Are continuous convex functions subharmonic

analysisconvex-analysis

We say that a continuous function $u:\mathbb{R}^d\to \mathbb{R}$ is subharmonic if it satisfies the mean value property
$$u(x)\leq \frac{1}{|\partial
B_r(x)|}\int_{\partial B_r(x)}u(y)\,\mathrm{d}y \qquad (\star)$$
for
any ball $B_r(x)\subset \mathbb{R}^d$.

Let $u:\mathbb{R}^d\to \mathbb{R}$ be a convex function (hence,
continuous). Is $u$ subharmonic?

  • If $u\in C^2(\mathbb{R}^d)$, this is true. Using a second-order Taylor expansion we have
    \begin{align*}\int_{\partial B_r(x)}(u(y)-u(x))\,\mathrm{d}y&=\int_{\partial B_r(x)}\left(\nabla u(x)\cdot(y-x)+\frac{1}{2}(y-x)D^2u(\xi)(y-x)^t\right)\,\mathrm{d}y.\end{align*}
    The first term in the above integral vanishes by symmetry, the second is non-negative because $D^2u(\xi)$ is a positive semi-definite matrix. Therefore, ($\star$) is proven.

  • If $d=1$, the statement is true when $u$ is continuous, in general. Indeed since balls reduce to intervals, ($\star$) is easily shown to be equivalent to $u$ being midpoint-convex.

I'm not sure how to attack the problem in higher dimensions. Of course $(\star)$ is true for affine functions in any dimension, and I'd like to use the fact that the graph of a convex function lies below that of an affine function, loosely speaking. However, to close the estimate I would need $u$ to be equal to the affine function at the boundary of the ball, and this is not necessarily possible.

Best Answer

Using that $u$ is midpoint-convex works in higher dimensions as well.

$y \mapsto x - (y-x) = 2x-y$ maps the sphere $\partial B_r(x)$ bijectively onto itself (each point is mapped to the “opposite” point on the sphere). It follows that $$ \int_{\partial B_r(x)} u(y) \, dy = \int_{\partial B_r(x)} u(2x-y) \, dy $$ and therefore $$ \int_{\partial B_r(x)} u(y) \, dy = \int_{\partial B_r(x)} \frac 12\bigl(u(y) + u(2x-y)\bigr) \, dy \\ \ge \int_{\partial B_r(x)} u\left(\frac{y + (2x-y)}{2}\right) \, dy = \int_{\partial B_r(x)} u(x) \, dy = |\partial B_r(x)| \cdot u(x) \, . $$

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