A gradient estimate for harmonic functions sharing the same zeros

Dan Mangoubi

doi:10.3934/era.2014.21.62

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2014, Volume 21: 62-71. Doi: 10.3934/era.2014.21.62

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A gradient estimate for harmonic functions sharing the same zeros

Dan Mangoubi^1,

1.
Einstein Institute of Mathematics, Hebrew University, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904

Received: May 31, 2013

Revised: November 30, 2013

Published: December 2013

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Abstract

Let $u, v$ be two harmonic functions in $\{|z|<2\}\subset\mathbb{C}$ which have exactly the same set $Z$ of zeros. We observe that $\big|\nabla\log |u/v|\big|$ is bounded in the unit disk by a constant which depends on $Z$ only. In case $Z=\emptyset$ this goes back to Li-Yau's gradient estimate for positive harmonic functions. The general boundary Harnack principle gives only Hölder estimates on $\log |u/v|$.

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Mathematics Subject Classification: 31B05, 35J15.

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References

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