Mapping theorems for Sobolev spaces of vector-valued functions

Abstract

We consider Sobolev spaces with values in Banach spaces as they are frequently useful in applied problems. Given two Banach spaces $X\neq\{0\}$ and $Y$, each Lipschitz continuous mapping $F:X\rightarrow Y$ gives rise to a mapping $u\mapsto F\circ u$ from $W^{1,p}(\Omega,X)$ to $W^{1,p}(\Omega,Y)$ if and only if $Y$ has the Radon-Nikodym Property. But if $F$ is one-sided Gateaux differentiable no condition on the space is needed. We also study when weak properties in the sense of duality imply strong properties. Our results are applied to prove embedding theorems, a multi-dimensional version of the Aubin-Lions Lemma and characterizations of the space $W^{1,p}_0(\Omega,X)$.