Homogeneous Sobolev space (${\dot{H}}^s$)

A homogeneous Sobolev space controls derivatives without an independent low-frequency L2 norm: formally $\Vert f{\Vert }_{{\dot{H}}^s}^2=\int |\xi {|}^{2s}|\hat{f}(\xi ){|}^{2}d\xi$, with the normalization chosen according to the Fourier transform. Completions or quotient conventions must be specified when polynomial ambiguities occur. In three dimensions ${\dot{H}}^1$ is represented by $L^6$ functions with gradient in $L^2$, and $\Vert f{\Vert }_6\le C\Vert \nabla f{\Vert }_2$.

In three dimensions let $f\in L^{6/5}({\mathbb{R}}^3)$ have compact support. Let $v_R\in H_0^1(B_R)$ solve $-\Delta v_R=f$ and extend it by zero. There is a unique $v\in {\dot{H}}^1({\mathbb{R}}^3)$ with $\int \nabla v\cdot \nabla \varphi =\int f\varphi$ for all $\varphi \in {\dot{H}}^1$. Indeed Holder inequality and the homogeneous Sobolev inequality make the right side a continuous linear functional in the gradient norm, and the Riesz representation theorem applies to this Hilbert space.

The weak formulation says that $v_R$ is the orthogonal projection of $v$ onto the closed subspace consisting of zero extensions of $H_0^1(B_R)$. These subspaces increase with $R$ and their union contains every test function, which is dense by the definition of the homogeneous Sobolev space. The best-approximation property of orthogonal projection therefore gives $\Vert \nabla (v_R-v){\Vert }_2\to 0$. The homogeneous Sobolev inequality also gives $\Vert v_R-v{\Vert }_6\to 0$. This convergence does not generally extend to the inhomogeneous Sobolev space $H^1$, as the spherical mean of a Poisson solution outside its source shows for a source of nonzero total mass.