Regularity results in free boundary problems

Sammanfattning: This thesis consists of three scientific papers, devoted to the regu-larity theory of free boundary problems. We use iteration arguments to derive the optimal regularity in the optimal switching problem, and to analyse the regularity of the free boundary in the biharmonic obstacle problem and in the double obstacle problem.In Paper A, we study the interior regularity of the solution to the optimal switching problem. We derive the optimal C1,1-regularity of the minimal solution under the assumption that the zero loop set is the closure of its interior.In Paper B, assuming that the solution to the biharmonic obstacle problem with a zero obstacle is suÿciently close-to the one-dimensional solution (xn)3+, we derive the C1,-regularity of the free boundary, under an additional assumption that the noncoincidence set is an NTA-domain.In Paper C we study the two-dimensional double obstacle problem with polynomial obstacles p1 p2, and observe that there is a new type of blow-ups that we call double-cone solutions. We investigate the existence of double-cone solutions depending on the coeÿcients of p1, p2, and show that if the solution to the double obstacle problem with obstacles p1 = −|x|2 and p2 = |x|2 is close to a double-cone solution, then the free boundary is a union of four C1,-graphs, pairwise crossing at the origin.