Remark on Hilbert's boundary value problem for Beltrami systems

SynopsisThe Schauder continuation method for nonlinear problems is based on appropriate a priori estimates for related linear equations. Recently, in a paper by the present author and G. C. Hsiao, the Hilbert boundary value problem with positive index for nonlinear elliptic systems in the plane was solved by this method but the constructive derivation of the a priori estimate necessarily required a restriction on the ellipticity condition. This is because the norm of the generalized Hilbert transform in the case of positive index is too big. Here, as in a forthcoming paper by G.C. Wen, an indirect and therefore non-constructive proof of the a priori estimate is given which does not require any further restrictions and allows the Hilbert boundary value problem to be solved for nonlinear elliptic systems in general.