Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2012 / iii / Paper 82 / 1 / 2 / Solution

We give a quantitative construction for the whole open set, including the case of infinitely many component intervals. Pointwise divergence at a single point is insufficient here. Write $z=e^{2\pi it}$ and use normalized measure on $\mathbb{T}$.

First let $K$ be a finite union of closed arcs with $|K|\le 3\epsilon$, where $\epsilon$ is small. Choose a smooth function nonnegative function $u$, equal to one on $K$, with $u\le 1$ and $\eta :=\int u\le 6\epsilon$. This follows by making the transition regions around the finitely many arc endpoints sufficiently short. Define the analytic Herglotz integralIts real part is $(\eta +P[u](z))/(2\eta )>0$, where $P[u]$ is the disk Poisson integral, and $G(0)=1$. Smoothness of $u$ makes $G$ continuous and smooth function up to the circle; on $K$ its boundary real part is at least $1/(2\eta )$. The branch $H=\log G$ therefore has $H(0)=0$ andThe complex logarithm has no branch problem because $G$ lies in the right half-plane. Its smooth function boundary values give absolutely summable Taylor coefficients. Choose an analytic polynomial $A$, with zero constant coefficient, uniformly within $1/4$ of $H$ on the closed disk. Put $P(t)=\mathrm{Im}A(e^{2\pi it})/\pi$. Then $\Vert P{\Vert }_{\infty }\le 1/2+1/(4\pi )<1$.

If $D=\mathrm{deg}A$ and $m>D$, the modulated trigonometric polynomial $Q(t)=e^{2\pi imt}P(t)$ has spectrum in $[m-D,m+D]$. A sharp Fourier partial sum at $m$ selects exactly the negative-frequency half of $P$, since $A(0)=0$:Consequently, for every $t\in K$,The carrier frequency $m$ can be arbitrarily large. This compact-set Fourier amplification lemma uses a bounded imaginary part to obtain a large one-sided Fourier multiplier; no assertion about pointwise divergence is used.

Now let $E$ be any open set of measure $\delta$. DefineIf this is zero take $f=0$. Otherwise choose a decreasing sequence ${\delta }_j\downarrow 0$, with ${\delta }_1=\delta$, so small for $j\ge 2$ thatFor $j=1$ this inequality also holds: $B(\delta )>4$ and $B(\delta )/2\ge B(\delta )/4+1$. Let $L_j$ be an increasing compact exhaustion of $E$.

Using compact batching of a small open set, we recursively choose finite closed-arc unions $K_j\subset E$, of measure at most $3{\delta }_j$, such that $L_j$ is covered by the interiors of $K_1,\dots ,K_j$ andHere is the measure-theoretic justification. At step $j$, the uncovered portion has measure at most ${\delta }_j$. Its intersection with $L_j$ after removing the previously covered interiors is compact, and can be covered by finitely many closed arcs lying in $E$ with total length at most ${\delta }_j$ plus an arbitrarily small excess. By inner regularity of Lebesgue measure, a further compact subset of the uncovered open portion captures all but ${\delta }_{j+1}$ of its measure; cover it similarly. The combined finite arc union has length at most $3{\delta }_j$. This both covers the outstanding part of $L_j$ and ensures the next remainder estimate. In particular $E\subset {\bigcup }_j{K}_j$.

Apply the finite-arc construction to $K_j$ to get $P_j$ of degree $D_j$. Choose carriers $m_j$ recursively so that the bands $[m_j-D_j,m_j+D_j]$ are positive and strictly ordered with no overlap. SetThe frequency-separated Fourier block series and the Weierstrass M-test give a continuous complex-valued function with $\Vert f{\Vert }_{\infty }\le {\sum }_j{2}^{-j}=1$. At the cutoff $m_j$, all earlier bands have been included in full and every later band is absent. Thus on $K_j$,Every point of $E$ lies in some $K_j$, soValues of $\psi$ outside $0<\delta \le 1$ may be defined arbitrarily. The construction handles an arbitrary open set, not just one point or a finite collection of intervals. It also prevents cancellation explicitly: earlier bands contribute a bounded complete sum, and later bands contribute nothing at the chosen cutoff.