MiS Preprint Repository

We prove existence of solutions to boundary value problems and obstacle problems for degenerate-elliptic, linear, second-order partial differential operators with partial Dirichlet boundary conditions using a new version of the Perron method. The elliptic operators considered have a degeneracy along a portion of the domain boundary which is similar to the degeneracy of a model linear operator identified by Daskalopoulos and Hamilton in their study of the porous medium equation or the degeneracy of the Heston operator in mathematical finance. Existence of a solution to the Dirichlet problem on a half-ball, where the operator becomes degenerate on the flat boundary and a Dirichlet condition is only imposed on the spherical boundary, provides the key additional ingredient required for our Perron method. Surprisingly, proving existence of a solution to this Dirichlet problem with "mixed" boundary conditions on a half-ball is more challenging than one might expect. Due to the difficulty in developing a global Schauder estimate and due to compatibility conditions arising where the "degenerate" and "nondegenerate boundaries" touch, one cannot directly apply the continuity or approximate solution methods. However, in dimension two, there is a holomorphic map from the half-disk onto the infinite strip in the complex plane and one can extend this definition to higher dimensions to give a diffeomorphism from the half-ball onto the infinite "slab". The solution to the Dirichlet problem on the half-ball can thus be converted to a Dirichlet problem on the slab, albeit for an operator which now has exponentially growing coefficients. The required Schauder regularity theory and existence of a solution to the Dirichlet problem on the slab can nevertheless be obtained using previous work of the author and C. Pop. Our Perron method relies on weak and strong maximum principles for degenerate-elliptic operators, concepts of continuous subsolutions and supersolutions for boundary value and obstacle problems for degenerate-elliptic operators, and maximum and comparison principle estimates previously developed by the author.