Sobolev \(W_p^1\)-spaces on closed subsets of \(\mathbf R^n\) (Q1011409)

Let \(W^1_p (\mathbb R^n)\), \(1<p<\infty\), be the classical Sobolev spaces, \[ \| f \, | W^1_p (\mathbb R^n) \| = \| f \, | L_p (\mathbb R^n)\| + \| \nabla f \, | L_p (\mathbb R^n) \|, \] which can be equivalently normed by \[ \| f \, | W^1_p (\mathbb R^n) \| \sim \| f \, | L_p (\mathbb R^n) \| + \sup_{0<t<1, |h|<t} t^{-1} \Big( \int_{\mathbb R^n} |f(x+h) - f(x)|^p \, dx \Big)^{1/p}. \] It is always assumed that \(n<p<\infty\) and that \(f \in W^1_p (\mathbb R^n)\) is identified with its uniquely determined Hölder-continuous representative satisfying \[ | f(x) - f(y)| \leq c \, \|f \, | W^1_p (\mathbb R^n) \| \, |x-y|^{1 - \frac{n}{p}}, \quad x,y \in \mathbb R^n. \] Let \(S\) be an arbitrary (closed) set in \(\mathbb R^n\) and let \[ W^1_p (\mathbb R^n)|S = \big\{ f: \;F|S =f \, \text{for some continuous}\, F \in W^1_p (\mathbb R^n) \big\}, \] normed in the usual way by the infimum over all admissible \(\| F \, | W^1_p (\mathbb R^n) \|\). The paper under review provides a deep and impressive study of the spaces \(W^1_p (\mathbb R^n)|S\) in continuation of the earlier work by Yu. Brudny which started more than 30 years before, based on Whitney decompositions, local approximations and oscillations. By Theorem 1.5, there is for any closed set \(S\) a linear and bounded extension operator from \(W^1_p (\mathbb R^n)|S\) into \(W^1_p (\mathbb R^n)\) (the classical Whitney extension operator). Theorem 1.6 give an intrinsic characterization of \(W^1_p (\mathbb R^n)|S\) in terms of first differences \(f(x+h) - f(x)\), \(x\in S\), \(x+h \in S\) (as indicated above for \(W^1_p (\mathbb R^n)\)), based on doubling measures on \(S\) and on \(\partial S\). If \(\partial S\) is a \(d\)-set, \(0<d<n\), then the trace spaces coincide with \(B^{1 - \frac{n-d}{p}}_{p,p} (\partial S)\) (as it should be). Special attention is paid to closed sets \(S\) satisfying the ball condition (porosity condition), and to sets \(S\) such that \(\partial S\) satisfies the ball condition. Then the intrinsic norms simplify somewhat. There are several other assertions of this type.