Trace theorems for three-dimensional, time-dependent solenoidal vector fields and their applications

We study trace theorems for three-dimensional, time-dependent solenoidal vector fields. The interior function spaces we consider are natural for solving unsteady boundary value problems for the Navier-Stokes system and other systems of partial differential equations. We describe the space of restrictions of such vector fields to the boundary of the space-time cylinder and construct extension operators from this space of restrictions defined on the boundary into the interior. Only for two exceptional, but useful, values of the spatial smoothness index, the spaces for which we construct extension operators is narrower than the spaces in which we seek restrictions. The trace spaces are characterized by vector fields having different smoothnesses in directions tangential and normal to the boundary; this is a consequence of the solenoidal nature of the fields. These results are fundamental in the study of inhomogeneous boundary value problems for systems involving solenoidal vector fields. In particular, we use the trace theorems in a study of inhomogeneous boundary value problems for the Navier-Stokes system of viscous incompressible flows.