On the obstacle problem associated to the Kolmogorov–Fokker–Planck operator with rough coefficients

Abstract This work is devoted to the study of the obstacle problem associated to the Kolmogorov–Fokker–Planck operator with rough coefficients through a variational approach. In particular, after the introduction of a proper anisotropic Sobolev space and related properties, we prove the existence and uniqueness of a weak solution for the obstacle problem by adapting a classical perturbation argument to the convex functional associated to the case of our interest. Finally, we conclude this work by providing a one-sided associated variational inequality, alongside with an overview on related open problems.