Non-occurrence of gap for one-dimensional non autonomous functionals

Let $F(y):=\displaystyle\int_t^TL(s, y(s), y'(s))\,ds$ be a positive functional, unnecessarily autonomous, defined on the space $W^{1,p}([t,T]; \mathbb R^n)$ ($p\ge 1$) of Sobolev functions, possibly with prescribed one or two end point conditions. It is important, especially for the applications, to be able to approximate the infimum of $F$ with the values of $F$ along a sequence of Lipschitz functions satisfying the same boundary condition(s). Sometimes this is not possible, i.e., the so called Lavrentiev phenomenon occurs. This is the case of the innocent like Manià's Lagrangian $L(s,y,y')=(y^3-s)^2(y')^6$ and boundary data $y(0)=0, y(1)=1$; nevertheless in this situation the gap does not occur with just the end point condition $y(1)=1$. The paper focuses about the different set of conditions needed to avoid the gap for problems with just one or with both end point conditions. Under minimal assumptions on the, possibly extended valued, Lagrangian we ensure the non-occurrence of the Lavrentiev phenomenon with just one end point condition. We introduce an additional hypothesis, satisfied when the Lagrangian is bounded on bounded sets, in order to ensure the validity of both end point conditions $y_h(t)=y(t), y_h(T)=y(T)$; the result gives some new light even in the autonomous case.

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