Whitney's extension problem in o-minimal structures (Q2329583)

In 1934, H. Whitney asked how one can determine whether a real-valued function on a closed subset of \(\mathbb{R}^n\) is the restriction of a \(C^m\)-function on \(\mathbb{R}^n\). A complete answer to this question was found much later by \textit{C. Fefferman} in the early 2000s [Ann. Math. (2) 164, No. 1, 313--359 (2006; Zbl 1109.58016); Bull. Am. Math. Soc., New Ser. 46, No. 2, 207--220 (2009; Zbl 1207.58011)]. Here, we work in an o-minimal expansion of a real closed field and solve the \(C^1\)-case of Whitney's extension problem in this context. Our main tool is a definable version of Michael's selection theorem, and we include another application of this theorem, to solving linear equations in the ring of definable continuous functions.