Restrictions of smooth functions to a closed subset. (Q1774080)

The following problem goes back to \textit{H. Whitney's} classical paper of 1934 [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 36, 63--89 (1934; Zbl 0008.24902)]: Find the conditions for a function on a closed subset \(X\subset\mathbb{R}^n\) to be extendable to a \(C^k\)-function on \(\mathbb{R}^n\). Whitney gave necessary and sufficient conditions in terms of divided differences for \(n= 1\). In the recent paper by \textit{E. Bierstone}, \textit{P. Milman} and \textit{W. Pavłucki} [Invent. Math. 151, No. 2, 329--352 (2003; Zbl 1031.58002)] the Glaeser construction is generalized to define ``\(N\)th order paratangent bundle'' \(\tau^k_N(X)\). They also introduced for \(f: X\to\mathbb{R}\) a subbundle \(\nabla^k_N f\subset \tau^k_N(X)\times \mathbb{R}\), a substitution for the notion of divided \(k\)-differences in the multivariate case, and noted that \(\nabla^k_N f\) is a graph of a map \(\tau^k_N(X)\to \mathbb{R}\) for some \(N\) provided \(f\) is the trace of a \(C^k\)-function on \(X\). They conjectured that the graph condition is also sufficient for \(f\) to be a \(C^k\)-trace, and obtained a positive result for compact subanalytic \(X\). In the paper under the review, the conjecture is proved for self-similar sets and for special countable sets with a single limit point.