Startseite A note on the trace inequality for Riesz potentials
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A note on the trace inequality for Riesz potentials

  • Giorgi Imerlishvili und Alexander Meskhi ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 7. November 2020
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Abstract

We establish a necessary and sufficient condition on a non-negative locally integrable function v guaranteeing the (trace) inequality

I α f L v p ( n ) C f L p , 1 ( n )

for the Riesz potential I α , where L p , 1 ( n ) is the Lorentz space. The same problem is studied for potentials defined on spaces of homogeneous type.

MSC 2010: 26A33; 42B35

1 Introduction

Trace inequalities for Riesz potentials I α deal with non-negative measures ν such that

(1.1) ( n | I α f ( x ) | q 𝑑 ν ( x ) ) 1 / q C ( n | f ( x ) | p 𝑑 x ) 1 / p .

Adams [1] proved that the necessary and sufficient condition on ν guaranteeing (1.1) for 1 < p < q < and 0 < α < n p is that the measure ν satisfies the following condition: there is a positive constant C such that for all balls B n ,

ν ( B ) C | B | ( α / n - 1 / p ) q .

The Riesz potential operator

I α f ( x ) = n f ( y ) | x - y | n - α 𝑑 y , 0 < α < n , x n ,

plays an important role in the investigation of PDEs. It is worth mentioning its role in the theory of Sobolev’s embeddings (see, e.g., [14]).

An appropriate fractional maximal operator is given by the formula

M α f ( x ) = sup B x 1 | B | 1 - α / n B | f ( y ) | 𝑑 y , 0 α < n , x n .

Here, M 0 f = M f is the Hardy–Littlewood maximal function having much importance in Harmonic Analysis, in particular, in the theory of singular integrals (see, e.g., [18]).

Let v be a non-negative locally integrable function on n . We are interested in inequality (1.1) for d ν ( x ) = v ( x ) d x , i.e.,

(1.2) I α f L v q ( n ) C f L p ( n ) .

In this case by the result of Adams [1], the condition

(1.3) [ v ] p , q , α := sup B ( v ( B ) ) 1 / q | B | α / n - 1 / p < ,

where the supremum is taken over all balls B n , is simultaneously necessary and sufficient whenever 1 < p < q < and 0 < α < n p . In the case p = q the implication (1.2) (1.3) can be checked easily by considering the test functions χ B . However, (1.3) (1.2) is not true (see the counterexamples in [2, 8] for a measure ν, and [10] for a non-negative function v).

Our aim is to find a Lorentz space L p , s which is narrower than the class L p ( n ) (i.e., s < p ) and for which the inequality

(1.4) I α f L v p ( n ) C f L p , s ( n )

holds if and only if (1.3) is satisfied for p = q . In particular, we show that (1.4) is equivalent to condition (1.3) for s = 1 . The question whether this holds for 1 < s < p remains open.

As is known, various criteria were obtained for (1.2) with p = q (see [2, 12, 13, 8, 15]). For the solution of the two-weight problem for Riesz potential operators I α , we refer to [5, 17] (see also the monograph [9]).

Inequality (1.2) for p = q implies the estimate

f L v q ( n ) C f L p ( n ) , f C 0 ,

which follows from the estimate

| f ( x ) | C I 1 ( | f | ) ( x ) .

The following Fefferman–Phong-type theorem [4] holds true.

Theorem A.

Let 1 < p < and 0 < α < n p . Then the inequality

I α f L v p C [ v ] p , r , α * f L p

is fulfilled for some p < r , where

(1.5) [ v ] p , r , α * := sup B | B | α / n - 1 / r ( B v r / p ( x ) 𝑑 x ) 1 / r < .

Remark 1.1.

It is easy to see that by Hölder’s inequality we have that condition (1.5) is stronger than (1.3) for p = q , in particular, [ v ] p , α [ v ] p , r , α * for r > p , where [ v ] p , α = [ v ] p , p , α .

2 Preliminaries

Let f be a measurable function on n and let 1 p < , 1 s .

We say that f belongs to the Lorentz space L p , s if

f L p , s = { ( s 0 ( | { x n : | f ( x ) | > τ } | ) s / p τ s - 1 𝑑 τ ) 1 / s if  1 s < , sup s > 0 s ( | { x n : | f ( x ) | > s } | ) 1 / p if  s =

is finite.

If p = s , then L p , s coincides with the Lebesgue space L p .

Denote by f * a non-increasing rearrangement of f. Then, by integration by parts, it can be checked that (see also [7])

f L p , s = { ( s p 0 ( t 1 / p f * ( t ) ) s d t t ) 1 / s if  1 s < , sup t > 0 { t 1 / p f * ( t ) } if  s = .

Now we list some useful properties of Lorentz spaces (see, e.g., [7]):

  1. χ E L p , s = | E | 1 / p .

  2. If 1 p < and s 2 s 1 , then L p , s 2 L p , s 1 with the embedding constant C p , s 1 , s 2 depending only on p, s 1 and s 2 .

