Partial regularity and smooth topology-preserving approximations of rough domains (Q522458)

A method of approximation of bounded domains \(\Omega\subset\mathbb R^m\), \(m\geq 2\), of class \(C^0\) by bounded \(C^{\infty}\)-domains is given. These approximations from the inside and from the outside are in particular \(C^{\infty}\)-diffeomorphic to \(\Omega\), and their closures are homeomorphic to the closure of \(\Omega\). One step of the construction is an approximation \(\rho\) of the signed distance \(d\) from \(\partial\Omega\) (both \(d\) and \(\rho\) positive inside and negative outside of \(\Omega\)) such that \(\rho\) is \(C^{\infty}\) and \(C^{0,1}\) outside \(\partial\Omega\) and with non-zero gradient at points of \(\partial\Omega\). The sets \(\Omega_{\varepsilon}=\{x\in\mathbb R; \rho(x)>\varepsilon\}\) for small \(\varepsilon\)'s serve then as the required approximations. An important tool of the proofs is the existence of a canonical \(C^{\infty}\) field \(G\) of good directions at points from a neighbourhood of \(\partial\Omega\) (i.e., of pseudonormals at points of \(\partial\Omega\)). Then a flow of canonical good directions \(S:\mathbb R\times\mathbb R^m\to\mathbb R^m\) based on \(\rho\) and \(G\) is found so that \(\rho\) is increasing along the flow and used in the proofs essentially. These results are applied to find sufficient conditions under which every continuous field of pseudonormals is a surjection of \(\partial\Omega\) to the corresponding sphere. It is true if \(\Omega\subset\mathbb R^2\) or if moreover the Euler characteristic of \(\Omega\) is non-zero for higher dimensions. Using the previous results it is shown under the assumption that \(\Omega\) has non-zero Euler characteristic that \(\partial\Omega\) has a Lipschitz portion. For \(m=2\) and \(3\) it is shown even without the assumption on the Euler characteristic that each component of \(\partial\Omega\) has a Lipschitz portion.