Compact embedding 2026-10-24
A compact embedding of Banach spaces is an injective continuous linear map that sends every bounded set to a relatively compact subset. Equivalently, every bounded sequence in has a subsequence converging in . One identifies with its image when is the natural inclusion. The Rellich-Kondrachov theorem supplies many compact embeddings between Sobolev spaces and Lp spaces on bounded domains.
Nonlinear compact operator Created 2026-10-25 Updated 2026-10-31
A nonlinear compact operator between Banach spaces is a continuous map that sends every bounded set to a relatively compact subset. Thus every bounded sequence of inputs has a subsequence whose images converge in the target norm. No linearity is assumed. On a bounded domain of definition it suffices that the entire image be relatively compact. For linear operators, this recovers the usual compact operator notion.
A nonlinear compact operator is a continuous map that sends bounded sets of its domain to relatively compact subsets of the target space; linearity is not part of this general definition.
For the specified diagonal operator on sequence space on l2 sequence space,
so it is well-defined, linear and bounded. Let retain only its first output coordinates. This is a finite-rank operator, and
The upper bound follows by estimating each tail multiplier by ; equality follows on the unit coordinate vector . Finite-rank operators between Banach spaces are compact, and a limit of compact linear operators in operator norm is compact, the norm-closedness of compact operators. Therefore .
For Banach spaces , a nonlinear compact operator is a continuous map that sends every bounded set to a relatively compact subset of : the closure of its image is a compact set. For a continuous map, the image condition is equivalent to requiring that every bounded sequence has a subsequence along which converges in the norm topology of . For a linear operator, this is the usual compact operator definition; the continuity requirement is included explicitly here because the subsequent applications are nonlinear.
The compact-domain version of the Schauder fixed-point theorem says
A useful equivalent version replaces by a nonempty closed bounded convex set and assumes is a continuous map with relatively compact image. This latter form will be used for the partial differential equation. Both forms assert existence of a fixed point, without asserting uniqueness.
Fix nested relatively compact subsets of and let bound the gradient on the larger one. The fundamental theorem of calculus along a line segment gives on the smaller one. Part (i) gives coefficient bounds independent of small , so the De Giorgi-Nash-Moser theorem gives uniform interior Hölder continuity estimates for these weak solutions. Since is continuous, the difference quotients converge locally uniformly to . Passing to the limit in the Hölder seminorm estimate, and repeating for every coordinate, yields
The first derivatives are locally Hölder continuous. Here the initially obtained exponent depends on and the local gradient bound. This is the interior interpretation of the printed regularity conclusion; a uniform global estimate does not follow from alone.
Write the minimal surface equation for a graph as in its weak formulation, where . For negative increments use the same difference quotient convention, so
For , the function is an admissible test function in . Commuting the first partial derivative with translation, then applying discrete integration by parts, gives
The fundamental theorem of calculus along a line segment gives the averaged linearization of a nonlinear divergence-form equation
Thus the backward difference quotient solves a linear equation in divergence form:
To verify the ellipticity of the minimal surface flux, compute
and hence
The eigenvalue parallel to is ; every orthogonal eigenvalue is . The same lower and upper bounds pass to the averaged symmetric matrix whenever both endpoint gradients have norm at most :
The printed hypothesis supplies such an on each relatively compact subset, uniformly for sufficiently small . It therefore establishes a locally uniformly elliptic operator. A single lower bound on all of additionally requires bounded gradients there and at the shifted points; this is automatic for bounded and fixed , but is not supplied on an arbitrary open set.
Here is a nonlinear compact operator: it is continuous and sends bounded subsets of to relatively compact subsets of . Equivalently, the images of any bounded input sequence have a norm-convergent subsequence.
The Schauder fixed-point theorem states that if is a nonempty closed bounded convex set in a Banach space and is continuous and compact, then . Linearity, a contraction estimate, and uniqueness are not assumptions or conclusions of this theorem.