Wolfe's theorem for weakly differentiable cochains (Q491501)

A fundamental theorem (Wolfe's theorem) in geometric integration theory states that the space of flat \(m\)-forms, endowed with the flat norm, is isometric to the space of flat \(m\)-cochains. In the paper under review the authors generalize such a theorem to the setting of Sobolev differential forms and Sobolev cochains in \({\mathbb R}^n\). They use the results in a previous paper of the second and the third author [J. Math. Pures Appl. (9) 100, No. 6, 868--906 (2013; Zbl 1277.49051)] where a suitable framework of Sobolev cochains in complete metric measure spaces has been initiated. The main result is the following: Let \(1\leq m\leq n\) and \(1<q,p<\infty\). If \(p>n-m\) or \(q\leq \frac{pn}{n-p}\) then the space \(W_d^{q,p}({\mathbb R}^n,\wedge^m)\) (of \(L^q\)-integrable differential \(m\)-forms, \(\omega\), whose distributional exterior derivatives \(d\omega\) are \(L^p\)-integrable and endowed with the norm \[ ||\omega||_{q,p} = \max\{\left(\int||\omega(x)||^q dx \right)^{\frac1q},\left(\int||d\omega(x)||^p dx \right)^{\frac1p} \},) \] is isometrically isomorphic to the space \(W_{q,p}({\mathcal P}_m)\) (of equivalence classes of additive cochains with upper norm in \(L^q({\mathbb R}^n)\) and upper gradient in \(L^p({\mathbb R}^n)\), under the equivalence relation defined by \(X_1\sim X_2\) if \(||X_1-X_2||_{q,p} = 0\) where the Sobolev norm is based on a notion of upper gradient of a function defined in the cited paper).