Characterizing Sobolev spaces of vector-valued functions (Q2672978)

The authors study a rather classical object, the Reshetnyak-Sobolev space, and find new significant properties. In particular, they characterize the functions in the Reshetnyak-Sobolev space in terms of the existence of partial metric derivatives or partial weak* derivatives. First I will provide a brief historical overview of the problem. \textit{Yu. G. Reshetnyak} [Sib. Math. J. 38, No. 3, 567--583 (1997; Zbl 0944.46024); translation from Sib. Mat. Zh. 38, No. 3, 657--675 (1997)] by means of a scalarization procedure defined a Sobolev-type class of mappings valued in a metric space. Even in the case when the metric space is replaced by a Banach space, the Reshetnyak definition is different from the classical Sobolev spaces of vector-valued functions. So, in what follows, let \(\Omega\subset \mathbb R^n\) be open set and \(V\) be a Banach space. Then Reshetnyak's original definition takes the following form. A function \(f\in L^p(\Omega; V)\) belongs to the Reshetnyak-Sobolev space \(R^{1,p}(\Omega; V)\) if \begin{itemize} \item[(A)] for every \(v^*\in V^*\), the function \(x \mapsto \langle v^*, f(x) \rangle\) lies in \(W^{1,p}(\Omega)\); \item[(B)] there is a function \(g\in L^p(\Omega)\) such that, for every \(v^*\in V^*\), \(\|v^*\| = 1\), one has \( |\nabla\langle v^*, f(x) \rangle| \leq g(x)\) for a.e. \(x\in \Omega\). \end{itemize} \textit{P. Hajłasz} and \textit{J. Tyson} [Mich. Math. J. 56, No.~3, 687--702 (2008; Zbl 1165.28004)] suggested an approach to compare the space \(R^{1,p}(\Omega; V)\) with the classical one \(W^{1,p}(\Omega; V)\). For that purpose, they employed the concept of weak* derivative. Finally, \textit{I.~Caamaño} et al. [Rev. R. Acad. Cienc. Exactas Fís. Nat., Ser.~A Mat., RACSAM 115, No.~1, Paper No.~19, 13~p. (2021; Zbl 1468.46044)] obtained that \(W^{1,p}(\Omega; V) = R^{1,p}(\Omega; V)\) if, and only if, the Banach space \(V\) has the Radon-Nikodým property (the same result was obtained independently in [\textit{N.~Evseev}, Nonlinear Anal., Theory Methods Appl., Ser.~A, Theory Methods 211, Article ID 112479, 15~p. (2021; Zbl 1481.46032)]). The equality \(R^{1,p} = W^{1,p}\) means, in particular, that for any function \(f\in R^{1,p}(\Omega; V)\) there are (classical) partial derivatives \(\partial_i f\) a.e. in \(\Omega\). In the present article, the authors explore the case when $V$ does not necessarily possess the Radon-Nikodým property. The core result is the following. Let \(1\leq p\leq \infty\). If \(f\in R^{1,p}(\Omega; V)\), then it admits a representative, \(\tilde f(x) = f(x)\) for a.e. \(x\in \Omega\), such that there exist metric partial derivatives \(m\partial_i \tilde f\) a.e. in \(\Omega\). Here, \[ m\partial_i \tilde f(x) := \lim_{h\to 0 }\frac{\|\tilde f(x+he_i) - \tilde f(x) \|}{|h|}. \] If \(V=Y^*\) is the dual of a separable Banach space, then \(f\) admits a representative such that there are partial weak* derivatives \[ w^*\partial_i \tilde f(x) := \text{weak}^*\text{-}\lim_{h\to 0 }\frac{\tilde f(x+he_i) - \tilde f(x) }{h} \qquad \text{ a.e. in } \Omega. \] Moreover, \(m\partial_i \tilde f(x) = \| w^*\partial_i \tilde f(x) \|\) for a.e. \(x\in \Omega\). A related result has been obtained independently in [\textit{P.~Creutz} and \textit{N.~Evseev}, ``An approach to metric space valued Sobolev maps via weak* derivatives'', Preprint (2021), \url{arXiv:2106.15449}].