  3. There is a positive constant C p , s such that

    C p , s - 1 f L p , s sup h L p , s 1 | X f ( x ) h ( x ) 𝑑 μ ( x ) | C p , s f L p , s

    for every f L w p , s , where p = p / ( p - 1 ) , s = s / ( s - 1 ) .

  4. (Hölder’s inequality) Let 1 p = 1 p 1 + 1 p 2 and 1 s = 1 s 1 + 1 s 2 . Then

    f 1 f 2 L p , s C f 1 L p 1 , s 1 f 2 L p 2 , s 2

    for all f 1 L p 1 , s 1 and f 2 L p 2 , s 2 , where C = C p , s , p 1 , p 2 , s 1 , s 2 .

In the sequel, for a non-negative function v and a set E the symbol v ( E ) will denote the integral

v ( E ) := E v ( x ) 𝑑 x .

By the symbol A B we mean that there exists a positive constant c such that

c - 1 A B c A .

3 Main result

The main result of this note reads as follows.

Theorem 3.1.

Let 1 < p < and 0 < α < n p . Suppose that v is a non-negative locally integrable function on R n . Then the following statements are equivalent:

  1. There is a positive constant C such that for all f L p , 1 ( n ) ,

    (3.1) I α f L v p ( n ) C f L p , 1 ( n ) .

  2. There is a positive constant c such that for all f L p , 1 ( n ) ,

    (3.2) M α f L v p ( n ) c f L p , 1 ( n ) .

  3. [ v ] p , α = sup B ( v ( B ) ) 1 / p | B | α / n - 1 / p < .

    Moreover, if C and c are best constants in ( 3.1 ) and ( 3.2 ), respectively, then

    C c [ v ] p , α .

To prove this theorem we need some lemmas.

For a non-negative a.e. finite function w we set E w := { x : w ( x ) 0 } .

We also set p = p p - 1 for 1 p .

Lemma 3.1.

Let 1 < p < and 0 < α < n / p . Then the condition

[ w ] p , α sup B ( B w 1 - p ( x ) χ E w ( x ) 𝑑 x ) 1 p | B | α n - 1 p <

guarantees that there is a positive constant C = C α , p such that for all f L w p ( E w ) ,

M α ( f χ E w ) L p , ( n ) C f χ E w L w p ( n ) .

Proof.

Observe that By Hölder’s inequality we find that

1 | B | 1 - α n B | f ( y ) | χ E w ( y ) 𝑑 y = 1 | B | 1 - α n B | f ( y ) | χ E w ( y ) w 1 p ( y ) w - 1 p ( y ) 𝑑 y
1 | B | 1 - α n ( B | f ( y ) | p w ( y ) χ E w ( y ) 𝑑 y ) 1 p ( B w 1 - p ( y ) χ E w ( y ) 𝑑 y ) 1 p
[ w ] p , α ( 1 | B | B | f ( y ) | p χ E w w ( y ) 𝑑 y ) 1 p
= [ w ] p , α ( M ( | f | p χ E w w ) ) 1 p ,

where M is the Hardy–Littlewood maximal operator.

Hence

M α ( f χ E w ) ( x ) [ w ] p , α ( M ( | f | p χ E w w ) ) 1 p .

Consequently,

| { x n : M α ( f χ E w ) ( x ) > λ } | | { x n : C [ w ] p , α ( M ( | f χ E w | p w ) ( x ) ) 1 p > λ } |
C [ w ] p , α λ p | f | p χ E w w L 1
= C [ w ] p , α λ p f L w p ( E w ) p .

Lemma 3.2.

Let 1 < p < and 0 < α < n / p . If [ w ] p , α < (see Lemma 3.1), then there is a positive constant C = C p , α such that for all f L w p ( E w ) ,

I α ( f χ E w ) L p , ( n ) C p , α f χ E w L w p ( n ) .

Proof.

It is known (see, e.g., [16, Theorem 1] for a more general setting) that

I α g L p , ( n ) M α g L p , ( n )

for a measurable function g. Thus, by Lemma 3.1, the result follows. ∎

Lemma 3.3.

Let 1 < p < and 0 < α < n / p . If [ w ] p , α < , then there is a positive constant C = C p , α such that for all f L p , 1 ( E w ) ,

I α f L w 1 - p p ( E w ) C [ w ] p , α f L p , 1 ( E w ) .

Proof.

For f 0 , we have

I α f L w 1 - p p ( E w ) = sup g L w p ( E w ) 1 | n ( I α f ) ( x ) g ( x ) w - 1 p ( x ) w 1 p ( x ) χ E w ( x ) 𝑑 x |
sup g L w p ( E w ) 1 ( n ( I α f ) ( x ) | g ( x ) | χ E w ( x ) 𝑑 x )
= sup g L w p ( E w ) 1 E w I α ( | g | χ E w ) ( y ) f ( y ) 𝑑 y
sup g L w p ( E w ) 1 I α | g | L p , ( E w ) f L p , 1 ( E w )
C p , α [ w ] p , α f L p , 1 ( E w ) .

