^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ the function $`v`$ with smooth functions $`w_n`$ which are constant in a suitable neighborhood of any connected component of $`K_N\mathrm{\Omega },`$ and hence constant in any connected component of $`K_h_N\mathrm{\Omega }`$ for $`h`$ big enough. So there exists a subsequence of integers $`(h_n)`$ such that $`w_nW_{K_{h_n}_N\mathrm{\Omega }}^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ and $`w_n`$ converges strongly in $`W^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ to the function $`v`$ as $`n\mathrm{}`$. Therefore,

$`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K}}\left[f^{}(x,Rv)+Rvg\right]𝑑x=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K_{h_n}}}\left[f^{}(x,Rw_n)+Rw_ng\right]𝑑x`$
$`\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K_{h_n}}}\left[f^{}(x,Rv_{h_n})+Rv_{h_n}g\right]𝑑x{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K}}\left[f^{}(x,R\stackrel{~}{v})+R\stackrel{~}{v}g\right]𝑑x.`$
Therefore, since $`v`$ is a maximizer of the dual problem in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K`$, all inequalities in the previous formula are equalities, so we obtain

$$\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K_{h_n}}\left[f^{}(x,Rv_{h_n})+Rv_{h_n}g\right]𝑑x=_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}\left[f^{}(x,Rv)+Rvg\right]𝑑x.$$

Now, using the duality relations between the functions $`v`$, $`u`$ on one hand, and $`v_{h_n}`$, $`u_{h_n}`$ on the other hand, and then passing to the limit, we obtain

$`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K}}f(x,u)𝑑x={\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K}}\left[f^{}(x,Rv)+Rvg\right]𝑑x`$
$`=`$ $`\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K_{h_n}}}\left[f^{}(x,Rv_{h_n})+Rv_{h_n}g\right]𝑑x=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K_{h_n}}}f(x,u_{h_n})𝑑x`$
$``$ $`\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim\; inf}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K_{h_n}}}f(x,u_{h_n})𝑑x{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K}}f(x,\stackrel{~}{u})𝑑x.`$
Since $`f(x,)`$ is strictly convex, we get that $`\stackrel{~}{u}=u`$ a.e. in $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Therefore, all the sequence $`(u_h)`$ converges weakly in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$ to $`u`$. Now, using that $`_\mathrm{\Omega }f(x,u_h)𝑑x_\mathrm{\Omega }f(x,u)𝑑x`$, by Lemma 2.5 we get that $`(u_h)`$ converges to $`u`$ strongly in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$. ∎

###### Remark 4.3.

When $`f(x,)`$ is of class $`C^1`$, Theorem 4.2 is a consequence of Theorem 4.1. Indeed, the assumption that the intersection of the limits of two different connected components of $`K_h_N\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is either empty or has positive $`(1,q)`$-capacity easily guarantees the stability for the dual problem, and hence using Theorem 4.1 the stability for Problem (2.8) also follows.

## 5. Some examples of non stability

In this section we study some examples for $`f(x,\xi )=\frac{1}{p}|\xi |^p`$. Throughout the section we assume that $`p>2`$.

### 5.1. Limit problem via $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-convergence

In the following example, the assumptions of Theorem 4.2 hold. We show in this case that the stability result follows also by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-convergence arguments.

###### Example 5.1.

Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }:=(1,1)\times (1,1)`$, $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }:=(1,1)\times \{1,1\},`$$`K=[1,1]\times \{0\}`$ and let

$$K_h:=[1,\frac{1}{2}]\times \left\{\frac{1}{h}\right\}[\frac{1}{2},1]\times \left\{\frac{1}{h}\right\},$$

(see Fig. 1). We consider the sequence of functionals $`F_h`$ defined in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ by:

$$F_h(u):=\{\begin{array}{cc}\frac{1}{p}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K_h}|u|^p𝑑x𝑑y\hfill & \text{ if }uW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K_h)\text{ and }u=g\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega },\hfill \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{}\\ +\mathrm{}\hfill & \text{ otherwise}.\hfill \end{array}$$
(5.1)
Then, $`F_h\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-converges to $`F_{\mathrm{}}`$ in the strong topology of $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega })`$, where

$$F_{\mathrm{}}(u):=\{\begin{array}{cc}\frac{1}{p}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}|u|^p𝑑x𝑑y\hfill & \text{ if }uW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)\text{ and }u=g\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega },\hfill \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{}\\ +\mathrm{}\hfill & \text{ otherwise}.\hfill \end{array}$$

Hence in this case the conclusion of Theorem 4.2 follows from a general result on convergence of minima (see Proposition 2.2).

