 Automatic decay of Mahler coefficients

Approximate a continuous function on ${\mathbb{Z}}_p$ uniformly by a function constant on residue classes modulo $p^r$. On this finite space, translation $S$ satisfies $S^{p^r}=I$, so ${\Delta }^{p^r}=(S-I{)}^{p^r}$ has every matrix coefficient divisible by $p$. Hence $\Vert {\Delta }^{j{p}^r}\Vert \le p^{-j}$, and the Mahler coefficients of a locally constant function tend to zero. Since $|a_n(f)-a_n(g){|}_p\le \Vert f-g{\Vert }_{\infty }$, uniform approximation proves the assertion for every continuous function. This completes the coefficient-decay part of the Mahler theorem.