A bridge between Sobolev and Escobar inequalities and beyond

Abstract

The classical Sobolev and Escobar inequalities are embedded into the same one-parameter family of sharp trace-Sobolev inequalities on half-spaces. Equality cases are characterized for each inequality in this family by tweaking a well-known mass transportation argument and lead to a new comparison theorem for trace Sobolev inequalities. The case $p=2$ corresponds to a family of variational problems on conformally flat metrics which was previously settled by Carlen and Loss with their method of competing symmetries. In this case minimizers interpolate between conformally flat spherical and hyperbolic geometries, passing through the Euclidean geometry defined by the fundamental solution of the Laplacian.