Approximation by regular functions in Sobolev spaces arising from doubly elliptic problems

TL;DR

This paper establishes a density result for smooth functions in Sobolev spaces associated with doubly elliptic problems, considering boundary conditions and extensions in various domains, advancing the mathematical understanding of elliptic PDEs.

Contribution

It provides new density theorems for Sobolev spaces involving boundary traces, crucial for analyzing doubly elliptic problems with boundary conditions.

Findings

Density of smooth functions in Sobolev spaces with boundary conditions

Extension results for Sobolev spaces in half-spaces and entire space

Application to doubly elliptic boundary value problems

Abstract

The paper deals with a nontrivial density result for $C^m(\overline{\Omega})$ functions, with $m\in{\mathbb N}\cup\{\infty\}$, in the space $$W^{k,\ell,p}(\Omega;\Gamma)= \left\{u\in W^{k,p}(\Omega): u_{|\Gamma}\in W^{\ell,p}(\Gamma)\right\},$$ endowed with the norm of $(u,u_{|\Gamma})$ in $W^{k,p}(\Omega)\times W^{\ell,p}(\Gamma)$, where $\Omega$ is a bounded open subset of ${\mathbb R}^N$, $N\ge 2$, with boundary $\Gamma$ of class $C^m$, $k\le \ell\le m$ and $1\le p<\infty$. Such a result is of interest when dealing with doubly elliptic problems involving two elliptic operators, one in $\Omega$ and the other on $\Gamma$. Moreover we shall also consider the case when a Dirichlet homogeneous boundary condition is imposed on a relatively open part of $\Gamma$ and, as a preliminary step, we shall prove an analogous result when either $\Omega={\mathbb R}^N$ or $\Omega={\mathbb R}^N_+$ and $\Gamma=\partial{\mathbb R}^N_+$. \keywords{Density results\and Sobolev spaces \and Smooth functions \and the Laplace--Beltrami operator.