Embeddings of variable Sobolev, Besov, and Triebel-Lizorkin spaces on metric measure spaces

Abstract

Sobolev-type embeddings on metric measure spaces encode a subtle interaction between the analytic regularity of functions and the geometry of the underlying domain space. In this paper we develop an embedding theory for variable Haj{\l}asz-type smoothness spaces on metric measure spaces whose ``dimension'' is allowed to vary pointwise through a bounded exponent $Q(\cdot)$ that governs a lower Ahlfors growth condition on the measure. We introduce variable exponent Haj{\l}asz-Sobolev spaces $M^{s(\cdot),p(\cdot)}$, Haj{\l}asz-Triebel-Lizorkin spaces $M^{s(\cdot)}_{p(\cdot),q(\cdot)}$, and Haj{\l}asz-Besov spaces $N^{s(\cdot)}_{p(\cdot),q(\cdot)}$, and establish Sobolev, Morrey, and Moser-Trudinger type embeddings into variable exponent Lebesgue and H\"older spaces. These embeddings are proved both locally (on balls) under a lower Ahlfors $Q(\cdot)$-regularity condition on the measure and regularity assumptions on the exponents (notably log-H\"older continuity), and globally under additional geometric hypotheses such as geometric doubling and mild uniform bounds on the measure of unit balls. We also identify geometric conditions that are not only sufficient but, in appropriate forms, necessary for the validity of these embeddings, showing in particular that such inequalities force a lower growth bound on the measure of order $r^{Q(x)}$.