Nonlinear ground state representations and sharp Hardy inequalities (Q999771)

The authors determine the optimal constant \(\mathcal C_{N,s,p}\) in the fractional Hardy inequality \[ \iint_{\mathbb R^N\times\mathbb R^N} \frac{|u(x)-u(y)|^p}{|x-y|^{N+ps}}\,dx\,dy \geq{\mathcal C}_{N,s,p} \int_{\mathbb R^N} \frac{|u(x)|^p}{|x|^{ps}}\, dx \tag{1} \] (\(N\in\mathbb N\), \(0<s<1\)), where \(u\) belongs to the homogeneous Sobolev space \(\dot{W}^s_p(\mathbb R^n)\) in the case \(1\leq p\leq N/s\), or it belongs to \(\dot{W}^s_p(\mathbb R^N\setminus\{0\})\) when \(p>N/s\) (these spaces are defined as completions of \(C^\infty_0(\mathbb R^N)\) or \(C^\infty_0(\mathbb R^N\setminus\{0\})\), with regards to the left-hand side of (1)), respectively. To do so, they develop a nonlinear and non-local version of the ground state representation which even yields a reminder term in inequality (1). The result enables to extend results from recent papers of \textit{J. Bourgain, H. Brézis} and \textit{P. Mironescu} [``Another look at Sobolev spaces'', Optimal control and partial differential equations. In honour of Professor Alain Bensoussan's 60th birthday. Proceedings of the conference, Paris, France, December 4, 2000. Amsterdam: IOS Press; Tokyo: Ohmsha. 439--455 (2001; Zbl 1103.46310); J. Anal. Math. 87, 77--101 (2002; Zbl 1029.46030)] and of \textit{V. Maz'ya} and \textit{T. Shaposhnikova} [J. Math. Pures Appl. (9) 81, No. 9, 877--884 (2002; Zbl 1036.46026)]. Furthermore, from the sharp Hardy inequality the authors deduce the sharp constant in the Sobolev-type embedding of \(\dot{W}^s_p(\mathbb R^n)\) into the Lorentz space \(L_{p^*,p}(\mathbb R^n)\), \(1\leq p<N/s\), where \(p^*:=Np/(N-ps)\), and they characterize all optimizers. As an appendix, the cases of equality in the rearrangement inequality in fractional Sobolev spaces become characterized.