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Let $u_s$ denote a solution of the fractional Poisson problem $$ (-\Delta)^s u_s = f\quad\text{ in }\Omega,\qquad u_s=0\quad \text{ on }\mathbb{R}^N\setminus \Omega, $$ where $N\geq 2$ and $\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^N$ is a bounded domain of class $C^2$. We show that the solution mapping $s\mapsto u_s$ is differentiable in $L^\infty(\Omega)$ at $s=1$, namely, at the nonlocal-to-local transition. Moreover, using the logarithmic Laplacian, we characterize the derivative $\partial_s u_s$ as the solution to a boundary value problem. This complements the previously known differentiability results for $s$ in the open interval $(0,1)$. Our proofs are based on an asymptotic analysis to describe the collapse of the nonlocality of the fractional Laplacian as $s$ approaches 1. We also provide a new representation of $\partial_s u_s$ for $s \in (0,1)$ which allows us to refine previously obtained Green function estimates., Comment: 20 pages

We present the numerical analysis of a finite element method (FEM) for one-dimensional Dirichlet problems involving the logarithmic Laplacian (the pseudo-differential operator that appears as a first-order expansion of the fractional Laplacian as the exponent $s\to 0^+$). Our analysis exhibits new phenomena in this setting; in particular, using recently obtained regularity results, we prove rigorous error estimates and provide a logarithmic order of convergence in the energy norm using suitable $\log$-weighted spaces. Numerical evidence suggests that this type of rate cannot be improved. Moreover, we show that the stiffness matrix of logarithmic problems can be obtained as the derivative of the fractional stiffness matrix evaluated at $s=0$. Lastly, we investigate the relationship between the discrete eigenvalue problem and its convergence to the continuous one., Comment: This version revised Sections 3 and 6 and updated references

We collect some peculiarities of higher-order fractional Laplacians $(-\Delta)^s$, $s>1$, with special attention to the range $s\in(1,2)$, which show their oscillatory nature. These include the failure of the polarization and P\'olya-Szeg\"o inequalities and the explicit example of a domain with sign-changing first eigenfunction. In spite of these fluctuating behaviours, we prove how the Faber-Krahn inequality still holds for any $s>1$ in dimension one.

We show that the first eigenfunction of the fractional Laplacian ${(-\Delta)}^s$, $s\in(1/2,1)$, is superharmonic in the unitary ball up to dimension $11$. To this aim, we also rely on a computer-assisted step to estimate a rather complicated constant depending on the dimension and the power $s$., Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures

In the present paper, we study properties of the second Dirichlet eigenvalue of the fractional Laplacian of annuli-like domains and the corresponding eigenfunctions. In the first part, we consider an annulus with inner radius $R$ and outer radius $R+1$. We show that for $R$ sufficiently large any corresponding second eigenfunction of this annulus is nonradial. In the second part, we investigate the second eigenvalue in domains of the form $B_1(0)\setminus \overline{B_{\tau}(a)}$, where $a$ is in the unitary ball and $0<\tau<1-|a|$. We show that this value is maximized for $a=0$, if the set $B_1(0)\setminus \overline{B_{\tau}(0)}$ has no radial second eigenfunction. We emphasize that the first part of our paper implies that this assumption is indeed nonempty.

In this work we study nonlocal operators and corresponding spaces of order strictly below one and investigate interior regularity properties of weak solutions to the associated Poisson problem depending on the regularity of the right-hand side. Our method exploits the variational structure of the problem, in particular, we prove that if the right-hand is of class $C^{\infty}$ and the kernel satisfies similar regularity properties away from its singularity, then any weak solution is of class $C^{\infty}$., Comment: revised version, 24 pages

We study the exterior and interior Bernoulli problems for the half Laplacian and the interior Bernoulli problem for the spectral half Laplacian. We concentrate on the existence and geometric properties of solutions. Our main results are the following. For the exterior Bernoulli problem for the half Laplacian, we show that under starshapedness assumptions on the data the free domain is starshaped. For the interior Bernoulli problem for the spectral half Laplacian, we show that under convexity assumptions on the data the free domain is convex and we prove a Brunn-Minkowski inequality for the Bernoulli constant. For Bernoulli problems for the half Laplacian we use a variational approach, whereas for Bernoulli problem for the spectral half Laplacian we use the Beurling method based on subsolutions., Comment: 42 pages

We present a symmetry result to solutions of equations involving the fractional Laplacian in a domain with at least two perpendicular symmetries. We show that if the solution is continuous, bounded, and odd in one direction such that it has a fixed sign on one side, then it will be symmetric in the perpendicular direction. Moreover, the solution will be monotonic in the part where it is of fixed sign. In addition, we present also a class of examples in which our result can be applied.

