BGG Sequences with Weak Regularity and Applications

Abstract

We investigate some Bernstein–Gelfand–Gelfand complexes consisting of Sobolev spaces on bounded Lipschitz domains in \({\mathbb {R}}^{n}\). In particular, we compute the cohomology of the conformal deformation complex and the conformal Hessian complex in the Sobolev setting. The machinery does not require algebraic injectivity/surjectivity conditions between the input spaces, and allows multiple input complexes. As applications, we establish a conformal Korn inequality in two space dimensions with the Cauchy–Riemann operator and an additional third-order operator with a background in Möbius geometry. We show that the linear Cosserat elasticity model is a Hodge–Laplacian problem of a twisted de Rham complex. From this cohomological perspective, we propose potential generalizations of continuum models with microstructures.