Right inverses for partial differential operators on spaces of Whitney functions (Q2448504)

The existence of continuous linear right inverses for partial differential operators has been considered in several spaces of (ultra)differentiable functions or (ultra)distributions. The present paper contains first results in that direction on the space \(\mathcal{E}(K)\) of Whitney functions, where \(K\) is a compact in \(\mathbb{R}^d\), specifically in the case where there is no continuous linear extension operator on \(\mathcal{E}(K)\). Standard examples for such \(K\) are sets with an exponential cusp or compact smooth graph manifolds. The main result is the following: For \(\lambda\in\mathbb{C}\) and \(v\in\mathbb{R}^d\) the operator \(P(D):=\langle v,D\rangle - \lambda\) admits a continuous linear right inverse on \(\mathcal{E}(K)\) if \(K\) has the following form: \(K=\{tv+x\mid x\in K_v, \Phi(x)\leq t\leq \Psi(x)\}\) for some compact \(K_v\perp v\) and some functions \(\Psi,\Phi:K_v\to \mathbb{R}\) such that \(\Psi\leq \gamma\leq \Psi\) on \(K_v\) for some smooth function \(\gamma\). The latter assumption means that \(K\) contains a smooth surface. The main problem is to find a right inverse for \(P(D)\) on \(C^\infty(\mathbb{R}^d)\) respecting the functions which are flat on \(K\). By means of a transform of variables, this is reduced to the special case where \(v\) is the first unit vector and \(\gamma = 0\). Then such a right inverse can be given by means of an explicit formula.