In this article, we study the asymptotics of Dirichlet eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the fractional Laplacian $(-\Delta)^s$ in bounded open Lipschitz sets in the small order limit $s \to 0^+$. While it is easy to see that all eigenvalues converge to $1$ as $s \to 0^+$, we show that the first order correction in these asymptotics is given by the eigenvalues of the logarithmic Laplacian operator, i.e., the singular integral operator with symbol $2\log|\xi|$. By this we generalize a result of Chen and the third author which was restricted to the principal eigenvalue. Moreover, we show that $L^2$-normalized Dirichlet eigenfunctions of $(-\Delta)^s$ corresponding to the $k$-th eigenvalue are uniformly bounded and converge to the set of $L^2$-normalized eigenvalues of the logarithmic Laplacian. In order to derive these spectral asymptotics, we need to establish new uniform regularity and boundary decay estimates for Dirichlet eigenfunctions for the fractional Laplacian. As a byproduct, we also obtain corresponding regularity properties of eigenfunctions of the logarithmic Laplacian.

We show explicit formulas for the evaluation of (possibly higher-order) fractional Laplacians of some functions supported on ellipsoids. In particular, we derive the explicit expression of the torsion function and give examples of $s$-harmonic functions. As an application, we infer that the weak maximum principle fails in eccentric ellipsoids for $s\in(1,\sqrt{3}+3/2)$ in any dimension $n\geq 2$. We build a counterexample in terms of the torsion function times a polynomial of degree 2. Using point inversion transformations, it follows that a variety of bounded and unbounded domains do not satisfy positivity preserving properties and we give some examples., Comment: 6 pictures, 27 pages

We analyze the $s$-dependence of solutions $u_s$ to the family of fractional Poisson problems $(-\Delta)^s u =f$ in $\Omega$, $u \equiv 0$ on $\mathbb{R}^N\setminus \Omega$ in an open bounded set $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^N$, $s \in (0,1)$. In the case where $\Omega$ is of class $C^2$ and $f \in C^{\alpha}(\bar{\Omega})$ for some $\alpha>0$, we show that the map $(0,1) \to L^\infty(\Omega)$, $s\mapsto u_s$ is of class $C^1$, and we characterize the derivative $\partial_s u_s$ in terms of the logarithmic Laplacian of $f$. As a corollary, we derive pointwise monotonicity properties of the solution map $s \mapsto u_s$ under suitable assumptions on $f$ and $\Omega$. Moreover, we derive explicit bounds for the corresponding Green operator on arbitrary bounded domains which are new even for the case $s=1$, i.e., for the local Dirichlet problem $-\Delta u = f$ in $\Omega$, $u \equiv 0$ on $\partial \Omega$.

In this paper, we prove foliated Schwarz symmetry of solutions to a cooperatively coupled system of equations involving nonlocal operators. Here, the class of nonlocal operators covers in particular the case of the fractional Laplacian. Moreover, we give an explicit example of a nonlocal nonlinear system, in which our result can be applied.

We obtain some fine gradient estimates near the boundary for solutions to fractional elliptic problems subject to exterior Dirichlet boundary conditions. Our results provide, in particular, the sign of the normal derivative of such solutions near the boundary of the underlying domain.

We study the overdetermined problem for a large family of non-local operators given by generators of subordinate Brownian motions. In particular, this family includes the fractional Laplacian, relativistic stable operators etc. We consider these problems in bounded domains, exterior domains, and in annular domains and we show that under suitable conditions, the domains and solutions are both radially symmetric. Our method uses both analytic and probabilistic tools.

In this work we study a class of nonlocal quadratic forms given by \[ \mathcal{E}_j(u,v)=\frac{1}{2}\int_{\mathbb{R}^N}\int_{\mathbb{R}^N}(u(x)-u(y))(v(x)-v(y))j(x-y)\ dxdy, \] where $j:\mathbb{R}^N\to[0,\infty]$ is a measurable even function with $\min\{1,|\cdot|^2\}j\in L^1(\mathbb{R}^N)$. Assuming merely $j\notin L^1(\mathbb{R}^N)$, we show local compactness of the embedding $\mathcal{D}^j(\mathbb{R}^N)\hookrightarrow L^2(\mathbb{R}^N)$, where $\mathcal{D}^j(\mathbb{R}^N)$ denotes the space of functions $u\in L^2(\mathbb{R}^N)$ with $\mathcal{E}_j(u,u)<\infty$. Using this local compactness, we establish an alternative which allows to distinguish vanishing and nonvanishing of bounded sequences in $\mathcal{D}^j(\mathbb{R}^N)$. As an application, we show the existence of maximizers for a class of integral functionals defined on the unit sphere in $\mathcal{D}^j(\mathbb{R}^N)$. Our main results extend to cylindrical unbounded sets of the type $\Omega = U \times \mathbb{R}^k$, where $U \subset \mathbb{R}^{N-k}$ is open and bounded. Finally, we note that a Poincar\'e inequality associated with $\mathcal{E}_j$ holds for unbounded domains of this type, thereby extending previously known results for bounded domains.

