Global higher integrability for minimisers of convex obstacle problems with (p,q)-growth

Abstract

We prove global $W^{1,q}(\Omega,\mathbb{R}^N)$-regularity for minimisers of $\mathscr{F}(u)=\int_\Omega F(x,\mathrm{D}u)\mathrm{d} x$ satisfying $u\geq \psi$ for a given Sobolev obstacle $\psi$. $W^{1,q}(\Omega,\mathbb{R}^m)$ regularity is also proven for minimisers of the associated relaxed functional. Our main assumptions on $F(x,z)$ are a uniform $\alpha$-H\"older continuity assumption in $x$ and natural $(p,q)$-growth conditions in $z$ with $q<\frac{(n+\alpha)p}{n}$. In the autonomous case $F\equiv F(z)$ we can improve the gap to $q<\frac{np}{n-1}$, a result new even in the unconstrained case.