Higher regularity for solutions to equations arising from composite materials

Abstract

We consider parabolic systems in divergence form with piecewise $C^{(s+\delta)/2,s+\delta}$ coefficients and data in a bounded domain consisting of a finite number of cylindrical subdomains with interfacial boundaries in $C^{s+1+\mu}$, where $s\in\mathbb N$, $\delta\in (1/2,1)$, and $\mu\in (0,1]$. We establish piecewise $C^{(s+1+\mu')/2,s+1+\mu'}$ estimates for weak solutions to such parabolic systems, where $\mu'=\min\big\{1/2,\mu\big\}$, and the estimates are independent of the distance between the interfaces. In the elliptic setting, our results answer an open problem (c) in Li and Vogelius (Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 153 (2000), 91--151).