Traces and Extensions of Bounded Divergence-Measure Fields on Rough Open Sets

Abstract

We prove that an open set $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ can be approximated by smooth sets of uniformly bounded perimeter from the interior if and only if the open set $\Omega$ satisfies \begin{align*} &\qquad \qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad \mathscr{H}^{n-1}(\partial \Omega \setminus \Omega^0)<\infty, \qquad &&\quad\qquad\qquad \qquad\qquad (*) \end{align*} where $\Omega^0$ is the measure-theoretic exterior of $\Omega$. Furthermore, we show that condition (*) implies that the open set $\Omega$ is an extension domain for bounded divergence-measure fields, which improves the previous results that require a strong condition that $\mathscr{H}^{n-1}(\partial \Omega)<\infty$. As an application, we establish a Gauss-Green formula up to the boundary on any open set $\Omega$ satisfying condition (*) for bounded divergence-measure fields, for which the corresponding normal trace is shown to be a bounded function concentrated on $\partial \Omega \setminus \Omega^0$. This new formula does not require the set of integration to be compactly contained in the domain where the vector field is defined. In addition, we also analyze the solvability of the divergence equation on a rough domain with prescribed trace on the boundary, as well as the extension domains for bounded $BV$ functions.