We study boundary value problems for linear elliptic differential operators of order one. The underlying manifold may be noncompact, but the boundary is assumed to be compact. We require a symmetry property of the principal symbol of the operator along the boundary. This is satisfied by Dirac type operators, for instance. We provide a selfcontained introduction to (nonlocal) elliptic boundary conditions, boundary regularity of solutions, and index theory. In particular, we simplify and generalize the traditional theory of elliptic boundary value problems for Dirac type operators. We also prove a related decomposition theorem, a general version of Gromov and Lawson's relative index theorem and a generalization of the cobordism theorem.

Résoudre le Problème de Plateau signifie trouver la surface ayant l’aire minimale parmi toutes les surfaces avec un bord donné.Une partie du problème réside dans le fait de donner des définitions appropriées aux concepts de “surface”, “aire” et “bord”. Dans notre contexte les objets considérés sont ensembles dont la mesure de Hausdorff est localement finie. La condition de bord glissant est donnée par rapport à une famille à un paramètre de déformations compactes laquelle permet au bord de glisser le long d'un ensemble fermé. La fonctionnelle à minimiser est liée aux problèmes de capillarité et de frontière libre.On s'est intéressé aux cônes minimaux glissants, c'est à dire les cônes tangents aux surfaces minimaux glissantes dans des points sur son bord. En particulier on a étudié les cônes contenus dans un demi-espace dont le bord peut glisser le long l'hyperplane bornant le demi-espace. Après avoir donné une classification des cônes minimaux de dimension un dans le demi-plan on a présenté quatre nouveau cône minimaux de dimension deux dans le demi-espace (lesquels ne peuvent pas être obtenus comme un produit cartésien d'un des cône précédents avec la droite réelle). La technique utilisé c'est les calibrations couplées, qui dans un cas on a pu généraliser en grands dimensions.Afin de montrer que la liste des cônes minimaux est complète on a entamé la classification des cônes qui satisfont les conditions nécessaires pour la minimalité, pour lesquels on a obtenu des meilleurs compétiteurs à l'aide des simulations numériques. / Solving the Plateau problem means to find the surface with minimal area among all surfaces with a given boundary. Part of the problem actually consists of giving a suitable definition to the notions of “surface”, “area” and “boundary”. In our setting the considered objects are sets whose Hausdorff area is locally finite. The sliding boundary condition is given in term of a one parameter family of compact deformations which allows the boundary of the surface to moove along a closed set. The area functional is related to capillarity and free-boundary problems, and is a slight modification of the Hausdorff area.We focused on minimal boundary cones ; that is to say tangent cones on boundary points of sliding minimal surfaces. In particular we studied cones contained in an half-space and whose boundary can slide along the bounding hyperplane. After giving a classification of one-dimensional minimal cones in the half-plane we provided four new two-dimensional minimal cones in the three-dimensional half space (which cannot be obtained as the Cartesian product of the real line with one of the previous cones). We employed the technique of paired calibrations and in one case could also generalise it to higher dimension.In order to prove that the provided list of minimal cones is complete, we started the classification of cones satisfying the necessary conditions for the minimality, and with numeric simulations we obtained better competitors for these new candidates.

We investigate stability for certain geometric and functional inequalities and address the regularity of the free boundary for a problem arising in optimal transport theory. More specifically, stability estimates are obtained for the relative isoperimetric inequality inside convex cones and the Gaussian log-Sobolev inequality for a two parameter family of functions. Thereafter, away from a ``small" singular set, local C^{1,\alpha} regularity of the free boundary is achieved in the optimal partial transport problem. Furthermore, a technique is developed and implemented for estimating the Hausdorff dimension of the singular set. We conclude with a corresponding regularity theory on Riemannian manifolds. / text

This thesis consists of a comprehensive summary and six scientific papers dealing with the boundary behaviour of functions related to parabolic partial differential equations and several complex variables. Paper I concerns solutions to non-linear parabolic equations of linear growth. The main results include a backward Harnack inequality, and the Hölder continuity up to the boundary of quotients of non-negative solutions vanishing on the lateral boundary of an NTA cylinder. It is also shown that the Riesz measure associated with such solutions has the doubling property. Paper II is concerned with solutions to linear degenerate parabolic equations, where the degeneracy is controlled by a weight in the Muckenhoupt class 1+2/n. Two main results are that non-negative solutions which vanish continuously on the lateral boundary of an NTA cylinder satisfy a backward Harnack inequality and that the quotient of two such functions is Hölder continuous up to the boundary. Another result is that the parabolic measure associated to such equations has the doubling property. In Paper III, it is shown that a bounded pseudoconvex domain whose boundary is α-Hölder for each 0<α<1, is hyperconvex. Global estimates of the exhaustion function are given. In Paper IV, it is shown that on the closure of a domain whose boundary locally is the graph of a continuous function, all plurisubharmonic functions with continuous boundary values can be uniformly approximated by smooth plurisubharmonic functions defined in neighbourhoods of the closure of the domain. Paper V studies  Poletsky’s notion of plurisubharmonicity on compact sets. It is shown that a function is plurisubharmonic on a given compact set if, and only if, it can be pointwise approximated by a decreasing sequence of smooth plurisubharmonic functions defined in neighbourhoods of the set. Paper VI introduces the notion of a P-hyperconvex domain. It is shown that in such a domain, both the Dirichlet problem with respect to functions plurisubharmonic on the closure of the domain, and the problem of approximation by smooth plurisubharmoinc functions in neighbourhoods of the closure of the domain have satisfactory answers in terms of plurisubharmonicity on the boundary.