Quasiconvexity in the Riemannian setting

Abstract

We introduce a notion of quasiconvexity for continuous functions $f$ defined on the vector bundle of linear maps between the tangent spaces of a smooth Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$ and $\mathbb{R}^m$, naturally generalizing the classical Euclidean definition. We prove that this condition characterizes the sequential lower semicontinuity of the associated integral functional \[ F(u, \Omega) = \int_{\Omega} f(du) \, d\mu \] with respect to the weak$^*$ topology of $W^{1,\infty}(\Omega, \mathbb{R}^m)$, for every bounded open subset $\Omega\subseteq M$.