Trace operators on fractals, entropy and approximation numbers

First we compute the trace space of Besov spaces – characterized via atomic decompositions – on fractals Γ, for parameters 0 < p < ∞, 0 < q ≤ min(1, p) and s = (n – d)/p. New Besov spaces on fractals are defined via traces for 0 < p, q ≤ ∞, s ≥ (n – d)/p and some embedding assertions are established. We conclude by studying the compactness of the trace operator TrΓ by giving sharp estimates for entropy and approximation numbers of compact embeddings between Besov spaces. Our results on Besov spaces remain valid considering the classical spaces defined via differences. The trace results are used to study traces in Triebel–Lizorkin spaces as well.