Solutions of the Cheeger problem via torsion functions

The Cheeger problem for a bounded domain Ω⊂RN, N>1 consists in minimizing the quotients |∂E|/|E| among all smooth subdomains E⊂Ω and the Cheeger constant h(Ω) is the minimum of these quotients. Let be the p-torsion function, that is, the solution of torsional creep problem −Δpϕp=1 in Ω, ϕp=0 on ∂Ω, where Δpu:=div(|∇u|p−2∇u) is the p-Laplacian operator, p>1. The paper emphasizes the connection between these problems. We prove that . Moreover, we deduce the relation limp→1+‖ϕp‖L1(Ω)⩾CNlimp→1+‖ϕp‖L∞(Ω) where CN is a constant depending only of N and h(Ω), explicitely given in the paper. An eigenfunction u∈BV(Ω)∩L∞(Ω) of the Dirichlet 1-Laplacian is obtained as the strong L1 limit, as p→1+, of a subsequence of the family {ϕp/‖ϕp‖L1(Ω)}p>1. Almost all t-level sets Et of u are Cheeger sets and our estimates of u on the Cheeger set |E0| yield |B1|hN(B1)⩽|E0|hN(Ω), where B1 is the unit ball in RN. For Ω convex we obtain u=|E0|−1χE0.