Optimal domains for the kernel operator associated with Sobolev's inequality
Refinements of the classical Sobolev inequality lead to optimal domain problems in a natural way. This is made precise in recent work of Edmunds, Kerman and Pick; the fundamental technique is to prove that the (generalized) Sobolev inequality is equivalent to the boundedness of an associated kernel operator on [0,1]. We make a detailed study of both the optimal domain, providing various characterizations of it, and of properties of the kernel operator when it is extended to act in its optimal domain....