Uniqueness of weighted Sobolev spaces with weakly differentiable weights (Q1762338)

In order to study the weighted \(p\)-Laplacian \[ - \text{div} \big[ w | \nabla u|^{p - 2} \nabla u \big] = fw, \] which is the Gâteaux derivative of the convex functional \[ E^{\mu}_0: u \mapsto \frac1p \int | \nabla u|^p d \mu, \] by methods of the calculus of variations, one looks for minimizers of the functional \[ E^{\mu}_f: u \mapsto E^{\mu}_0 - \int f u \, d \mu. \] The mimimizers depend on the energy space chosen, but one wants to include the \(C^{\infty}_0\) functions (compact support) in the space. One sets \(H^{1, p}(\mu)\) to be the completion of \(C^{\infty}_0\) with respect to the Sobolev norm \[ \| u \|_{1, p, \mu} = \left( \| \nabla u \|_{L^p(\mu; R^d)}^p + \| u \|^P_{L^p(\mu)} \right)^{\frac1p}, \] which is the strong weighted Sobolev space. Let \(V\) be another weighted Sobolev space such that \(V \subset L^p(\mu)\) is densely and continuously embedded, \(V\) admits a linear gradient-operator \(\nabla^V: V \mapsto L^p(\mu, \mathbb R^d) \) that respects \(\mu\)-classes, \(V\) is complete in the Sobolev norm, and \(C^{\infty}_0 \subset V\), \(\nabla u = \nabla^Vu, \mu\)-a.e. for \(u \in C^{\infty}_0\). Then we know that \(H^{1, p}_0(\mu) \subset V\), but if the inclusion is proper, Lavrentév's phenomenon occurs if \[ \min_{u \in V} E_f(u) < \min_{ u \in H^{1,p}(\mu)} E_f(u). \] In order to prevent this possibility, one wants to know when \(H^{1,p}(\mu) = V\). For \(w \equiv 1\), this is known as the Meyers-Serrin theorem and briefly denoted by \(H = W\). For \(p = 2\), it is known as ``Markov uniqueness''. It has also been studied when \(p = 2\) for a weighted Sobolev space. The author gives a condition (\textbf{Diff}) that implies this result for \(p = 1\). Let \(\phi = w^{\frac1p}\), and for \(1 \leq p < \infty\), \textbf{Diff} is the condition \[ \phi \in W^{1, p}_{\text{loc}}(dx), ~\beta = p \frac{ \nabla \phi}{\phi} \in L^q_{\text{loc}}(\mu; \mathbb R^d), \] where \(q\) is the conjugate index to \(p\). The author's main result is: Theorem 1.1. If the condition (\textbf{Diff}) holds with \(p = 1\) and, additionally, \[ \nabla \phi \in L^{\infty}_{\text{loc}}(dx, \mathbb R^d), \] then \(C^{\infty}_0(\mathbb R^d)\) is dense in \(V^{1, p}(\mu)\) and, in particular, \[ H^{1,p}(\mu) = V^{1,p}(\mu). \] The author also gives other sufficient conditions, a weighted Poincaré inequality, and discusses a parabolic evolution equation with the weighted \(p\)-Laplacian.