We present explicit formulas for solutions to nonhomogeneous boundary value problems involving any positive power of the Laplacian in the half-space. For non-integer powers the operator becomes nonlocal and this requires a suitable extension of Dirichlet-type boundary conditions. A key ingredient in our proofs is a point inversion transformation which preserves harmonicity and allows us to use known results for the ball. We include uniqueness statements, regularity estimates, and describe the growth or decay of solutions at infinity and at the boundary.

Any positive power of the Laplacian is related via its Fourier symbol to a hypersingular integral with finite differences. We show how this yields a pointwise evaluation which is more flexible than other notions used so far in the literature for powers larger than 1; in particular, this evaluation can be applied to more general boundary value problems and we exhibit explicit examples. We also provide a natural variational framework and, using an asymptotic analysis, we prove how these hypersingular integrals reduce to polyharmonic operators in some cases. Our presentation aims to be as self-contained as possible and relies on elementary pointwise calculations and known identities for special functions., Comment: 26 pages

We provide closed formulas for (unique) solutions of nonhomogeneous Dirichlet problems on balls involving any positive power $s>0$ of the Laplacian. We are able to prescribe values outside the domain and boundary data of different orders using explicit Poisson-type kernels and a new notion of higher-order boundary operator, which recovers normal derivatives if $s$ is a natural number. Our results unify and generalize previous approaches in the study of polyharmonic operators and fractional Laplacians. As applications, we show a novel characterization of $s$-harmonic functions in terms of Martin kernels, a higher-order fractional Hopf Lemma, and examples of positive and sign-changing Green functions., Comment: 34 pages, revised version

In the following we show the strong comparison principle for the fractional $p$-Laplacian, i.e. we analyze functions $v,w$ which satisfy $v\geq w$ in $\mathbb{R}^N$ and \[ (-\Delta)^s_pv+q(x)|v|^{p-2}v\geq (-\Delta)^s_pw+q(x)|w|^{p-2}w \quad \text{in $D$,} \] where $s\in(0,1)$, $p>1$, $D\subset \mathbb{R}^N$ is an open set, and $q\in L^{\infty}(\mathbb{R}^N)$ is a nonnegative function. Under suitable conditions on $s,p$ and some regularity assumptions on $v,w$ we show that either $v\equiv w$ in $\mathbb{R}^N$ or $v>w$ in $D$. Moreover, we apply this result to analyze the geometry of nonnegative solutions in starshaped rings and in the half space., Comment: 18 pages, to appear in Advanced Nonlinear Studies

In this paper we derive a strong maximum principle for weak supersolutions of nonlocal equations of the form $Iu=c(x) u$ in $\Omega$, where $\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^N$ is a domain, $c\in L^{\infty}(\Omega)$ and $I$ is an operator of the form $Iu(x)=P.V.\int_{\mathbb{R}^N}(u(x)-u(y))j(x-y)\ dy$ with a nonnegative kernel function $j$. We formulate minimal positivity assumptions on $j$ corresponding to a class of operators which includes highly anisotropic variants of the fractional Laplacian. Somewhat surprisingly, this problem leads to the study of general lattices in $\mathbb{R}^N$. Our results extend to the regional variant of the operator $I$ and, under weak additional assumptions, also to the case of $x$-dependent kernel functions., Comment: To appear in Math. Z

In the present work we study solutions of the problem $-(-\Delta)^{\alpha/2}u = f(x,u)$ in $D_0\setminus \overline{D}_1$, with exterior conditions $u = 0$ in $R^N \setminus D_0$ and $u = 1$ in $\overline{D}_1$, where $D_1, D_0 \subset R^N$ are open sets such that $\overline{D}_1 \subset D_0$, $\alpha \in (0,2)$, and $f$ is a nonlinearity. Under different assumptions on $f$ we prove that, if $D_0$ and $D_1$ are starshaped with respect to the same point $\bar{x} \in \overline{D}_1$, then the same occurs for every superlevel set of $u$.

