Phases of unimodular complex valued maps: optimal estimates, the factorization method, and the sum-intersection property of Sobolev spaces (Q892697)

This paper is devoted to address a question of optimal lifting estimates for unimodular complex-valued maps. Let \(\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^n\) be smooth bounded simply connected. Given \(s>0\) and \(1\leq p<\infty\), assume that \(W^{s,p}(\Omega;\mathbb{S}^1)\) has the lifting property, namely, every \(u\in W^{s,p}(\Omega;\mathbb{S}^1)\) has a phase \(\varphi \in W^{s,p}(\Omega;\mathbb{R})\). The problem is to find the best possible estimate of the form \(|\varphi|_{W^{s,p}}\lesssim F(|u|_{W^{s,p}})\). It is known from a paper by \textit{J. Bourgain, H. Brézis} and the first author in [J. Anal. Math. 80, 37--86 (2000; Zbl 0967.46026)] that the space \(W^{s,p}(\Omega;\mathbb{S}^1)\) has the lifting property if and only if one the following holds:{\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] \(sp<1\);\item [(ii)] \(sp\geq n\); \item [(iii)] \(s\geq 1\) and \(sp\geq 2\). \end{itemize}} When \(0<s<1\) and \(1\leq p<\infty\) such that \(sp<1\), via an approach based on symmetrization and averaged estimates for martingales, it is proved in this paper that there exists a phase \(\varphi\) of \(u\) such that \(|\varphi|_{W^{s,p}}^p\lesssim \frac1{s^p(1-sp)} |u|_{W^{s,p}}^p\), which is also shown to be optimal when \(1<p<\infty\). This extends the corresponding known result when \(p=2\) obtained by Bourgain, Brézis and the first author [loc. cit.]. As a byproduct, a new characterization of fractional Sobolev spaces with \(0<s<1\) involving martingale estimates is obtained, and a new method for phase construction based on oscillation detection is proposed. When \(sp\geq 1\), the authors generalize a result on optimal estimates by \textit{B. Merlet} [C. R., Math., Acad. Sci. Paris 343, No. 7, 467--472 (2006; Zbl 1115.46027)] from the one-dimensional case to higher dimensions, using a new approach involving factorization techniques and duality.