Regularity and approximation analyses of nonlocal variational equality and inequality problems

Abstract: We consider linear and obstacle problems driven by a nonlocal integral operator, for which nonlocal interactions are restricted to a ball of finite radius. These type of operators are used to model anomalous diffusion and, for a special choice of the integral kernels, reduce to the fractional Laplace operator on a bounded domain. By means of a nonlocal vector calculus we recast the problems in a weak form, leading to corresponding nonlocal variational equality and inequality problems. We prove optimal regularity results for both problems, including a higher regularity of the solution and the Lagrange multiplier. Based on the regularity results, we analyze the convergence of finite element approximations for a linear problem and illustrate the theoretical findings by numerical results.