Whitney forms and relative primitives of subanalytic differential forms (Q408457)

The following theorem is proved: Let \(g : X \to \mathbb R^n\) be a proper oriented triangulable morphism of real analytic manifolds and let \(\omega\) be a continuous subanalytic differential \(r\)-form on \(X\) so that the restriction of \(\omega\) to each non-singular fiber of \(g\) is the differential (in the sense of distributions) of a subanalytic form. Then there exists a continuous subanalytic \((r-1)\)-form \(\Omega\) on \(X\) such that \[ d g \wedge (\omega - d \Omega) = 0, \] where \(dg\) is the inverse image of the volume form on \(\mathbb R^n\). An analogous result was proved in the \(C^\infty\)-category under the hypothesis of infinite flatness of \(\omega\) along the singular fibers of \(g\) by \textit{S. Chanillo} and \textit{F. Treves} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 10, No. 2, 393--426 (1997; Zbl 0867.35005)]. The problem is transformed into a geometrical problem by representing differential forms by Whitney forms. The triangulability hypothesis allows to reduce to a simplicial mapping \(f : \Delta \to T\). The simplicial decomposition of \(\Delta\) induces a decomposition of the fibers of \(f\) into prisms (i.e., products of simplices). In order to describe the degeneracies of the prismal structure of fibers which occur by specialization to the faces of a simplex of \(T\), the authors introduce prismal sheaves. The simplicial mapping \(f\) canonically defines two prismal sheaves \(S_f\) and \(P_f\), where \(P_f\) is a ``blowing-up'' of \(S_f\) and is trivialized over each closed simplex of \(T\). On \(P_f\) one can easily define relative Whitney forms. First the form \(\omega\) is represented (modulo exact forms and forms annihilated by \(dg \wedge \cdot\)) as a linear combination with subanalytic coefficients of relative Whitney forms. Then the authors look for a form \(\Omega\) with a similar expression satisfying \(d g \wedge (\omega - d \Omega) = 0\) and are thereby able to reduce the problem to the solution in each simplex of \(\Delta\) of a particular partial differential equation. It is then easy to show that subanalytic solutions of this equation exist.