Boundary regularity estimates for nonlocal elliptic equations in $C^1$ and $C^{1,\alpha}$ domains

Abstract

We establish sharp boundary regularity estimates in $C^1$ and $C^{1,\alpha}$ domains for nonlocal problems of the form $Lu=f$ in $\Omega$, $u=0$ in $\Omega^c$. Here, $L$ is a nonlocal elliptic operator of order $2s$, with $s\in(0,1)$. First, in $C^{1,\alpha}$ domains we show that all solutions $u$ are $C^s$ up to the boundary and that $u/d^s\in C^\alpha(\bar\Omega)$, where $d$ is the distance to $\partial\Omega$. In $C^1$ domains, solutions are in general not comparable to $d^s$, and we prove a boundary Harnack principle in such domains. Namely, we show that if $u_1$ and $u_2$ are positive solutions, then $u_1/u_2$ is bounded and H\"older continuous up to the boundary. Finally, we establish analogous results for nonlocal equations with bounded measurable coefficients in non-divergence form. All these regularity results will be essential tools in a forthcoming work on free boundary problems for nonlocal elliptic operators \cite{CRS-obstacle}.