Fractional Integration and Optimal Estimates for Elliptic Systems

Abstract

In this paper we give an affirmative answer to the Euclidean analogue of a question of Bourgain and Brezis concerning the optimal Lorentz estimate for a Div-Curl system: The function $Z=\operatorname*{curl} (-\Delta)^{-1} F$ satisfies \begin{align*} \operatorname*{curl} Z = F \newline \operatorname*{div} Z = 0 \end{align*} and there exists a constant $C>0$ such that \begin{align*} \| Z\|_{L^{3/2,1}(\mathbb{R}^3;\mathbb{R}^3)} \leq C\| F\|_{L^{1}(\mathbb{R}^3;\mathbb{R}^3)}. \end{align*} Our proof relies on a new endpoint Hardy-Littlewood-Sobolev inequality for divergence free measures which we obtain via a result of independent interest, an atomic decomposition of such objects.