The extension of traces for Sobolev mappings between manifolds

Abstract: The compact Riemannian manifolds $\mathcal{M}$ and $\mathcal{N}$ for which the trace operator from the first-order Sobolev space of mappings $\smash{\dot{W}}^{1, p} (\mathcal{M}, \mathcal{N})$ to the fractional Sobolev-Slobodecki\u{\i} space $\smash{\smash{\dot{W}}^{1 - 1/p, p}} (\partial \mathcal{M}, \mathcal{N})$ is surjective when $1 < p < m$ are characterised. The traces are extended using a new construction which can be carried out assuming the absence of the known topological and analytical obstructions. When $p \ge m$ the same construction provides a Sobolev extension with linear estimates for maps that have a continuous extension, provided that there are no known analytical obstructions to such a control.