Energy estimates and 1-D symmetry for nonlinear equations involving the half-Laplacian

Abstract

We establish sharp energy estimates for some solutions, such as global minimizers, monotone solutions and saddle-shaped solutions, of the fractional nonlinear equation $(-\Delta)^{1/2} u=f(u)$ in $\re^n$. Our energy estimates hold for every nonlinearity $f$ and are sharp since they are optimal for one-dimensional solutions, that is, for solutions depending only on one Euclidian variable. As a consequence, in dimension $n=3$, we deduce the one-dimensional symmetry of every global minimizer and of every monotone solution. This result is the analog of a conjecture of De Giorgi on one-dimensional symmetry for the classical equation $-\Delta u=f(u)$ in $\re^n$.