THERMIC MINORANTS AND REDUCTIONS OF SUPERTEMPERATURES

Abstract

Let $u$ be a supertemperature on an open set $E$, and let $v$ be a related temperature on an open subset $D$ of $E$. For example, $v$ could be the greatest thermic minorant of $u$ on $D$, if it exists. Putting $w=u$ on $E\setminus D$ and $w=v$ on $D$, we investigate whether $w$, or its lower semicontinuous smoothing, is a supertemperature on $E$. We also give a representation of the greatest thermic minorant on $E$, if it exists, in terms of PWB solutions on an expanding sequence of open subsets of $E$ with union $E$.  In addition, in the case of a nonnegative supertemperature, we prove inequalities that relate reductions to Dirichlet solutions. We also prove that the value of any reduction at a given time depends only on earlier times.