###### Proof.

(i) $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-liminf: Let $`u_hu`$ strongly in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega })`$, we want to prove that $`lim\; inf_h\mathrm{}F_h(u_h)F(u)`$. We can assume that $`lim\; inf_h\mathrm{}F_h(u_h)=lim_h\mathrm{}F_h(u_h)<\mathrm{}`$. So, for any $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}\mathrm{\Omega }K`$ with $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$, we have that $`u_hW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }^{})`$ for $`h`$ big enough, $`u_hu`$ in $`W^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }^{})`$ and $`u=g`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Now from the lower semicontinuity of the $`L^p`$norm of the gradients and from the arbitrariness of $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$ we get that $`uW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ and the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-liminf inequality holds.
(ii) $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-limsup: Let $`uL^p(\mathrm{\Omega })`$. We want to construct a sequence $`(u_h)L^p(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ converging strongly to $`u`$ in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ such that $`lim_hF_h(u_h)F(u)`$. We can assume that $`uW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ and $`u=g`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }`$. We set $`u_h:=u`$ in $`\mathrm{\Omega }R_h`$ where $`R_h:=(1,1)\times [\frac{1}{h},\frac{1}{h}]`$. Now let us define the function $`u_h`$ in $`R_h`$. To this aim, we consider the function $`v_h`$ defined in $`R_h`$ by

$$v_h(x,y):=u(x,\frac{2}{h}sgn(x)y)$$

where $`sgn(x)`$ denotes the sign of $`x`$. In other words, the function $`v_h`$ is obtained from $`u`$ by symmetry with respect to the segment $`[0,1]\times \{\frac{1}{h}\}`$ for $`x`$ positive and by symmetry with respect to the segment $`[1,0]\times \{\frac{1}{h}\}`$ for $`x`$ negative.

Such a function $`v_h`$ may jump on the segment $`\{0\}\times [\frac{1}{h},\frac{1}{h}]`$. So, we consider the function $`\phi C^0(R_h)`$ defined by

$$\phi (x,y):=\{\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}1}\hfill & \text{ if }|x|>\frac{1}{2},\hfill \\ 2x\hfill & \text{ if }\frac{1}{2}x0,\hfill \\ \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}2}x\hfill & \text{ if }0x\frac{1}{2}.\hfill \end{array}$$

Now we set $`u_h:=\phi v_h`$ on $`R_h`$. For this choice of $`u_h`$, it is easy to see that $`u_hW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K_h)`$ with $`u_h=g`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and that the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-limsup inequality holds. ∎

In the following example, we consider a sequence of compact sets $`K_h`$ along which the problem $`(P)`$ is not stable. More precisely in the limit problem, that is the problem solved by the limit function $`u`$, there is an additional term involving the jump of $`u`$ on a point of $`K`$.

###### Example 5.2.

Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and $`K`$ be as in the previous example and let

$$K_h:=[1,\frac{a_h}{2}]\times \left\{0\right\}[\frac{a_h}{2},1]\times \left\{0\right\}\left\{\frac{a_h}{2}\right\}\times [\frac{b_h}{2},\frac{b_h}{2}]\left\{\frac{a_h}{2}\right\}\times [\frac{b_h}{2},\frac{b_h}{2}]$$

be as in Fig. $`2`$ with $`(a_h)`$ and $`(b_h)`$ being two sequences of positive numbers converging to $`0`$. In this way $`(K_h)`$ converges to $`K`$ in the Hausdorff metric. Let $`F_h`$ be defined as in (5.1).

