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De Giorgi's conjecture
This file states a conjecture of De Giorgi about entire solutions to $Δ u + u - u^3 = 0$.
The conjecture is a rigidity theorem: in spatial dimension $n ≤ 8$, the level sets of bounded solutions
which satisfy $∂₁u > 0$ everywhere are hyperplanes. It has been shown that the condition $n ≤ 8$ is sharp.
The main theorems are:
DeGiorgi_le_eight: the conjecture holds in dimension $n ≤ 8$.
DeGiorgi_ge_nine: the conclusion of the conjecture does not hold if $n ≥ 9$.
The cases $1 ≤ n ≤ 8$ are also listed individually to enable partial solutions.
The cases $1 ≤ n ≤ 3$ are solved, while $4 ≤ n ≤ 8$ remains open.
Existing results
The case $n = 1$ trivially holds ($u$ is injective since $∂_1 u > 0$).
The case $n = 2$ was proven by Ghoussoub and Gui.
The case $n = 3$ was proven by Ambrosio and Cabré.
The case $4 ≤ n ≤ 8$ was proven under an extra assumption by Savin.
The counterexample for $n ≥ 9$ was proven by Del Pino, Kowalczyk, and Wei.
References
Ghoussoub, Gui,
Mathematische Annalen 311 (1998) proves the conjecture for $n = 2$.
Ambrosio, Cabré,
Journal of the American Mathematical Society 13 (2000) proves the conjecture for $n = 3$.
Savin,
Annals of Mathematics 169 (2009) proves the case $4 ≤ n ≤ 8$ under an additional assumption.
Del Pino, Kowalczyk, Wei,
Annals of Mathematics 174 (2011) shows that the condition $n ≤ 8$ is sharp.
The level sets of $u : ℝ^n → ℝ$ are hyperplanes. This is expressed by stating that there exists
some affine subspace with rank $n - 1$ which coincides with the level set.
The conclusion to De Giorgi's conjecture: if $u : ℝ^n → ℝ$ is a bounded classical solution to
$Δ u + u - u^3 = 0$ satisfying $∂₁u > 0$ everywhere, then the level sets of $u$ are hyperplanes.