We study existence, regularity, and qualitative properties of solutions to linear problems involving higher-order fractional Laplacians $(-\Delta)^s$ for any $s>1$. Using the nonlocal properties of these operators, we provide an explicit counterexample to general maximum principles for $s\in(n,n+1)$ with $n\in\mathbb N$ odd; moreover, using a representation formula for solutions, we derive regularity and positivity preserving properties whenever the domain is the whole space or a ball. In the case of the whole space we analyze the Riesz kernel, which provides a fundamental solution, while in the case of the ball we show the validity of Boggio's representation formula for all integer and fractional powers of the Laplacian $s>0$. Our proofs rely on characterizations of $s$-harmonic functions using higher-order Martin kernels, on a decomposition of Boggio's formula, and on elliptic regularity theory., Comment: Revised version

For open radial sets $\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^N$, $N\geq 2$ we consider the nonlinear problem \[ (P)\quad Iu=f(|x|,u) \quad\text{in $\Omega$,}\quad u\equiv 0\quad \text{on $\mathbb{R}^N\setminus \Omega$ and }\lim_{|x|\to\infty} u(x)=0, \] where $I$ is a nonlocal operator and $f$ is a nonlinearity. Under mild symmetry and monotonicity assumptions on $I$, $f$ and $\Omega$ we show that any continuous bounded solution of $(P)$ is axial symmetric once it satisfies a simple reflection inequality with respect to a hyperplane. In the special case where $f$ does not depend on $|x|$, we show that any nonnegative nontrivial continuous bounded solution of $(P)$ in $\mathbb{R}^N$ is radially symmetric (up to translation) and strictly decreasing in its radial direction. Our proves rely on different variants of maximum principles for antisymmetric supersolutions. As an application, we prove an axial symmetry result for minimizers of an energy functional associated to $(P)$., Comment: 22 pages

We consider the nonlinear problem \[(P) \;\; I u=f(x,u) \text{ in $\Omega$,} \;\; u=0 \text{ on $\mathbb{R}^{N}\setminus\Omega$ }\] in an open bounded set $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^{N}$, where $I$ is a nonlocal operator which may be anisotropic and may have varying order. We assume mild symmetry and monotonicity assumptions on $I$, $\Omega$ and the nonlinearity $f$ with respect to a fixed direction, say $x_1$, and we show that any nonnegative weak solution $u$ of $(P)$ is symmetric in $x_1$. Moreover, we have the following alternative: Either $u\equiv 0$ in $\Omega$, or $u$ is strictly decreasing in $|x_1|$. The proof relies on new maximum principles for antisymmetric supersolutions of an associated class of linear problems.

Let $N\geq 1$ and $s\in (0,1)$. In the present work we characterize bounded open sets $\Omega$ with $ C^2$ boundary (\textit{not necessarily connected}) for which the following overdetermined problem \begin{equation*} ( -\Delta)^s u = f(u) \text{ in $\Omega$,} \qquad u=0 \text{ in $\mathbb{R}^N\setminus \Omega$,} \qquad(\partial_{\eta})_s u=Const. \text{ on $\partial \Omega$} \end{equation*} has a nonnegative and nontrivial solution, where $\eta $ is the outer unit normal vectorfield along $\partial\Omega$ and for $x_0\in\partial\Omega$ \[ \left(\partial_{\eta}\right)_{s}u(x_{0})=-\lim_{t\to 0}\frac{u(x_{0}-t\eta(x_0))}{t^s}. \] Under mild assumptions on $f$, we prove that $\Omega$ must be a ball. In the special case $f\equiv 1$, we obtain an extension of Serrin's result in 1971. The fact that $\Omega$ is not assumed to be connected is related to the nonlocal property of the fractional Laplacian. The main ingredients in our proof are maximum principles and the method of moving planes.

We study the nonlinear fractional reaction diffusion equation $\partial_{t}u + (-\Delta)^{s} u= f(t,x,u)$, $s\in(0,1)$ in a bounded domain $\Omega$ together with Dirichlet boundary conditions on $\R^N \setminus \Omega$. We prove asymptotic symmetry of nonnegative globally bounded solutions in the case where the underlying data obeys some symmetry and monotonicity assumptions. More precisely, we assume that $\Omega$ is symmetric with respect to reflection at a hyperplane, say ${x_1=0}$, and convex in the $x_1$-direction, and that the nonlinearity $f$ is even in $x_1$ and nonincreasing in $|x_1|$. Under rather weak additional technical assumptions, we then show that any nonzero element in the $\omega$-limit set of nonnegative globally bounded solution is even in $x_1$ and strictly decreasing in $|x_1|$. This result, which is obtained via a series of new estimates for antisymmetric supersolutions of a corresponding family of linear equations, implies a strong maximum type principle which is not available in the non-fractional case $s=1$.