Characterisation of zero trace functions in higher-order spaces of Sobolev type (Q1684800)

Let \(\Omega\subset\mathbb R^n\) be an open bounded set and \(p\in(1,\infty)\). It is well known that a function \(u\) from the classical Sobolev space \(W^{1,p}(\Omega)\) belongs to \(W_0^{1,p}(\Omega)\), the closure of \(C_0^\infty(\Omega)\) in \(W^{1,p}(\Omega)\), if \(u/d\) belongs to weak \(L^p(\Omega)\), where \(d\) is the distance function, \(d(x)=\text{dist}(x,\partial\Omega)\) for \(x\in\Omega\). In the recent paper [Math. Nachr. 290, No. 14--15, 2247--2258 (2017; Zbl 1410.46020)], the authors proved that results of this type hold also in the variable exponent setting if \(\Omega\) satisfies certain regularity conditions and \(p=p(x)\) is a bounded, log-Hölder continuous function that is bounded away from 1. As a consequence, they obtained new results even for \(p\) constant, e.g., that \(u\in W_0^{1,p}(\Omega)\) if and only if \(u\in W^{1,p}(\Omega)\) and \(u/d\in L^1(\Omega)\). These results are extended in the present paper to the case of higher-order Sobolev spaces \(W^m(X)\) based on a certain type of Banach function spaces \(X\) which also include the variable exponent spaces.