potentials as done in [22]. We do not consider the case N = α = 2 in this paper. For 0 < α
everywhere, <strong>and</strong> we may apply the <strong>Riesz</strong> Decomposition Theorem <strong>for</strong> Newtonian potentials.It states that there exists a unique Borel measure σ 2 such that∫d 2−NE(x) = |x − t| 2−N dσ 2 (t) + h(x),. Since d 2−NE(x) is positive <strong>and</strong> tendsis a Newtonianpotential. The complete proof of Theorem 2.2 is given in Section 4.In the Newtonian case, we can also give explicit examples of σ 2 . If B is the unit ball <strong>and</strong>d B (x) = |x| + 1, then the measure σ B is found using the Laplacian. Specifically, dσ B (x) =where h is the greatest harmonic minorant of d 2−NEto zero as x → ∞, h must be identically zero [1, p. 106] <strong>and</strong> hence d 2−NE∆d 2−NB(x) = c|x|N−2 d −NBdS where c is a constant <strong>and</strong> dS is the surface area measure onthe unit sphere. If L = [−1, 1] then ∆d 2−NL= 0 everywhere except on the hyperplanethat is the perpendicular bisector of the segment. It follows that σ L is supported on thathyperplane [23]. Its value can be calculated using the generalized Laplacian, <strong>and</strong> is given bydσ L = cd −NLdS where c is a constant <strong>and</strong> dS is the surface area measure on the hyperplane[23]. For 0 < α < 2, the measure σ E should be calculated using fractional Laplacians.We are now prepared to state a reverse triangle inequality <strong>for</strong> <strong>Riesz</strong> potentials.Theorem 2.3. Let E ⊂ R N be a compact set with the minimum α-energy W α (E) < ∞,where 0 < α ≤ 2. Suppose that ν k , k = 1, . . . , m, are positive compactly supported Borelmeasures, normalized so that ν := ∑ mk=1 ν k is a unit measure, with m ≥ 2. Thenm∑k=1infEU ν kα≥ C E (α, m) + infEm∑k=1U ν kα , (9)where∫C E (α, m) := minc k ∈Emin |x − c k| α−N dµ α (x) − W α (E)1≤k≤mcannot be replaced by a larger constant <strong>for</strong> each m ≥ 2. Furthermore, (9) holds with C E (α, m)replaced by∫C E (α) := d α−NE(x)dµ α (x) − W α (E),which does not depend on m.In the Newtonian case α = 2, the minimum principle holds <strong>and</strong> so the minimum inC E (2, m) is achieved on the boundary of E. Thus∫C E (2, m) = min min |x − c k| 2−N dµ 2 (x) − W 2 (E).c k ∈∂E 1≤k≤mA closed set S ⊂ E is called dominant ifd E (x) = max |x − t| <strong>for</strong> all x ∈ supp(µ α).t∈S5