The Monge-Kantorovich problem for distributions and applications

We study the Kantorovich-Rubinstein transhipment problem when the difference between the source and the target is not anymore a balanced measure but belongs to a suitable subspace $X(\Omega)$ of first order distribution. A particular subclass $X_0^\sharp(\Omega)$ of such distributions will be considered which includes the infinite sums of dipoles $\sum_k(\delta_{p_k}-\delta_{n_k})$ studied in \cite{P1, P2}. In spite of this weakened regularity, it is shown that an optimal transport density still exists among nonnegative finite measures. Some geometric properties of the Banach spaces $X(\Omega)$ and $X_0^\sharp(\Omega)$ can be then deduced.