Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 4 23F a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Choose a nonzero supported in a ball of radius , and letTranslation preserves both the norm and the weak-derivative norms, sofor every . Thus is bounded in the Sobolev space .
Distinct translates have disjoint supports. Hence, for ,No subsequence is Cauchy in , so no subsequence converges there. The embedding is therefore not a compact operator. This is the noncompactness of a Sobolev embedding by translation caused by loss of compactness at infinity.