Assume that the sequence $`(\frac{1}{p}a_hb_h^{1p})`$ converges to some $`c[0,+\mathrm{}]`$. Then $`F_h`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-converges in the strong topology of $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ to $`F_{\mathrm{}}`$ defined in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ in the following way (with the convention that $`0\mathrm{}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$).

$$F_{\mathrm{}}(u):=\{\begin{array}{cc}\frac{1}{p}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}|u|^p𝑑x𝑑y+c\left|u^+(0,0)u^{}(0,0)\right|^p\hfill & \text{ if }\{\begin{array}{cc}uW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)\text{ and }\hfill & \text{ }\hfill \\ u=g\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega },\hfill & \text{ }\hfill \end{array}\hfill \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{}\\ +\mathrm{}\hfill & \text{ otherwise, }\hfill \end{array}$$
(5.2)
where $`u^+(0,0)`$ and $`u^{}(0,0)`$ are respectively the values in $`(0,0)`$ of the traces of $`u|_{\mathrm{\Omega }^+}`$ and $`u|_\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$ on $`K`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }^+`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$ being respectively the upper and the lower connected components of $`\mathrm{\Omega }K`$.

###### Proof.

(i) $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-liminf: Let $`u_hu`$ in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega })`$, we want to prove that $`lim\; inf_h\mathrm{}F_h(u_h)F(u)`$. We can assume that $`lim\; inf_h\mathrm{}F_h(u_h)=lim_h\mathrm{}F_h(u_h)<\mathrm{}`$. So, for any $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}\mathrm{\Omega }K`$ with $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$, we have that $`u_hW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }^{})`$ for $`h`$ big enough, $`u_hu`$ in $`W^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }^{})`$ and $`u=g`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Now from the lower semicontinuity of the $`L^p`$norm of the gradients and from the arbitrariness of $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$ we get that $`uW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K).`$

We set $`R_h:=(\frac{a_h}{2},\frac{a_h}{2})\times (\frac{b_h}{2},\frac{b_h}{2}).`$ We have

$`F_h(u_h)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{p}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K_h}}|u_h|^p𝑑x𝑑y={\displaystyle \frac{1}{p}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }R_h}}|u_h|^p𝑑x𝑑y+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{p}}{\displaystyle _{R_h}}|u_h|^p𝑑x𝑑y`$ (5.3)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{p}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }R_h}}|u_h|^p𝑑x𝑑y+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{p}}a_hb_h^{1p}{\displaystyle _{\frac{a_h}{2}}^{\frac{a_h}{2}}}\left|u_h(x,{\displaystyle \frac{b_h}{2}})u_h(x,{\displaystyle \frac{b_h}{2}})\right|^p𝑑x.`$
Now let us fix $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}\mathrm{\Omega }K`$. We have that $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}\mathrm{\Omega }R_h`$ definitively, and

$$\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim\; inf}_{\mathrm{\Omega }R_h}|u_h|^p𝑑x𝑑y\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim\; inf}_\mathrm{\Omega }^{}|u_h|^p𝑑x𝑑y_\mathrm{\Omega }^{}|u|^p𝑑x𝑑y.$$

By the arbitrariness of $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$, we get

$$\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim\; inf}_{\mathrm{\Omega }R_h}|u_h|^p𝑑x𝑑y_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}|u|^p𝑑x𝑑y.$$
(5.4)
Let us consider the functions $`\stackrel{~}{u}_h^1`$ defined in $`(1,1)\times (0,1\frac{b_h}{2})`$ by

$$\stackrel{~}{u}_h^1(x,y):=u_h|_{(1,1)\times (\frac{b_h}{2},1)}(x,y+\frac{b_h}{2})$$

and $`\stackrel{~}{u}_h^2`$ defined in $`(1,1)\times (1+\frac{b_h}{2},0)`$ by

$$\stackrel{~}{u}_h^2(x,y):=u_h|_{(1,1)\times (1,\frac{b_h}{2})}(x,y\frac{b_h}{2}).$$

