Bourgain-Brezis-Mironescu formula for Riesz Potentials

We identify the Bourgain-Brezis-Mironescu pointwise limit of the nonlocal potential operator $(1-\alpha)\, I_\alpha(\mathcal D^\alpha f)$, $0<\alpha<1$, where $I_\alpha$ denotes the Riesz potential and $\mathcal D^\alpha$ a nonlinear fractional differential operator. Specifically, for every $f\in C_c^\infty(\mathbb R^n)$ and every $x\in \mathbb R^n$, we show that \begin{equation*} \lim_{\alpha\to 1^-} (1-\alpha)\, I_\alpha(\mathcal D^\alpha f)(x) = K_n\, I_1(|\nabla f|)(x), \end{equation*} where $K_n$ is the geometric constant appearing in the well-known Bourgain-Brezis-Mironescu formula [BBM02]. By a density argument, we further extend this result to every $f\in W^{1,1}(\mathbb R^n)$, obtaining almost everywhere convergence along subsequences.