Closed $\mathcal{A}$-$p$ Quasiconvexity and Variational Problems with Extended Real-Valued Integrands

Abstract

This paper relates the lower semi-continuity of an integral functional in the compensated compactness setting of vector fields satisfying a constant-rank first-order differential constraint, to closed $\mathcal{A}$-$p$ quasiconvexity of the integrand. The lower semi-continuous envelope of relaxation is identified for continuous, but potentially extended real-valued integrands. We discuss the continuity assumption and show that when it is dropped our notion of quasiconvexity is still equivalent to lower semi-continuity of the integrand under an additional assumption on the characteristic cone of $\mathcal{A}$.