On the boundary values of Sobolev \(W^1_p\)-functions (Q1959456)

Let \(W^1_p(\Omega)\) be the Sobolev on a domain \(\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^n\) with \(p> n\). Every element of the space may and will be identified with a unique continuous function satisfying the local \(\alpha\)-Hölder condition in \(\Omega\) with \(\alpha:= 1-\frac np\). If \(\Omega\) is a Sobolev extension domain, every such function is, in fact, uniformly continuous and therefore its trace to \(\partial\Omega\) is uniquely defined, but for general domains this is not the case. The author's approach to the trace problem is based on the following fact discovered by \textit{S. M. Buckley} and \textit{A. Stanoyevitch} [J. Lond. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 64, No.~3, 690--706 (2001; Zbl 1037.46027)]: Every \(f\in W^1_p(\Omega)\), \(p> n\), is uniformly continuous with respect to a metric given for \(x,y\in\Omega\) by \[ p(x,y):= \underset{\gamma}{}{\text{inf}} \int_\gamma \text{dist}(z,\Omega)^{\beta-1} d\rho(z)+\| x-y\|^\beta, \] where \(\beta:={p-n\over p-1}\) and \(\gamma\) runs over all rectificable curves in \(\Omega\) joining \(x\) and \(y\). This allows to extend \(f\) to the completion of \(\Omega\), denoted by \(\Omega^c\), and in this way, define the trace of \(f\) on \(\partial\Omega^c:= \Omega^c\setminus\Omega\) (identifying isometrically \(\Omega\) with an open dense subset of \(\Omega^c\)). There is a natural map from \(\partial\Omega^c\) into \(\partial\Omega\); if this map is a bijection onto its image, then \(\partial\Omega^c\) can be identified with the ``\(\alpha\)-accessible'' part of \(\partial\Omega\), while the trace \(\text{tr}_\alpha f\) is a continuous function on this part. In the first four sections, the author deals with domains under the above bijection condition, giving a complete constructive description of the corresponding trace space \(\text{Tr}_\alpha(W^1_p(\Omega))\) and constructing a linear continuous extension operator from \(\text{Tr}_\alpha(W^1_p(\Omega))\) into \(W^1_p(\Omega)\). In the last section, these results are extended to the case of a general domain \(\Omega\).