Some Regularity Properties on Bolza problems in the Calculus of Variations

Abstract

The paper summarizes the main core of the last results that we obtained in [8, 4, 17] on the regularity of the value function for a Bolza problem of a one-dimensional, vectorial problem of the calculus of variations. We are concerned with a nonautonomous Lagrangian that is possibly highly discontinuous in the state and velocity variables, nonconvex in the velocity variable and non coercive. The main results are achieved under the assumption that the Lagrangian is convex on the one-dimensional lines of the velocity variable and satisfies a local Lipschitz continuity condition w.r.t. the time variable, known in the literature as Property (S), and strictly related to the validity of the Erdmann–Du-Bois Reymond equation.