Lebesgue barrier, in potential theory
A function the existence of which is a necessary and sufficient condition for the regularity of a boundary point with respect to the behaviour of a generalized solution of the Dirichlet problem at that point (cf. Perron method; Regular boundary point).
Let be a domain in a Euclidean space
,
, and let
be a point on its boundary
. A barrier for the point
is any function
, continuous in the intersection
of the closed domain
with some ball
with centre at
, which is superharmonic in
and positive in
, except at
, at which it vanishes. For instance, if
and
is any boundary point for which there exists a closed ball
in
which meets
only in
, one can take as a barrier the harmonic function
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where is the radius of
and
is its centre.
A barrier in the theory of functions of (several) complex variables is a function the existence of which for all boundary points of the domain implies that
is a domain of holomorphy. Let
be a domain in the complex space
,
, and let
be a point of the boundary
. Any analytic function
in
with a singular point at
will then be a barrier at
. Thus, the function
is a barrier for the boundary point
of any plane domain
. There also exists a barrier at any point
of the boundary of the ball
![]() |
e.g. the function .
A barrier exists at a boundary point of a domain
if there is an analytic function defined in
that is unbounded at
, i.e. is such that for some sequence of points
which converges to
one has:
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The converse is true for domains in the following strong form: For any set
of boundary points of a domain
at which a barrier exists, one can find a function holomorphic in
which is unbounded at all points of
. If
is everywhere dense in the boundary of
, then
is a domain of holomorphy.
[1] | R. Courant, D. Hilbert, "Methods of mathematical physics. Partial differential equations" , 2 , Interscience (1965) (Translated from German) MR0195654 |
[2] | V.S. Vladimirov, "Methods of the theory of functions of several complex variables" , M.I.T. (1966) pp. Chapt. 3 (Translated from Russian) |
[3] | B.V. Shabat, "Introduction of complex analysis" , 1–2 , Moscow (1985) pp. Chapt. 3 (In Russian) Zbl 0578.32001 Zbl 0574.30001 |
Good English references for the Lebesgue barrier are [a1] and [a2].
[a1] | W.K. Hayman, P.B. Kennedy, "Subharmonic functions" , 1 , Cambridge Univ. Press (1976) MR0460672 MR0419791 MR0412442 MR0442324 Zbl 0419.31001 Zbl 0339.31003 Zbl 0328.33011 |
[a2] | L.L. Helms, "Introduction to potential theory" , Acad. Press (1975) (Translated from German) MR0460666 Zbl 0188.17203 |