Limiting Sobolev inequalities for vector fields and canceling linear differential operators (Q1949968)

The paper deals with inequalities for homogeneous linear differential operators. More exactly, let \(A(D)\) be a homogeneous linear differential operator of order \(k\in {\mathbb N}\) on \({\mathbb R}^n\) from a vector space \(V\) to a vector space \(E\). Such an operator is called canceling if \[ \bigcup_{\xi \in {\mathbb R}^n\setminus \{0\}} A(\xi) [V] = \{0\}.\tag{1} \] Then it is proved that the estimate \[ \| D^{k-1} u \|_{L^{n/(n-1)}} \leq \| A(D) \|_{L^1} \] holds if and only if \(A(D)\) is elliptic and canceling. This result covers some classical inequalities like the Gagliardo-Nirenberg-Sobolev inequality, the Korn-Sobolev inequality and the Hodge-Sobolev estimates for differential forms due to J.~Bourgain and H.~Brezis. Extensions of (1) like \[ \| D^{k-1} u \|_{\dot{F}^s_{p,q}} \leq \| A(D) \|_{L^1}, \] where \(\dot{F}^s_{p,q}\) is the homogeneous Triebel-Lizorkin space, and \[ \| D^{k-1} u \|_{\dot{B}^s_{p,q}} \leq \| A(D) \|_{L^1}, \] where \(\dot{B}^s_{p,q}\) is the homogeneous Besov space, are discussed as well.