Fundamental solutions of the fractional $p$-Laplacian in cone-like domains, with applications to Liouville-type theorems and global Hölder regularity

Abstract

Let $ C_ω$ be the cone generated by a proper $C^2$ domain $ω\subset\mathbb S^{N-1}$. We study positive homogeneous solutions of the fractional $p$-Laplace equation in $C_ω$ with zero exterior values. For $p\ne2$, the operator is nonlinear and not uniformly elliptic. For every $p>1$, we identify two extremal homogeneities $β^+>0>β^-$, prove that every fundamental solution, if one exists, has one of these exponents, and construct homogeneous eigenfunctions whose eigenvalues have signs determined by the position of the homogeneity relative to $β^\pm$. As an application, we obtain the Lane-Emden threshold $q^*=p-1+sp/β^+$ for every $p>1$: nontrivial nonnegative supersolutions of $(-Δ_p)^s u\ge u^q$ in $C_ω$ do not exist for $0 q^*$. We also establish Hopf-type lower bounds at conical boundary points with the optimal exponent. When $p-1>sp$ , we construct both fundamental solutions, one singular at the vertex and the other vanishing there. For $p=2$, these solutions are known; our method recovers them for every $s\in(0,1)$. The homogeneous eigenfunctions also serve as barriers, yielding boundary decay and global Hölder regularity for $(-Δ_p)^s u=f$ in bounded Lipschitz domains, with zero exterior values and $f$ continuous up to the boundary. The admissible Hölder exponents are determined by the exterior cones. All results hold for every $N\ge2$; in particular, $N>sp$ is not needed.