New results on multiplication in Sobolev spaces

Abstract

We consider the Sobolev (Bessel potential) spaces H^ell(R^d, C), and their standard norms || ||_ell (with ell integer or noninteger). We are interested in the unknown sharp constant K_{ell m n d} in the inequality || f g ||_{ell} \leqs K_{ell m n d} || f ||_{m} || g ||_n (f in H^m(R^d, C), g in H^n(R^d, C); 0 <= ell <= m <= n, m + n - ell > d/2); we derive upper and lower bounds K^{+}_{ell m n d}, K^{-}_{ell m n d} for this constant. As examples, we give a table of these bounds for d=1, d=3 and many values of (ell, m, n); here the ratio K^{-}_{ell m n d}/K^{+}_{ell m n d} ranges between 0.75 and 1 (being often near 0.90, or larger), a fact indicating that the bounds are close to the sharp constant. Finally, we discuss the asymptotic behavior of the upper and lower bounds for K_{ell, b ell, c ell, d} when 1 <= b <= c and ell -> + Infinity. As an example, from this analysis we obtain the ell -> + Infinity limiting behavior of the sharp constant K_{ell, 2 ell, 2 ell, d}; a second example concerns the ell -> + Infinity limit for K_{ell, 2 ell, 3 ell, d}. The present work generalizes our previous paper [16], entirely devoted to the constant K_{ell m n d} in the special case ell = m = n; many results given therein can be recovered here for this special case.