Maximal regularity for non-autonomous evolution equations governed by forms having less regularity

Abstract

We consider the maximal regularity problem for non-autonomous evolution equations \begin{equation} \left\{ \begin{array}{rcl} u'(t) + A(t)\,u(t) &=& f(t), \ t \in (0, \tau] u(0)&=&u_0. \end{array} \right. \end{equation} Each operator $A(t)$ is associated with a sesquilinear form $\mathfrak{a}(t)$ on a Hilbert space $H$. We assume that these forms all have the same domain $V$. It is proved in \cite{HO14} that if the forms have some regularity with respect to $t$ (e.g., piecewise $\alpha$-H\"older continuous for some $\alpha > 1/2$) then the above problem has maximal $L_p$--regularity for all $u_0 $ in the real-interpolation space $(H, D(A(0)))_{1-1/p,p}$. In this paper we prove that the regularity required there can be improved for a class of sesquilinear forms. The forms considered here are such that the difference $\mathfrak{a}(t;\cdot,\cdot) - \mathfrak{a}(s; \cdot,\cdot)$ is continuous on a larger space than the common domain $V$. We give three examples which illustrate our results.