We extend $`\stackrel{~}{u}_h^1`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{u}_h^2`$ respectively in $`\mathrm{\Omega }^+`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$ in such a way those extensions converge weakly to $`u`$ respectively in $`W^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }^+)`$ and in $`W^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }^{})`$. Recalling that $`p>2,`$ We have the uniform convergence of their traces on $`K`$. So,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{p}}a_hb_h^{1p}{\displaystyle _{\frac{a_h}{2}}^{\frac{a_h}{2}}}\left|u_h(x,{\displaystyle \frac{b_h}{2}})u_h(x,{\displaystyle \frac{b_h}{2}})\right|^p𝑑x={\displaystyle \frac{1}{p}}a_hb_h^{1p}{\displaystyle _{\frac{a_h}{2}}^{\frac{a_h}{2}}}\left|\stackrel{~}{u}_h^1(x,0)\stackrel{~}{u}_h^2(x,0)\right|^p𝑑x`$
$`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{p}}a_hb_h^{1p}{\displaystyle _{\frac{a_h}{2}}^{\frac{a_h}{2}}}\left|u^+(x,0)u^{}(x,0)+w_h(x)\right|^p𝑑x,`$
with $`(w_h)`$ converging uniformly to $`0`$ on $`K`$. From this, it follows that

$$\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{1}{p}a_hb_h^{1p}_{\frac{a_h}{2}}^{\frac{a_h}{2}}\left|u_h(x,\frac{b_h}{2})u_h(x,\frac{b_h}{2})\right|^p𝑑x=c\left|u^+(0,0)u^{}(0,0)\right|^p.$$
(5.5)
Therefore, the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-liminf inequality follows from (5.3), (5.4) and (5.5).
(ii) $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-limsup: Let $`uL^p(\mathrm{\Omega })`$. We want to construct a sequence $`(u_h)L^p(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ which converges to $`u`$ such that $`lim_hF_h(u_h)F(u)`$. We can assume that $`uW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ and $`u=g`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

We set $`u_h=u`$ in $`(\mathrm{\Omega }K)R_h`$ and we modify suitably $`u`$ in $`R_hK`$ in order to get a new function which does not jump on $`KR_h`$. To this aim let $`R_h^1:=R_h\{y>0\}`$ and $`R_h^2:=R_h\{y<0\}`$. Let us define $`u_h`$ in $`R_h^1`$. We set

$$v_h:=u|_{(\frac{a_h}{2},\frac{a_h}{2})\times (\frac{b_h}{2},b_h)}$$

and

$$\stackrel{~}{u}_h(x,y):=v_h(x,b_hy)\text{ for any }(x,y)R_h^1.$$

In other words, $`\stackrel{~}{u}_h`$ is defined by taking the reflection of the restriction of $`u`$ on the rectangle symmetric to $`R_h^1`$ with respect to the horizontal line $`y=\frac{b_h}{2}`$. Now we consider the linear function $`\phi _1(x,y):=\frac{2}{b_h}y.`$ For any $`(x,y)R_h^1`$ we set

$$u_h(x,y):=\phi _1(x,y)\left(\stackrel{~}{u}_h(x,y)\frac{u^+(0,0)+u^{}(0,0)}{2}\right)+\frac{u^+(0,0)+u^{}(0,0)}{2}.$$

In the similar way, we define $`u_h`$ in $`R_h^2`$ using

$$u|_{(\frac{a_h}{2},\frac{a_h}{2})\times (b_h,\frac{b_h}{2})}\text{ and }\phi _2(x,y):=\frac{2}{b_h}y.$$

It is easy to check that $`u_hW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K_h)`$, $`u_h=g`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and by construction

$$\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{1}{p}_{R_h^1}|u_h|^p𝑑x𝑑y=\underset{h\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{1}{p}_{R_h^1}|u_h|^p𝑑x𝑑y=\frac{c}{2}\left|u^+(0,0)u^{}(0,0)\right|^p.$$

Therefore,

$`\underset{h}{lim}F_h(u_h)`$ $`=`$ $`\underset{h}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{p}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K_h}}|u_h|^p𝑑x𝑑y`$
$`=`$ $`\underset{h}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{p}}{\displaystyle _{(\mathrm{\Omega }K)R_h}}|u_h|^p𝑑x𝑑y+\underset{h}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{p}}{\displaystyle _{R_h^1}}|u_h|^p𝑑x𝑑y+\underset{h}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{p}}{\displaystyle _{R_h^2}}|u_h|^p𝑑x𝑑y`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{p}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K}}|u|^p𝑑x𝑑y+c\left|u^+(0,0)u^{}(0,0)\right|^p=F_{\mathrm{}}(u).`$
###### Remark 5.3.

