Embeddings of weighted Sobolev spaces and generalized Caffarelli-Kohn-Nirenberg inequalities (Q351308)

Let \(a,b\in\mathbb R\), \(1\leq p,q<\infty\), and let \(\mathbb R^N_*=\mathbb R^N\setminus\{0\}\). Let \(L^p(\mathbb R^N;|x|^adx)\) be the Lebesgue weighted space of functions \(u\) with the finite norm \(\|u\|_{a,p}=(\int_{\mathbb R^N}|u(x)|^p|x|^adx)^{1/p}\), where the measure \(|x|^adx\) of \(\{0\}\) is defined as 0, and let \(W^{1,(q,p)}_{\{a,b\}}(\mathbb R^N_*)=\{u\in L^1_{\text{loc}}(\mathbb R^N_*): u\in L^q(\mathbb R^N;|x|^adx),\;\nabla u\in(L^p(\mathbb R^N;|x|^bdx))^N\}\) be the weighted Sobolev space equipped with the norm \(\|u\|_{a,q}+\|\nabla u\|_{b,p}\). The space \(W^{1,(q,p)}_{\{a,b\}}(\mathbb R^N_*)\) is generally larger than the space \(W^{1,(q,p)}_{\{a,b\}}(\mathbb R^N)\) because it may contain functions which are not locally integrable in a neighbourhood of 0, and in some cases it may not be complete. The main aim of the paper is to present an exhaustive list of necessary and sufficient conditions in terms of \(a,b,c\in \mathbb R\), \(1\leq p<\infty\), and \(1\leq q,r<\infty\) (if \(N>1\)) or \(0<q,r<\infty\) (if \(N=1\)) for the continuous embedding \(W^{1,(q,p)}_{\{a,b\}}(\mathbb R^N_*)\hookrightarrow L^r(\mathbb R^N;|x|^cdx)\). An important role is played by the inequality of Caffarelli-Kohn-Nirenberg type \(\|u\|_{c,r}\leq C\|\nabla u\|^\theta_{b,p}\|u\|^{1-\theta}_{a,q}\) with suitable \(\theta=\theta(a,b,c,p,q,r,N)\in[0,1]\), which is proved to be equivalent to the embedding \(W^{1,(q,p)}_{\{a,b\}}(\mathbb R^N_*)\hookrightarrow L^r(\mathbb R^N;|x|^cdx)\) when \((a+N)/q\neq(b-p+N)/p\). There is a serious obstacle caused by the fact that the set of smooth functions \(C_0^\infty(\mathbb R^N)\) is generally not dense in \(W^{1,(q,p)}_{\{a,b\}}(\mathbb R^N_*)\). This is often avoided in the literature by defining the weighted Sobolev space as the closure of the set of smooth functions. The author's approach is to work with radially symmetric functions, generalizing some results and ideas of \textit{L. Caffarelli} et al. [Compos. Math. 53, 259--275 (1984; Zbl 0563.46024)].