Construction of a Dirichlet form on metric measure spaces of controlled geometry

Abstract

Given a compact doubling metric measure space $X$ that supports a $2$-Poincar\'e inequality, we construct a Dirichlet form on $N^{1,2}(X)$ that is comparable to the upper gradient energy form on $N^{1,2}(X)$. Our approach is based on the approximation of $X$ by a family of graphs that is doubling and supports a $2$-Poincar\'e inequality. We construct a bilinear form on $N^{1,2}(X)$ using the Dirichlet form on the graph. We show that the $\Gamma$-limit $\mathcal{E}$ of this family of bilinear forms (by taking a subsequence) exists and that $\mathcal{E}$ is a Dirichlet form on $X$. Properties of $\mathcal{E}$ are established. Moreover, we prove that $\mathcal{E}$ has the property of matching boundary values on a domain $\Omega\subseteq X$. This construction makes it possible to approximate harmonic functions (with respect to the Dirichlet form $\mathcal{E}$) on a domain in $X$ with a prescribed Lipschitz boundary data via a numerical scheme dictated by the approximating Dirichlet forms, which are discrete objects.