Note that if the constant $`c`$ in the previous example is equal to zero, then we have the stability of $`K`$ for the minimization problem (2.8) along the sequence $`K_h`$ even if the intersection of the limit of the two connected components of $`K_h`$ is the point $`(0,0)`$ whose $`(1,q)`$capacity is equal to zero (recall that $`q<2`$). So, in Theorem 4.2 the assumption that the limit of two connected components of $`K_h`$ is either empty or has positive $`(1,q)`$capacity is not a necessary condition. Although, it can not be removed as shown by the case $`c>0`$.

###### Remark 5.4.

Starting from Example 5.2, one can construct examples in which the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-limit involves traces at the origin from more than two subdomains, as shown in fig. $`3`$.

In this case, we can obtain a $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-limit of the form

$$F_{\mathrm{}}(u):=\{\begin{array}{cc}\frac{1}{p}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}|u|^p𝑑x𝑑y+\underset{1i<j3}{}c_{i,j}\left|u^i(0,0)u^j(0,0)\right|^p\hfill & \text{ if }\{\begin{array}{cc}uW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)\hfill & \\ u=g\text{ on }\mathrm{\Omega }\hfill & \end{array}\hfill \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{}\\ +\mathrm{}\hfill & \text{ otherwise },\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`u^i(0,0)`$ is the value at $`(0,0)`$ of the trace of $`u|_{\mathrm{\Omega }_i}`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_i`$ being the connected components of $`\mathrm{\Omega }K`$.

In Theorem 4.2, the assumption that $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is simply connected cannot be removed. In fact we will consider in the next example a sequence of connected compact sets $`K_h`$ converging to $`K`$ and along which the stability of $`K`$ for the problem (2.8) does not hold.

###### Example 5.5.

Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }:=Q_2\overline{Q}_1`$ with $`Q_1`$ and $`Q_2`$ as in fig. 4. and let $`K_h`$ and $`K`$ be as in fig. 4.

In this case, arguing as in Example 5.2 we have that $`(F_h)\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-converge in the strong topology of $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ to the functional

$$F_{\mathrm{}}(u):=\{\begin{array}{cc}\frac{1}{p}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}|u|^p𝑑x𝑑y+c\left|u^+(0,0)u^{}(0,0)\right|^p\hfill & \text{ if }\{\begin{array}{cc}uW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)\text{ and }\hfill & \text{ }\hfill \\ u=g\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega },\hfill & \text{ }\hfill \end{array}\hfill \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{}\\ +\mathrm{}\hfill & \text{ otherwise. }\hfill \end{array}$$
(5.6)
Let $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }:=\mathrm{\Omega }=Q_1Q_2`$ and let

$$g=\{\begin{array}{cc}0\hfill & \text{ on }Q_1,\hfill \\ 1\hfill & \text{ on }Q_2.\hfill \end{array}$$

Let $`u_hW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K_h)`$ be a solution of problem (2.8) in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K_h`$. Then $`u_h\stackrel{~}{u}`$ weakly in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2),`$ where $`\stackrel{~}{u}`$ minimizes the functional $`F_{\mathrm{}}`$ among all functions $`wW^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ with $`w=g`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Now, let $`\phi C^1(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ with $`\phi =g`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }`$. We can always assume that the sequence $`(K_h)`$ is such that $`c>_\mathrm{\Omega }|\phi |^p𝑑x`$. It is easy to see that the solution $`u`$ of Problem (2.8) with data $`g`$ has gradient equal to $`0`$. Then

$$F_{\mathrm{}}(u)=c>_\mathrm{\Omega }|\phi |^p𝑑x=F_{\mathrm{}}(\phi )F_{\mathrm{}}(\stackrel{~}{u}).$$

So, $`u\stackrel{~}{u}`$ and hence $`K`$ is not stable along the sequence $`K_h`$ for Problem (2.8).

