Bol. Mat.

17(2), 137–142 (2010) 137

Reverse generalized Hölder and Minkowski type

inequalities and their applications

René Erlı́n Castillo1

Departamento de Matemáticas
Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Eduard Trousselot2
Departamento de Matemáticas
Universidad de Oriente 6101 Cumaná, Estado de Sucre, Venezuela

In this paper we give a reverse generalization of the generalized Hölder

and Minkowski type inequalities and their applications to inverse source
problems.

Keywords: Hölder and Minkowski type inequalities,

heat equation, Weierstrass transform.
En este artı́culo damos una generalización de la desigualdad inversa gen-
eralizada de Hölder y Minkowski y sus aplicaciones a problemas inversos.

Palabras claves: Desigualdades de tipo Hölder y Minkowski,

ecuación del calor, transformada de Weierstrass.

MSC: 44A35, 26D20.

1
recastillo@unal.edu.co
2
eddycharles2007@hotmail.com
138 Castillo and Trousselot, Reverse generalized Hölder and Minkowski

1 Introduction
It is well known that, for 0 < p < 1, f ∈ Lp(X), g ∈ Lq(X),
Z
|f g| dµ ≥ kf kp kgkq . (1)
X
Since q is negative in this case, we assume that g > 0, µ− a.e. on X.
Also, if f ∈ Lp(X), g ∈ Lp(X), and 0 < p < 1, then it follows, see [1], by
applying the result of (1), that
kf + gkp ≥ kf kp + kgkp . (2)
The following version of inequality (1) was proved in [3]; see also [2]
and [4], pages 125–126.
1 1
Theorem 1.1. Suppose p, q > 0 and p + q = 1. If f and g are two
positive function satisfying
fp
0<m≤ ≤ M < ∞,
gq
on a set X. Then
Z 1/p Z 1/q   1 Z
m − pq
p
f dµ q
g dµ ≤ f g dµ , (3)
X X M X

if the right hand side integral converges.

Under appropriate conditions, we prove a generalized version of in-
equalities (2) and (3). Our estimates are based on Theorem 1.1.

2 Main results
1 1 1
Theorem 2.1. Suppose p, q, r > 0 and p + q + r = 1. If f, g and h are
positive functions such that
f p/s
i) 0 < m ≤ g q/s
≤ M < ∞ for some s > 0 such that 1
p + 1
q = 1s , and
(f g)s
ii) 0 < m ≤ hr ≤ M < ∞ for some s > 0, on a set X.

Then
Z 1/p Z 1/q Z 1/r
p q r
f dµ g dµ h dµ
X X X
h i Z
 m − 1 2
+ spq
rs
≤ f g h dµ , (4)
M X
if the right hand side integral converges.
Bol. Mat. 17(2), 137–142 (2010) 139

Proof. Let p1 + 1q = 1s for some s > 0, thus ps + qs = 1 and 1s + 1

r = 1.
Using ii) and applying Theorem 1.1 to H = f g and h we have
Z 1/s Z 1/r   1 Z
m − sr
H s dµ hr dµ ≤ H h dµ ,
X X M X

which is equivalent to
Z 1/s Z 1/r  m − 1 Z
sr
s s
f g dµ r
h dµ ≤ f g h dµ . (5)
X X M X
s s
Now, using once more i) and the fact that p + q = 1, we can apply
Theorem 1.1 to f s and g s to obtain
Z 1/p Z 1/q  m − s2 Z
pq
f p dµ g q dµ ≤ f s g s dµ . (6)
X X M X

Combining (5) and (6) we obtain (4). Thus we have obtained the result.

1 1
Theorem 2.2. Suppose p, q > 0 and p + q = 1. If f and g are two
positive functions such that

(f +g)p−1
i) 0 < m ≤ f ≤ M < ∞.

(f +g)p−1
ii) 0 < m ≤ g ≤ M < ∞ on a set X .

Then
Z 1/p Z 1/p   1 Z 
m − pq
p
f dµ + p
g dµ ≤ p
(f + g) dµ . (7)
X X M X

if the right hand side integral converges.

Proof. Observe that, invoking Theorem 1.1, we have

 m − 1 Z
pq
(f + g)p dµ
M X
 m − 1 Z


pq p−1 p−1
= f (f + g) + g (f + g) dµ
M X
" Z 1/p Z #
1/p Z 1/q
≥ p
f dµ + p
g dµ p
(f + g) dµ .
X X X
140 Castillo and Trousselot, Reverse generalized Hölder and Minkowski

Thus

Z 1/p Z 1/p   1 Z 1/p

m − pq
p
f dµ + p
g dµ ≤ p
(f + g) dµ ,
X X M X

which is precisely (7). 

