Locality of the perimeter in Carnot groups and chain rule

Abstract

In the class of Carnot groups, we study fine properties of sets of finite perimeter. Improving a recent result by Ambrosio–Kleiner–Le Donne, we show that the perimeter measure is local, i.e., that given any pair of sets of finite perimeter their perimeter measures coincide on the intersection of their essential boundaries. This solves a question left open in Ambrosio et al. (Calculus of variations: topics from mathematical heritage of Ennio De Giorgi. Quad Mat). As a consequence, we prove a general chain rule for BV functions in this setting.