A trace theorem for spherical kinetic Sobolev spaces on $ρ$-convex domains

Abstract

Trace theorems are an indispensable tool for the analysis of kinetic equations. They have been established in wide generality by Cessenat and co-workers for radiative transfer and related applications. A variety of trace estimates have been established for the kinetic Fokker-Planck and Kolmogorov equation, typically requiring smoothness of the underlying domain; see the recent survey by Niebel \& Valentini. In this work, we prove a new trace estimate for kinetic Sobolev spaces over the sphere for $ρ$-convex domains which, in general, may have a non-smooth boundary. Similar to the work of Cessenat, we use characteristics to obtain trace estimates in weighted trace spaces with explicit constants. For completeness, we also present a density result for the corresponding function spaces on Lipschitz domains.