### 5.2. Limit problem obtained by duality

In this section we examine, by a duality approach, the problem solved by the limit function $`u`$, even when there is not stability. Let $`(K_h)𝒦(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ be such that $`K_h`$ converges to $`K`$ in the Hausdorff metric and $`|K_h|`$ converges to $`|K|`$. Let $`u_h`$ be solution of (2.8) in $`(\mathrm{\Omega }K_h)`$ and $`v_h`$ its conjugate which in this case satisfies

$$Rv_h=|u_h|^{p2}u_h\text{ a.e in }\mathrm{\Omega }.$$
(5.7)
From Lemma 2.3 it follows that, up to a subsequence, $`u_hu`$ weakly in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$ for some function $`uL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ and $`v_hv`$ weakly in $`L^q(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$ for some function $`vW^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$. Using the fact that for every $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}\mathrm{\Omega }K`$, we have $`\mathrm{div}(|u_h|^{p2}u_h)=0`$ in $`𝒟^{}(\mathrm{\Omega }^{})`$ for $`h`$ big enough, it follows from the result in  that $`u_hu`$ a.e. in $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$. So by the arbitrariness of $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$, we get $`u_hu`$ a.e. in $`\mathrm{\Omega }K`$. Hence, using the fact $`|K_h||K|`$ we can pass to the limit in (5.7) and obtain

$$Rv=|u|^{p2}u\text{ a.e in }\mathrm{\Omega },$$
(5.8)
through which we will find the limit problem solved by the function $`u`$ in the next example. To this aim, we call contact point, any point of $`K_N\mathrm{\Omega }`$ which is limit of at least two sequences belonging to two different connected components of $`K_h_N\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

###### Example 5.6.

Let $`(K_h)𝒦_m(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ be a sequence which converges to a compact set $`K`$ in the Hausdorff metric and such that $`|K_h|`$ converges to $`|K|`$ with $`K`$ having only one contact point $`z\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Assume that there exists $`r>0`$ such that $`B_r(z)K=\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$, with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i`$ Lipschitz simple curves such that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i\mathrm{\Gamma }_j=z`$ for $`ij`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_iB_r(z)=x_i`$ for every $`i`$ (see fig.$`5`$). Suppose that $`B_r(z)K=_{i=1}^3D_i`$ with $`D_i`$ Lipschitz domains.

If $`u_h`$ is a solution of (2.8), then the sequence $`(u_h)`$ converges weakly to $`u`$ in $`L^p(\mathrm{\Omega },^2)`$, where the function $`u`$ solves a minimization problem of the type:

$$\underset{w}{\mathrm{min}}\left\{\begin{array}{cc}\frac{1}{p}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}|w|^p𝑑x\left[a_1(w_3w_1)+a_2(w_1w_2)+a_3(w_2w_3)\right]\hfill & \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{}\\ wL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K),w=g\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega }K\hfill & \end{array}\right\}$$
(5.9)
where $`w_j`$ is the trace of $`w|_{D_j}`$ evaluated at $`z`$ and $`a_j`$ coincides with the value taken on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_j`$ by the continuous representative of the limit $`v`$ of the conjugates $`v_h`$.

###### Proof.

First of all from Lemma 2.3 it follows that $`uL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ and $`u=g`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }K`$. Now let $`\phi C^1(\mathrm{\Omega }K)L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ with $`\phi |_{D_j}C^1(\overline{D_j})j`$ and such that $`\phi =0\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega }K`$. Using (5.8), we have that

