Parabolic comparison revisited and applications

Abstract

We consider the Cauchy-Dirichlet problem $\partial_t u - F(t,x,u,Du,D^2 u) = 0 on (0,T)\times \R^n$ in viscosity sense. Comparison is established for bounded semi-continuous (sub-/super-)solutions under structural assumption (3.14) of the User's Guide plus a mild condition on $F$ such as to cope with the unbounded domain. Comparison on $(0,T]$, space-time regularity and existence are also discussed. Our analysis passes through an extension of the parabolic theorem of sums which appears to be useful in its own right.