Mityagin's extension problem. Progress report (Q2374234)

This article contributes to the classical extension problem for spaces \(\mathscr E(K)\) of Whitney jets on a compact set \(K\subseteq \mathbb R^d\), i.e., \[ \mathscr E(K)=\{ (\partial^\alpha f|_K)_{\alpha\in \mathbb N_0^d}: f\in C^\infty(\mathbb R^d)\} \] is endowed with the quotient topology from \(C^\infty(\mathbb R^d)\) (which, by a celebrated theorem of Whitney, can be described in terms of Taylor remainders only on the set \(K\)) and the question is for which \(K\) there is a continuous linear extension operator (i.e., a right inverse of the quotient map). This is a notoriously difficult problem, see [\textit{L. Frerick}, J. Reine Angew. Math. 602, 123--154 (2007; Zbl 1124.46014)] for a survey. All known approaches to the problem require in some sense a local thickness of the set and the present article compares these approaches and shows by means of a special class of Cantor type sets that several natural candidates (like Hausdorff dimensions or densities or growth rates for optimal constants in Markov-type inequalities) to measure the thickness fail to characterize the extension property.