New examples on Lavrentiev gap using fractals (Q2004064)

The paper deals with the Lavrentiev gap, i.e., the phenomenon which occurs when the minimum of an integral functional \(\mathcal{G}\) taken over smooth functions differs from the one taken over the associated energy space. The Lavrentiev gap is clearly closely related to the (non-)density of smooth functions, i.e. to the fact that \(H^{1,p(\cdot)}(\Omega)\neq W^{1,p(\cdot)}(\Omega)\), where \(p(\cdot)\) is variable exponent. In [Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR Ser. Mat., 50, No. 4, 675--710 (1986)], \textit{VV. Zhikov} presented a two-dimensional checkboard example with a Lavrentiev gap. In such an example and in others, the dimension played a critical role, since the exponent presents a saddle point where it crossed the dimension \(d\). In the present paper, the authors provide new examples of variable exponents, such that the Lavrentiev gap occurs but which do not need to cross the dimensional threshold. They also show that \(H^{1,p(\cdot)}(\Omega)\neq W^{1,p(\cdot)}(\Omega)\) and the ambiguity of the notion of \(p(\cdot)\)-harmonicity.