On symmetry of extremals in several embedding theorems

Abstract: We study the symmetry/asymmetry of functions providing sharp constants in the embedding theorems ${\stackrel{\circ}{W}}\vphantom{W}2^r(-1,1)\hookrightarrow{\stackrel{\circ}{W}}\vphantom{W}\infty^k(-1,1)$ for various $r$ and $k$. The sharp constants for all $r>k$ in the cases $k=4$ and $k=6$ are calculated explicitly as well.