Gradient bounds and rigidity results for singular, degenerate, anisotropic partial differential equations

Abstract

We consider the Wulff-type energy functional $$ \mathcal{W}_\Omega(u) := \int_\Omega B(H(\nabla u (x))) - F(u(x)) \, dx, $$ where $B$ is positive, monotone and convex, and $H$ is positive homogeneous of degree 1. The critical points of this functional satisfy a possibly singular or degenerate, quasilinear equation in an anisotropic medium. We prove that the gradient of the solution is bounded at any point by the potential $F(u)$ and we deduce several rigidity and symmetry properties.