Boundary regularity, Pohozaev identities, and nonexistence results

Abstract: In this expository paper we survey some recent results on Dirichlet problems of the form $Lu=f(x,u)$ in $\Omega$, $u\equiv0$ in $\mathbb R^n\backslash\Omega$. We first discuss in detail the boundary regularity of solutions, stating the main known results of Grubb and of the author and Serra. We also give a simplified proof of one of such results, focusing on the main ideas and on the blow-up techniques that we developed in \cite{RS-K,RS-stable}. After this, we present the Pohozaev identities established in \cite{RS-Poh,RSV,Grubb-Poh} and give a sketch of their proofs, which use strongly the fine boundary regularity results discussed previously. Finally, we show how these Pohozaev identities can be used to deduce nonexistence of solutions or unique continuation properties. The operators $L$ under consideration are integro-differential operator of order $2s$, $s\in(0,1)$, the model case being the fractional Laplacian $L=(-\Delta)^s$.