A tempered distribution is a continuous linear functional . Equivalently, for some integer and constant ,
The Fourier transform of a tempered distribution is defined by
The Fourier bounds for Schwartz functions make the right side a continuous linear functional on the Schwartz space, so is again a tempered distribution.
For an integrable function , the regular distribution acts by . The estimate proves it is a tempered distribution. Since , Fubini's theorem gives
Thus the distributional Fourier transform agrees with the ordinary Fourier transform.
For , insert a Gaussian function into the proposed inverse Fourier transform:
The Fourier bounds for Schwartz functions show that is an integrable function, so dominated convergence gives
On the other hand, Fubini's theorem applies because . The given Fourier transform of a Gaussian, rescaled by , yields
The last integrand is bounded by . Since is continuous, another application of dominated convergence makes this tend to . Equating the limits proves the Fourier inversion theorem:
The Gaussian functions above form an approximate identity; no Fourier inversion was used in evaluating their integrals.
Use the Fourier transform convention , with complex-linear distribution pairings throughout. The Riemann-Lebesgue lemma says that, for an integrable function , its Fourier transform is continuous and tends to zero as . It also satisfies . The product rule, or convolution theorem, is
Here belongs to by Tonelli's theorem, and Fubini's theorem proves the displayed identity. The companion Fourier product formula, for Schwartz functions, is .
A Schwartz function is a smooth function for which every Schwartz seminorm
is finite. These seminorms define the topology of the Schwartz space . In particular,
Thus every Schwartz function is an integrable function.
The Fourier bounds for Schwartz functions assert that each Schwartz seminorm of is bounded by finitely many Schwartz seminorms of . Explicitly, differentiation under the integral sign and integration by parts give
so the generalized Leibniz rule and the preceding integrability estimate give
In particular the Fourier transform maps the Schwartz space continuously into itself.
Let be the Dirac comb. Pair the given identity with the Schwartz function . On the left this gives . On the right,
Therefore the Fourier series is
The Fourier bounds for Schwartz functions imply for every . For each nonnegative integer , choose to obtain . Thus the Fourier series and every differentiated Fourier series converge absolutely and uniformly on all of . In particular convergence holds in the topology of smooth periodic functions, defined by uniform convergence of every derivative on one period, and also in tempered distributions.