$`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K}}|u|^{p2}u\phi dx`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }K}}Rv\phi dx`$ (5.10)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{(\mathrm{\Omega }K)B_r(z)}}Rv\phi dx+{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{3}{}}}{\displaystyle _{D_j}}Rv\phi dx`$
Since $`z`$ is the only contact point of $`K_N\mathrm{\Omega }`$, we have that any connected component of $`K_N\mathrm{\Omega }B_r(z)`$ is contained in a limit of some connected component of $`K_h_N\mathrm{\Omega }.`$ Therefore $`v`$ is constant on every connected components of $`K_N\mathrm{\Omega }B_r(z)`$. In order to integrate by parts outside $`B_r(z)`$, where $`K`$ in general is not regular, it is useful (from \[24, Theorem 4.5\]) to approximate strongly in $`W^{1,q}(\mathrm{\Omega }\overline{B_r(z)})`$ the function $`v`$ with smooth functions $`w_n`$ that are constant in a suitable neighborhood of any connected component of $`(K_N\mathrm{\Omega })B_r(z)`$. As $`\text{div}(Rw_n)=0`$, integrating by parts we get

$`{\displaystyle _{(\mathrm{\Omega }K)\overline{B_r(z)}}}Rv\phi dx=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}{\displaystyle _{(\mathrm{\Omega }K)B_r(z)}}Rw_n\phi dx`$
$`=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}{\displaystyle _{B_r(z)}}(Rw_n)\nu \phi 𝑑^1=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}{\displaystyle _{B_r(z)}}{\displaystyle \frac{w_n}{\tau }}\phi 𝑑^1`$
$`=+{\displaystyle _{B_r(z)}}v{\displaystyle \frac{\phi }{\tau }}𝑑^1(a_1\phi |_{D_1}(x_1)a_2\phi |_{D_1}(x_2))(a_2\phi |_{D_2}(x_2)a_3\phi |_{D_2}(x_3))`$
$`(a_3\phi |_{D_3}(x_3)a_1\phi |_{D_3}(x_1))`$ (5.11)
where $`\nu `$ is the unit vector outer normal to $`B_r(z)`$ and $`\tau =R\nu `$ is the corresponding tangential unit vector, so that $`\frac{\phi }{\tau }`$ denotes the tangential derivative of the function $`\phi `$.

On the other hand, as $`\text{div}(R\phi )=0`$, we have

$$\underset{j=1}{\overset{3}{}}_{D_j}Rv\phi dx=\underset{j=1}{\overset{3}{}}_{D_j}vR\phi dx=\underset{j=1}{\overset{3}{}}_{D_j}v\frac{\phi }{\tau }𝑑^1.$$
(5.12)
Let us compute

$`{\displaystyle _{D_1}}v{\displaystyle \frac{\phi }{\tau }}𝑑^1={\displaystyle _{B_r(z)D_1}}v{\displaystyle \frac{\phi }{\tau }}𝑑^1+{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1}}v{\displaystyle \frac{\phi }{\tau }}𝑑^1+{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Gamma }_2}}v{\displaystyle \frac{\phi }{\tau }}𝑑^1`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{B_r(z)D_1}}v{\displaystyle \frac{\phi }{\tau }}𝑑^1a_1(\phi |_{D_1}(x_1)\phi |_{D_1}(z))a_2(\phi |_{D_1}(z)\phi |_{D_1}(x_2)).`$
In a similar way

$$_{D_2}v\frac{\phi }{\tau }𝑑^1=_{B_r(z)D_2}v\frac{\phi }{\tau }𝑑^1a_2(\phi |_{D_2}(x_2)\phi |_{D_2}(z))a_3(\phi |_{D_2}(z)\phi |_{D_2}(x_3))$$

$$_{D_3}v\frac{\phi }{\tau }𝑑^1=_{B_r(z)D_3}v\frac{\phi }{\tau }𝑑^1a_3(\phi |_{D_3}(x_3)\phi |_{D_3}(z))a_1(\phi |_{D_3}(z)\phi |_{D_3}(x_1)).$$

