Perturbation Theory for Solutions to Second Order Elliptic Operators with Complex Coefficients and the Lp Dirichlet Problem

We establish a Dahlberg-type perturbation theorem for second order divergence form elliptic operators with complex coefficients. In our previous paper, we showed the following result: If L0 = divA0(x)∇ + B0(x). ∇ is a p-elliptic operator satisfying the assumptions of Theorem 1.1 then the Lp Dirichlet problem for the operator L0 is solvable in the upper half-space ℝ+n. In this paper we prove that the Lp solvability is stable under small perturbations of L0. That is if L1 is another divergence form elliptic operator with complex coefficients and the coefficients of the operators L0 and L1 are sufficiently close in the sense of Carleson measures, then the Lp Dirichlet problem for the operator L1 is solvable for the same value of p. As a corollary we obtain a new result on Lp solvability of the Dirichlet problem for operators of the form L = divA(x)∇ + B(x) · ∇ where the matrix A satisfies weaker Carleson condition (expressed in term of oscillation of coefficients). In particular the coefficients of A need no longer be differentiate and instead satisfy a Carleson condition that controls the oscillation of the matrix A over Whitney boxes. This result in the real case has been established by Dindoš, Petermichl and Pipher.