A Dirichlet form approach to the potential theory of $m$-subharmonic functions
On a bounded open subset of $\mathbb{C}^n$, we study the Dirichlet form induced by an admissible pair $(θ,μ)$, where $μ$ is a positive Radon measure and $$θ=dd^c u_1\wedge\cdots\wedge dd^c u_{m-1}\wedge(dd^c \lvert z\rvert^2)^{n-m}$$ for locally bounded $m$-subharmonic functions $u_1,\dots,u_{m-1}$. We prove that locally bounded $m$-subharmonic functions belong locally to the domains of these Dirichlet forms and are quasi-continuous with respect to the induced capacities. We establish a monotonicity property for Dirichlet forms, which motivates the introduction of $μ$-quasi-monotone convergence of $m$-subharmonic functions. The natural embeddings into these domains are continuous with respect to this convergence. These results yield new proofs of the commutativity and continuity of complex Hessian operators. Using this framework, we characterize quasi-continuity with respect to the induced capacity for an arbitrary $m$-subharmonic function in terms of its pole set having zero measure $μ$, or equivalently, zero induced capacity. On bounded strictly $m$-pseudoconvex domains, we prove that the Bedford--Taylor capacity for $m$-subharmonic functions and the capacities induced by the corresponding Dirichlet forms have the same null sets. We further characterize $m$-polar sets in terms of Dirichlet forms and stochastic processes, extending the corresponding characterization of pluripolar sets due to Fukushima and Okada to the $m$-subharmonic setting.