A compactness result for the div-curl system with inhomogeneous mixed boundary conditions for bounded Lipschitz domains and some applications

Abstract

For a bounded Lipschitz domain with Lipschitz interface we show the following compactness theorem: Any mathsf {L}_{}^{2}-bounded sequence of vector fields with mathsf {L}_{}^{2}-bounded rotations and mathsf {L}_{}^{2}-bounded divergences as well as mathsf {L}_{}^{2}-bounded tangential traces on one part of the boundary and mathsf {L}_{}^{2}-bounded normal traces on the other part of the boundary, contains a strongly mathsf {L}_{}^{2}-convergent subsequence. This generalises recent results for homogeneous mixed boundary conditions in Bauer et al. (SIAM J Math Anal 48(4):2912-2943, 2016) Bauer et al. (in: Maxwell’s Equations: Analysis and Numerics (Radon Series on Computational and Applied Mathematics 24), De Gruyter, pp. 77-104, 2019). As applications we present a related Friedrichs/Poincaré type estimate, a div-curl lemma, and show that the Maxwell operator with mixed tangential and impedance boundary conditions (Robin type boundary conditions) has compact resolvents.