Equivalence between Pólya-Szegő and relative capacity inequalities under rearrangement (Q477320)

This paper proves the following: Theorem. Let \(*\) denote a measure preserving rearrangement. The inequality \(\operatorname{cap}(A^*,B^*)\leq \operatorname{cap}(A,B)\) holds for all measurable sets \(A\subseteq B\subset \mathbb R^n\) if and only if for every \(u\in W^{1,2}\) we have that \(u^*\in W^{1,2}\) and \(\int_{\mathbb R^n} |du^*|^2\leq \int_{\mathbb R^n} |du|^2\). Here \(\operatorname{cap}(A,B)=\inf\bigl\{ \int_{\mathbb R^n} |du|^2: u\in W^{1,1}_{\mathrm{loc}}(\mathbb R^n), u=0\;\text{ on}\;\mathbb R^n\setminus B\;\text{and}\;u=1\;\text{on}\;A\bigr\}\). The necessity of the condition on capacities is well known and the theorem follows from a general equivalence between integral inequalities with weak derivatives and associated capacities for transformations acting on sub-level sets. It is pointed lout that the measure preserving does not play any role.