How to prove that $\lVert \Delta u \rVert_{L^2} + \lVert u \rVert_{L^2}$ and $\lVert u \rVert_{H^2}$ are equivalent norms?

Question

How to prove that $\lVert \Delta u \rVert_{L^2} + \lVert u \rVert_{L^2}$ and $\lVert u \rVert_{H^2}$ are equivalent norms on a bounded domain? I hear there is a way to do it by RRT but any other way is fine. Thanks.

Answer 1

If you want an $H^2$ estimate up to the boundary for arbitrary bounded domains, I'm not sure it's even true. You can bound $\|u\|_{H^2}$ on compact subdomains (this is interior $H^2$ regularity for elliptic equations), or globally in domains with smooth boundary (this is boundary $H^2$ regularity). Both topics are covered in details in PDE by Evans (sections 6.3.1 and 6.3.2 of the 1st edition). It would be impractical to reproduce the proofs here, as they cover 4 and 5 pages, respectively. Besides, Evans' is a fine book to read for any pde_lover.

These lecture notes follow Evans pretty closely.