Proof of Theorem 3.1.

(iii) (i): Observe that if 1 < p < , 0 < α < n p , and v is a non-negative function satisfying [ v ] p , α < , then | { x n : v ( x ) = } | = 0 . Hence

| { x n : v 1 - p ( x ) = 0 } | = 0 .

Consequently, since

[ v ] p , α = sup B ( B v ( 1 - p ) ( 1 - p ) ( x ) 𝑑 x ) 1 p | B | α n - 1 p < ,

from Lemma 3.3 we have

I α f L v p ( n ) C p , α [ v ] p , α f L p , 1 ( n ) .

The pointwise estimate

M α g ( x ) I α g ( x ) , g 0 ,

implies the implication (i) (ii).

Taking the test functions

f B 0 = χ B 0

in (3.2), where B 0 is a ball in n , using the estimate

M α f B 0 ( x ) C n , α | B 0 | α n , x B 0 ,

and observing that

f B 0 L p , 1 = c | B 0 | 1 p ,

we can easily see that (ii) implies

v ( B 0 ) 1 / p C | B 0 | 1 / p - α / n ,

with a positive constant C independent of B 0 . The theorem has been proved. ∎

4 The case of spaces of homogeneous type

Let ( X , d , μ ) be a quasi-metric measure space with a quasi-metric d and measure μ. A quasi-metric d is a function d : X × X [ 0 , ) which satisfies the following conditions:

  1. d ( x , y ) = 0 if and only if x = y .

  2. For all x , y X , one has d ( x , y ) = d ( y , x ) .

  3. There is a positive constant κ such that d ( x , y ) κ ( d ( x , z ) + d ( z , y ) ) for all x , y , z X .

In the sequel, we will assume that the balls B ( x , r ) := { y X : d ( x , y ) < r } are measurable with positive measure μ for all x X and r > 0 .

If μ satisfies the doubling condition

μ ( B ( x , 2 r ) ) C μ μ ( B ( x , r ) ) ,

with a positive constant C μ independent of x and r, then we say that ( X , d , μ ) is a space of homogeneous type (SHT). Throughout the paper, we assume that ( X , d , μ ) is an SHT.

For example, rectifiable curves in with Euclidean distance and arc-length measure satisfying the Carleson (regularity) condition, nilpotent Lie groups with Haar measure, and domains in n with the so-called 𝒜 condition are examples of an SHT. For the definition, examples and some properties of an SHT, see, e.g., the paper [11] and the monographs [19, 3].

For a given quasi-metric measure space ( X , d , μ ) and q satisfying 1 q , as usual, we will denote by L q = L q ( X , μ ) the Lebesgue space equipped with the standard norm. Let L p , s ( X , μ ) be the Lorentz space defined on an SHT ( X , d , μ ) .

Let us denote by K α f the Riesz potential of a μ-measurable function f defined by the formula

K α f ( x ) = X μ ( B x y ) α - 1 f ( y ) 𝑑 μ ( y ) , x X ,

where 0 < α < 1 and B x y := B ( x , d ( x , y ) ) .

An appropriate fractional maximal function has the form

α f ( x ) = sup B x 1 μ ( B ) 1 - α B | f ( y ) | 𝑑 μ ( y ) , x X .

The following trace inequality for an SHT was proved by Gabidzashvili (see [6]).

Theorem B.

Let 1 < p < q < and 0 < α < 1 p . Suppose that ( X , d , μ ) is an SHT and ν is another measure on X.Then the inequality

K α f L q ( X , ν ) C f L p ( X , μ )

holds if and only if

sup B ν ( B ) 1 / q μ ( B ) α - 1 / p < ,

where the supremum is taken over all balls B X .

Using the proof of Theorem 3.1, we can formulate the same result for an SHT. In particular, the following theorem holds true.

Theorem 4.1.

Let 1 < p < and 0 < α < 1 p . Suppose that ( X , d , μ ) is an SHT. Assume that v is a non-negative μ-locally integrable a.e. finite function on X. Then the following statements are equivalent:

  1. There is a positive constant C such that for all f L p , 1 ( X , μ ) ,

    (4.1) K α f L v p ( X , μ ) C f L p , 1 ( X , μ ) .

  2. There is a positive constant c such that for all f L p , 1 ( X , μ ) ,

    (4.2) α f L v p ( X , μ ) c f L p , 1 ( X , μ ) .

  3. [ v ] p , α , X , μ = sup B ( B v ( x ) 𝑑 μ ( x ) ) 1 / p μ ( B ) α - 1 / p < .

    Moreover, if C and c are best constants in ( 4.1 ) and ( 4.2 ), respectively, then

    C c [ v ] p , α , X , μ .

Award Identifier / Grant number: FR-18-2499

Funding statement: This work was supported by the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (Project no. FR-18-2499).

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Received: 2019-09-18
Accepted: 2020-01-09
Published Online: 2020-11-07
Published in Print: 2021-10-01

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