Approximation results in Sobolev and fractional Sobolev spaces by sampling Kantorovich operators

The present paper deals with the study of the approximation properties of the well-known sampling Kantorovich (SK) operators in “Sobolev-like settings”. More precisely, a convergence theorem in case of functions belonging to the usual Sobolev spaces for the SK operators has been established. In order to get such a result, suitable Strang-Fix type conditions have been required on the kernel functions defining the above sampling type series. As a consequence, certain open problems related to the convergence in variation for the SK operators have been solved. Then, we considered the above operators in a fractional-type setting. It is well-known that, in the literature, several notions of fractional Sobolev spaces are available, such as, the Gagliardo Sobolev spaces (GSs) defined by means of the Gagliardo semi-norm, or the weak Riemann-Liouville Sobolev spaces (wRLSs) defined by the weak (left and right) Riemann-Liouville fractional derivatives and so on. Here, in order to face the above convergence problem, we introduced a new definition of fractional Sobolev spaces, that we called the tight fractional Sobolev spaces (tfSs) and generated as the intersection of the GSs and the symmetric Sobolev spaces (i.e., that given by the intersection of the left and the right wRLSs). In the latter setting, we obtain one of the main results of the paper, that is a convergence theorem for the SK operators with respect to a suitable norm on tfSs.