Next, without using Theorem 1.1 and with aslight variation of the
hypotheses of Theorem 2.2 we have the following.

Theorem 2.3. Let f and g be positive functions satisfying

f
0<m≤ <M,
g
on a set X. Then

Z  1 Z 1 Z 1
p p p
p
f dµ + p
g dµ ≤C p
(f + g) dµ ,
X X X

if the right hand side integral converges, where

M (m + 1) + M + 1
C= .
(m + 1)(M + 1)

f
Proof. Since g ≤ M , then f ≤ M (f + g) − M f , thus
(M + 1)p f p ≤ M p (f + g)p ,
and
Z 1 Z 1
p M p
p
f dµ ≤ p
(f + g) dµ . (8)
X M +1 X

On the other hand, since mg ≤ f , we have g ≤ m1

(f + g) − 1
m g. From
this, we obtain
 p  p
1 1
+1 g ≤
p
(f + g)p .
m m
Hence,
Z 1 Z 1
p 1 p
p
g dµ ≤ p
(f + g) dµ . (9)
X m+1 X
Finally, adding (8) and (9) we get
Bol. Mat. 17(2), 137–142 (2010) 141

Z  1 Z 1
p p
p p
f dµ + g dµ
X X
Z 1
M (m + 1) + M + 1 p
≤ (f + g) dµ p
.
(m + 1)(M + 1) X


Theorem 2.4. Let F and G be positive functions satisfying
1 1
0 < m p ≤ F (ζ) G(x − ζ) ≤ M p , (10)
with p > 1, x ∈ [c, d] and ζ ∈ R. Then, for any positive function ρ, we
have
Z d Z ∞ p
F (ζ) ρ(ζ) G(x − ζ) dζ dx
c −∞
 m  1 Z ∞ p−1 Z ∞ Z d−ζ
pq
≥ ρ(ζ) dζ p
F (ζ) ρ(ζ) dζ Gp (x) dx .
M −∞ −∞ c−ζ
(11)
Inequality (11) is especially important when G(x − ζ) is a Green’s func-
tion.
The proof of Theorem 2.4 is just a straightforward application of
Theorem 2.1. Inequality (4) reverses the sign if 0 < p < 1. Hence,
inequality (11) reverses the sign if 0 < p < 1. On the other hand, also
note that this kind of estimates are important in inverse problems.

3 Application to the heat equation

We consider the Weierstrass transform
Z ∞
1 (x−ζ)2
u(x, t) = √ F (ζ) ρ(ζ) e− 4t dζ ,
4πt −∞
which gives the formal solution u(x, t) of the heat equation ut = ∆u on
R+ × R, subject to the initial condition u(x, 0) = F (x)ρ(x), on R. Take
x2
q
G(x) = e− 4t , and let x ∈ [−a, a], ζ ∈ [−b, b], and a + b ≤ 4t M
p log m .
From this
(x−ζ)2 (a+b)2
1 ≤ e− 4t ≤ e− 4t ,
and we obtain
1 (x−ζ)2 1
0 < m p ≤ F (ζ) e− 4t ≤Mp ,
142 Castillo and Trousselot, Reverse generalized Hölder and Minkowski

1 (a+b)2 1
if m p e− 4t ≤ F (ζ) ≤ M p , ζ ∈ [−b, b]. It is not difficult to see that
Z r  √  √ 
d−ζ
− px
2
πt p(d − ζ) p(c − ζ)
e 4t dx = erf √ − erf √ ,
c−ζ p 2 t 2 t
where
Z x
2
e−t dt ,
2
erf (x) = √
π 0
is the error function. Therefore, for −a ≤ c < d ≤ a, the inequality (11)
holds
Z d
[u(x, t)]p dx
c
1  m  1 Z b p−1
pq
≥ √ ρ(ζ) dζ
2p (πt)(p−1)/2 p M b
Z b  √  √ 
p(d − ζ) p(c − ζ)
× p
F (ζ) ρ(ζ) erf √ − erf √ dζ ,
b 2 t 2 t
where ρ is a positive continuous function on [−b, b] and F satisfy (10).

References
[1] E. Di Benedetto, Real Analysis (Birkhäuser, 2002).
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Inequalities in Analysis (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1993).
[3] S. Saitoh, Vk. Tuan and M. Yamamoto, Reverse convolution in-
equalities and applications to inverse heat source problems, J.
Inequal. Pure Appl. Math. 3(5), 80 (2002).
http://jipam.vu.edu.av/v3n5/029 -02htm1.
[4] L. Xiao–Hua, On the inverse of Hölder inequality, Math. Pract.
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