Dirac delta function

The Dirac delta is the distribution defined by $⟨\delta ,\phi ⟩=\phi (0)$.

As $t\to +\infty$, the displayed limit holds in distribution theory. Indeed $\sin (tx)/x=\frac{1}{2}{\int }_{-t}^t{e}^{iux}du$ and the Fourier representation of the Dirac delta function gives the limit on smooth rapidly decaying test functions. For a regular detuning $\Delta (\mathbf{J})$, the coarea formula reduces its use under an integral over action variables to this one-dimensional identity. The kernel grows like $t$ at exact resonance, so this is not pointwise convergence.

For $\gamma >0$, the kernels $\gamma /[\pi (x^2+{\gamma }^2)]$ have unit integral and concentrate at zero as $\gamma \to 0^{+}$. Splitting the integral into a neighborhood of zero and its complement proves convergence against bounded continuous test functions. Thus $[(kv-\omega {)}^2+{\gamma }^2{]}^{-1}\simeq \pi \delta (kv-\omega )/|\gamma |$ under an integral, with $\delta (kv-\omega )=\delta (v-\omega /k)/|k|$. This is the narrow-width limit of a Cauchy distribution, not a pointwise replacement away from the peak.

A Dirac comb is a periodic train of Dirac delta distributions. With Fourier transform convention $\hat{f}(q)=\int f(x)e^{-iqx}dx$ and period $D>0$,The identity holds as a tempered distribution. Truncating the real-space train by a finite window convolves the reciprocal train with the transform of that window, broadening its peaks. Convolving the train with one slit's transmission instead multiplies the reciprocal peaks by the slit's field transform, the basic construction of a diffraction grating pattern.

As distributions on the line, $m\sin (m|t|)\to 2{\delta }_0$. Pairing with a test function $A$ folds the integral to ${\int }_0^{\infty }m\sin (ms)[A(s)+A(-s)]ds$. One integration by parts yields $2A(0)$ plus a cosine integral tending to zero by the Riemann-Lebesgue lemma. Pointwise convergence is unnecessary.

For a smooth hypersurface $S$, its surface delta is the distribution $⟨{\delta }_S,\phi ⟩={\int }_S\phi dS$. Its normalization uses geometric surface measure rather than a defining function. On the unit circle, ${\delta }_{S^1}$ pairs by integrating $\phi (\cos t,\sin t)$ over $0\le t\le 2\pi$.

For the geometric surface delta distribution on the radius-$a$ sphere in ${\mathbb{R}}^3$, $⟨u_a,\varphi ⟩=a^2{\int }_{S^2}\varphi (a\omega )d\sigma (\omega )$. Angular integration gives the Fourier transform ${\hat{u}}_a(\xi )=4\pi a\sin (a|\xi |)/|\xi |$, with removable value $4\pi a^2$ at zero. The convolution of distributions with a compactly supported factor gives the regular distributionThis density has total mass $16{\pi }^2{a}^2{b}^2$. Values on endpoint spheres do not affect the distribution. When $a=b$, the inverse-distance singularity is locally integrable in three dimensions and is not an additional point mass. The annulus expresses the triangle inequality for the sum of two vectors of fixed lengths.

If $g$ is smooth and $\nabla g\ne 0$ on $S=\{g=0\}$, transverse local coordinates give $⟨\delta (g),\phi ⟩={\int }_S\phi /|\nabla g|dS$. Thus ${\delta }_S=|\nabla g|\delta (g)$ as distributions. In particular ${\delta }_{S^1}=2\delta (|x{|}^2-1)$. Omitting this Jacobian confuses the delta of a defining function with a geometric surface delta distribution.

The identityis interpreted distributionally: symmetric frequency cutoffs give $\sin (nx)/(\pi x)$, which converge to the Dirac delta function.

With inverse Fourier transform normalization $(2\pi {)}^{-1}$, $\int e^{is\theta }{\theta }^{j}d\theta =2\pi i^{-j}{\delta }^{(j)}(s)$ as an oscillatory integral. The factor $i^{-j}$ and the sign convention $⟨{\delta }^{\prime },g⟩=-g^{\prime }(0)$ are essential. For instance, amplitude $-i{x}_2\theta /(2\pi )$ with phase $x_1\theta$ gives $-x_2{\delta }^{\prime }(x_1)$.

For every test function $\phi$,so $H^{\prime }=\delta$ as distributions.

For a smooth function $u$, the distributional derivative of the product of $u$ with the Heaviside function is $D(Hu)=H{u}^{\prime }+u(0){\delta }_0$. Induction gives the displayed formula. It records all boundary sources, including derivatives of the Dirac delta distribution, and determines which initial derivatives must vanish in a retarded fundamental solution.

For nonzero $a$, $\delta (ax)=\delta (x)/|a|$ in the distributional sense.

The derivative of the Dirac delta is the distributional derivative defined byfor every test function $\phi$.