Then, we have by (5.12) that

$`{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{3}{}}}{\displaystyle _{D_j}}Rv\phi dx={\displaystyle _{B_r(z)}}v{\displaystyle \frac{\phi }{\tau }}𝑑^1+a_1(\phi |_{D_1}(x_1)\phi |_{D_1}(z))`$
$`+a_2(\phi |_{D_1}(z)\phi |_{D_1}(x_2))+a_2(\phi |_{D_2}(x_2)\phi |_{D_2}(z))+a_3(\phi |_{D_2}(z)\phi |_{D_2}(x_3))`$
$`+a_3(\phi |_{D_3}(x_3)\phi |_{D_3}(z))+a_1(\phi |_{D_3}(z)\phi |_{D_3}(x_1))`$
$`={\displaystyle _{B_r(z)}}v{\displaystyle \frac{\phi }{\tau }}𝑑^1+a_1(\phi |_{D_3}(z)\phi |_{D_1}(z))+a_2(\phi |_{D_1}(z)\phi |_{D_2}(z))`$
$`+a_3(\phi |_{D_2}(z)\phi |_{D_3}(z))+[(a_1\phi |_{D_1}(x_1)a_2\phi |_{D_1}(x_2))+(a_2\phi |_{D_2}(x_2)a_3\phi |_{D_2}(x_3))`$
$`+(a_3\phi |_{D_3}(x_3)a_1\phi |_{D_3}(x_1))].`$ (5.13)
Therefore from (5.10), (5.6) and (5.6) we get the identity

$$_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}|u|^{p2}u\phi dx=a_1(\phi |_{D_3}(z)\phi |_{D_1}(z))+a_2(\phi |_{D_1}(z)\phi |_{D_2}(z))+a_3(\phi |_{D_2}(z)\phi |_{D_3}(z))$$

which is the weak formulation of the Euler-Lagrange equation for the minimization problem (5.9) and the conclusion follows from the convexity of the functional in (5.9). ∎

###### Remark 5.7.

Note that the function $`u`$ solves a problem of the type (5.9) whenever $`K`$ is as in Fig.5 and $`z`$ is the only contact point of $`K`$, independently of the sequence $`(K_h)`$. However the constants $`a_i`$ are related to the particular sequence $`(K_h)`$ and to the particular boundary data $`g`$. Indeed, the constants $`a_i`$ are the limits (as $`h\mathrm{}`$) of the values taken by the conjugates $`v_h`$ on the connected components of $`K_h`$.

Note also that the functional to minimize in (5.9) can be rewritten as

$$\frac{1}{p}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}|w|^p𝑑x\left[w_1(a_2a_1)+w_2(a_3a_2)+w_3(a_1a_3)\right].$$

###### Remark 5.8.

The example above can easily be extended to cases in which there are finitely many contact points where a finite number of curves intersect each other as above. In particular, this method applied to Example 5.2 gives the following minimization problem in the limit

$$\underset{w}{\mathrm{min}}\left\{\begin{array}{cc}\frac{1}{p}_{\mathrm{\Omega }K}|w|^p𝑑x(a_1a_2)(u^+(0,0)u^{}(0,0))\hfill & \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{}\\ wL^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K),w=g\text{ on }_D\mathrm{\Omega }K\hfill & \end{array}\right\}.$$
(5.14)
Now from the weak Euler-Lagrange equations of (5.14) and of the minimization problem involving the functional $`F_{\mathrm{}}`$ in (5.2) we get for every $`\phi L^{1,p}(\mathrm{\Omega }K)`$ with $`\phi =0`$ on $`_D\mathrm{\Omega }K`$

$`pc|u^+(0,0)u^{}(0,0)|^{p2}(u^+(0,0)u^{}(0,0))(\phi ^+(0,0)\phi ^{}(0,0))=`$
$`=(v^+(0,0)v^{}(0,0))(\phi ^+(0,0)\phi ^{}(0,0)).`$
By the arbitrariness of $`\phi `$ we get

$$pc|u^+(0,0)u^{}(0,0)|^{p2}(u^+(0,0)u^{}(0,0))=(v^+(0,0)v^{}(0,0))$$

which can be interpreted as a discrete version of the duality relation (5.8).

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Gianni Dal Maso for having proposed the subject of this paper, and for many interesting discussions. This work is part of the European Research Training Network “Homogenization and Multiple Scales” under contract HPRN-2000-00109, and of the Research Project “Calculus of Variations” supported by SISSA and by the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research.