Energy estimates and 1-D symmetry for nonlinear equations involving the half-Laplacian

Abstract

We establish sharp energy estimates for some solutions, such as global minimizers, monotone solutions and saddle-shaped solutions, of the fractional nonlinear equation (−Δ)1/2u=f(u) in rn. Our energy estimates hold for every nonlinearity f and are sharp since they are optimal for one-dimensional solutions, that is, for solutions depending only on one Euclidian variable. As a consequence, in dimension n=3, we deduce the one-dimensional symmetry of every global minimizer and of every monotone solution. This result is the analog of a conjecture of De Giorgi on one-dimensional symmetry for the classical equation −Δu=f(u) in rn.