Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2021 / iii / Paper 123 / 3 / Solution

The Schwartz-Bruhat space $\mathcal{S}(F)$ of a non-Archimedean local field $F$ is the vector space of locally constant, compactly supported complex-valued functions on $F$. Fix a nontrivial continuous additive character $\psi :F\to {\mathbb{C}}^{\times }$ and a Haar measure $dx$. With the sign convention required in the question, the Fourier transform over a local field is

Letbe the annihilator of the valuation ring. Translation invariance givesIndeed, the integral is the volume when the character is trivial; otherwise translation by an element on which the character is nontrivial multiplies the integral by a scalar different from one, forcing it to vanish. With the usual character of conductor ${\mathcal{O}}_F$ and the normalization $\mathrm{vol}({\mathcal{O}}_F)=1$, this becomesFor the canonical character induced from ${\mathbb{Q}}_p$, the annihilator is instead the inverse different and the displayed general formula applies.

If $g(x)=f(ax+b)$ with $a\ne 0$, the substitution $u=ax+b$ and the scaling rule $dx=|a{|}^{-1}du$ give

Every locally constant compactly supported function is a finite linear combination of characteristic functions of cosets $b+a{\mathcal{O}}_F$: compactness extracts finitely many cosets on which the function is constant. The formula just proved, together with the transform of $1_{{\mathcal{O}}_F}$, shows that the transform of each such characteristic function is again locally constant and compactly supported. Therefore the Fourier transform over a local field maps $\mathcal{S}(F)$ to itself.