Past exam of the methods of applied functional analysis course of the University of Oxford / 2009 / B / 4

Banach's fixed-point theorem states that a map $T:Y\to Y$ on a nonempty complete metric space with $d(Tx,Ty)\le qd(x,y)$ for a constant $0\le q<1$ has a unique fixed point, approached from every starting point by iteration.

Choose $x_0$ and let $x_{n+1}=T{x}_n$. Induction gives $d(x_{n+1},x_n)\le q^{n}d(x_1,x_0)$. For $m>n$, the triangle inequality and geometric series giveThus the sequence is Cauchy and converges by completeness to some $x_{\ast }$. The contraction estimate implies continuity, so $T{x}_{\ast }=\lim T{x}_n=\lim x_{n+1}=x_{\ast }$. If $y_{\ast }$ were another fixed point, $d(x_{\ast },y_{\ast })\le qd(x_{\ast },y_{\ast })$ would force equality of the points. Passing $m\to \infty$ also yields the quantitative error estimate

A weak solution belongs to $V=H_0^1(\Omega )$ and satisfieswith the nonlinear right-hand side defining a bounded functional on $V$. Under the stated global Lipschitz hypothesis this requirement is automatic: $|f(s)|\le |f(0)|+ϵ|s|$ and boundedness of $\Omega$ give $f(u)\in L^2$ whenever $u\in V$. Continuity of $f$ alone, without growth control, would not guarantee this for an arbitrary Sobolev function.

For the semilinear Poisson contraction threshold, use the gradient norm on $V$, and let $C_P$ satisfy the Poincaré inequality $\Vert v{\Vert }_2\le C_P\Vert \nabla v{\Vert }_2$. For $g\in L^2$, Lax-Milgram gives the zero-Dirichlet Poisson solution $Pg\in V$. Testing with $Pg$ yields $\Vert \nabla Pg{\Vert }_2\le C_P\Vert g{\Vert }_2$. Define $T(v)=P(f(v))$, a self-map of the complete space $V$. For $v,w\in V$,Therefore $ϵC_P^2<1$ is a sufficient condition for Banach's theorem to give a unique fixed point and hence a unique weak solution. There is no need to assume $f(0)=0$ or to restrict to a small ball: the Lipschitz bound makes the map defined on all of $V$. The same estimates giveWith the optimal Poincaré constant, the threshold is $ϵ<{\lambda }_1$ for the First Dirichlet eigenvalue; the stated sufficient condition does not depend on knowing that optimal constant.

For a uniform contraction from a comparison function on a bounded set, the closed set $M$ is complete and has diameter at most $2R$. Suppose first $R>0$. The limit condition supplies $r_0>0$ and $q_0<1$ such that $\psi (r)/r\le q_0$ for $0<r\le r_0$. On the remaining compact interval $[r_0,2R]$, if nonempty, the continuous ratio $\psi (r)/r$ attains a maximum $q_1<1$, since it is strictly below one at every point. Thus there is one $q<1$ with $\psi (r)\le qr$ for every distance $0\le r\le 2R$ arising in $M$.

Consequently $d(Tx,Ty)\le qd(x,y)$ throughout $M$. Banach's theorem applies and gives a unique fixed point in $M$. No linear structure or compactness of the ball is used; the compact object in the argument is only the scalar distance interval. If the closed ball is the singleton at radius zero, its self-map fixes that point. The estimate on the ratio near zero is what prevents the compact-interval supremum argument from approaching one at its missing endpoint.