The annular decay property and capacity estimates for thin annuli (Q2364373)

Let \((X,d,\mu)\) be a metric space with a Borel finite measure \(\mu\). In the paper under review, the authors continue the study of the \textit{variational capacity} \(\text{cap}_p(B_r,B_R)\) for annuli \(B(x,R) \setminus B(x,r)\) where \(p\geq 1\). While in their earlier work [Math. Z. 286, No. 3--4, 1173--1215 (2017; Zbl 1394.31007)] the authors considered the case \(R\geq 2r\), here the case of ``thin annuli'' (i.e., \(r<R\leq 2r\)) is studied. It is known that, in the special case where \(X\) is the Euclidean space \(\mathbb{R}^n\) with the \(n\)-dimensional Lebesgue measure \(m\), the capacity for thin annuli satisfies \[ \text{cap}_p(B_r,B_R) \simeq \left ( 1 - \frac{r}{R}\right )^{1-p}\frac{m(B_R)}{R^p}. \] In their main theorem (Theorem 1.3), the authors identify conditions for the space \(X\) which guarantee the above estimate for thin annuli, with \(m\) being replaced by \(\mu\). The two conditions are an analytic condition (1-Poincaré inequality) and a measure-theoretic condition (\textit{annular decay property}) which states that the measure of any annulus \(B(x,R) \setminus B(x,r)\) is bounded by a fixed multiple of \[ \left ( 1 - \frac{r}{R}\right )^{\eta}\mu(B(x,R) \] for some \(\eta \in (0,1]\). In Section 2, the authors review the basic theory of Sobolev spaces and capacities. In Section 3, the authors establish the upper bound of the capacity estimate, and in Section 4, they establish the lower bound of the capacity estimate. In Section 5, and specifically Theorem 5.1, several characterizations of the (local) annular decay property are given. Finally, the authors illustrate the sharpness of the two conditions in Theorem 1.3 (and in other results of this article) by constructing a counterexample in Section 6.