A wavelet with vanishing moments satisfies and for . The moment differentiation of the Fourier transform theorem states that these weighted integrability hypotheses make , with . Hence . The MRA projection Fourier identity, together with density of the approximation spaces and continuity of at zero, gives . These are the two analytic theorems needed in addition to the quadrature mirror filter construction.
For the ordinary derivative conclusion, assume also that the MRA low-pass filter is near and is near zero. These hypotheses hold, for example, for a compactly supported scaling function with a finite refinement filter. The wavelet identity gives
The denominator is nonzero near zero. Its reciprocal and the exponential are , so the product rule and the zero Taylor polynomial of give the smooth-mask vanishing-moment criterion
The printed integrability hypothesis alone does not guarantee ordinary higher derivatives. It gives only a continuous . Without added smoothness, Taylor theorem for still gives for the representative defined by the quotient: a Peano zero. This establishes the value at , and for the first derivative there, but it does not automatically establish iterated derivatives.
Here is a lacunary scaling-phase regularity counterexample for . Start with a compactly supported Daubechies wavelet having vanishing moments, with scaling function and finite MRA low-pass filter . Define the periodic phase
The Fourier coefficients of are absolutely summable. The Wiener algebra is closed under multiplication and the exponential series, so and have absolutely summable Fourier coefficients. Thus is an absolutely summable combination of integer function translations of , belongs to , and generates the same . Unimodularity preserves orthogonality and unit norm of its integer function translations; the inverse phase preserves their complete span. The same approximation spaces therefore give a multiresolution analysis.
The identity gives , so the periodic phase change of a scaling function produces . In the high-pass formula the phases cancel:
The associated wavelet is therefore exactly the original one, with unchanged vanishing moments.
At any dyadic point , the difference quotient of the terms with is per term. The sum of these errors and the remaining tail divided by are bounded; the finitely many earlier terms have finite limits. Hence , which has no finite limit. The exponential has the same failure of differentiability. Dyadic points are dense, and is nonzero for sufficiently small . Thus is not differentiable on any neighborhood of , so an ordinary second derivative at , understood as the derivative of a locally defined first derivative, need not exist. The Peano zero remains valid. This separates the intended smooth-mask theorem from what the literal assumptions establish.
The density axiom and continuity of the Fourier transform at zero imply . Here is a proof that avoids assuming a normalization of the integral. Choose a nonzero whose Fourier transform has bounded support. The MRA projection Fourier identity, with no aliasing once is sufficiently large, is
Since , its Fourier transform is continuous and bounded, so this tends to . Density and nesting give in . Thus , in particular it is nonzero. Evaluating the scaling refinement equation in frequency at zero now gives
which is stronger than the requested absolute-value equality. Multiplying the scaling function by a constant of modulus one normalizes its integral to one without changing .
At zero, the partial products are . Their assumed convergence and force and . Uniform convergence on compact sets makes continuous. The identity with gives with squared norm . Define by the inverse Fourier transform in . The Plancherel theorem and the other given integral identities give
Define as the closed span of . These functions form an orthonormal basis of , and dyadic dilation gives the scale axiom. Shifting the infinite product gives
so the finite Fourier series of gives a scaling refinement equation and . The coarse-scale projection argument of part 1(b) proves the trivial-intersection axiom.
For density, take a function with bounded Fourier support. The MRA projection Fourier identity gives, for large ,
Uniform convergence of to one on that support proves the limit. Since is an orthogonal projection, . Such functions are dense in , giving
Thus all the multiresolution analysis axioms hold. Under the strong convergence and orthogonality assumptions supplied here, the additional nonvanishing condition is not needed in this last verification; it is useful when establishing those assumptions from a filter.
Scaling function Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
A scaling function generates the approximation space of a multiresolution analysis by its integer translates. In an orthonormal construction those translates form an orthonormal basis, and generate . Integrable orthonormal scaling functions have , as follows from density and the MRA projection Fourier identity.