Characterization of Sobolev and BV spaces (Q647602)

The main purpose of this paper is to characterize the spaces \(W^{1,p}(\Omega)\), \(1<p<\infty\), and \(\text{BV}(\Omega)\) for arbitrary domains \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^N\). The authors answer the following question posed by \textit{H. Brézis} [Russ. Math. Surv. 57, No. 4, 693--708 (2002); translation from Usp. Mat. Nauk 57, No. 4, 59--74 (2002; Zbl 1072.46020)]: If \(f\in L^p(\Omega)\) and \[ \limsup_{\varepsilon\to 0}\;\int_\Omega\,\int_\Omega{|f(x)- f(y)|^p\over d_\Omega(x,y)^p} \widehat\rho_\varepsilon(d_\Omega(x,y))\,dx\,dy<+\infty, \] does this imply that \(f\) belongs to \(W^{1,p}(\Omega)\)? Here \(\rho_\varepsilon\) is a family of mollifiers satisfying certain conditions and \(\rho_\varepsilon(x)= \widehat\rho_\varepsilon(|x|)\), \(x\in\mathbb{R}^N\).