Bounded set in a topological vector space 2026-10-06
A subset of a topological vector space is bounded when every neighborhood of zero absorbs it: for all sufficiently large positive . In a locally convex space defined by seminorms , this is equivalent to for every . In particular, a bounded subset of the Schwartz space has a uniform bound for every Schwartz seminorm; it need not have uniformly bounded supports.
For and , define . Translations are smooth in the Schwartz space, so every derivative is . The finite-seminorm continuity estimate for implies for one . Thus the result is a smooth function defining a tempered distribution, but it need not be a Schwartz function: when . If both factors are radial, testing the rotation action on the translated shows that the convolution is radial.
The Fourier transform with negative exponential and inverse factor is a continuous isomorphism of the Schwartz space. Weighted frequency derivatives are transforms of derivatives of weighted input functions, so their suprema are controlled by finitely many Schwartz seminorms. Fourier inversion gives , where . Transposition gives a continuous isomorphism on tempered distributions as well.
Fourier transform of a tempered distribution Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
With , the Fourier transform of a tempered distribution is defined byContinuity of the Fourier transform on the Schwartz space makes this well defined. For regular integrable functions, Fubini's theorem shows that it agrees with the ordinary transform. The inverse convention has factor and the positive exponential.
Hilbert-transform Fourier multiplier 2026-10-06
For and , the Fourier transform multiplier is . The Heaviside function transform and the double-transform reflection identity give the sign. Plancherel theorem proves the isometry, and multiplication by proves commutation with differentiation. The map need not preserve the Schwartz space.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 ib Paper 2 16B a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ii Paper 3 29A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ii Paper 4 30C i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 68 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
A Schwartz function is a smooth function for which every seminormis finite. These seminorms define the Fréchet topology of the Schwartz space . The tempered distributions form its continuous linear dual . We use bilinear distribution pairing, with no complex conjugation on the test function.
Differentiation under the Fourier integral and integration by parts giveTherefore each Schwartz seminorm of is bounded by a finite sum of norms of polynomially weighted derivatives of . Insert the integrable weight to bound those norms by finitely many Schwartz seminorms. This proves that is continuous.
To justify inversion without a merely formal exchange of integrals, insert in the inverse integral. The Gaussian Fourier integral givesThe normalized Gaussian is an approximate identity, so the right side tends to ; the left side converges by dominated convergence theorem since is integrable. It follows thatReflection is continuous in Schwartz seminorms, so is continuous as well. This proves the Fourier transform isomorphism of the Schwartz space.
Define the distributional Fourier transform byIt agrees with the ordinary integral transform whenever Fubini applies. Transposing the Schwartz inverse gives an inverse on , and the same squared-transform identity holds. For the usual strong dual topology, a seminorm is for a bounded set . Since a continuous linear Schwartz map takes bounded sets to bounded sets, proves continuity, and similarly for the inverse. Continuity also holds in the weak dual topology. Thus the transform is a continuous isomorphism on tempered distributions, with the stated normalization.
For a real symmetric positive-definite matrix , there is with . The reciprocal is locally integrable in dimension three: the radial factor near zero is . At infinity, rapid decay of a Schwartz test function makes it integrable. More quantitatively,This single seminorm bound proves a tempered distribution. No principal-value extension is needed at the origin.
First calculate the isotropic transform. For and , spherical integration and the supplied sine-integral identity giveThe original functions converge in to by dominated convergence theorem against tests. The transforms are bounded by , which is locally integrable in three dimensions and integrable against Schwartz functions at infinity. HenceLet . The Jacobian is and the dual vector is . The Fourier transform of a reciprocal positive quadratic form is consequentlyThe frequency-origin value is understood distributionally; there is no additional delta term.
For the complex extension use a symmetric matrix with real symmetric and positive real part . Symmetry is natural for a quadratic form; a skew-symmetric part contributes nothing. The bound again gives a regular tempered reciprocal. Both sides of the prospective formula depend holomorphically on the matrix while its real part is positive: compact parameter sets give a common bound for pairing and differentiated integrands. Continue from the real positive matrices along . In a complex neighborhood of , imaginary gives real positive matrices, so the one-variable identity theorem supplies the equality; connected continuation along reaches .
The analytic determinant square root for accretive symmetric matrices must follow that continuation, rather than an arbitrary scalar principal root of . Explicitly, put and let its real eigenvalues be . Thenwhere each factor has positive real part. This is the determinant square root normalized positively on real positive matrices. AlsoThus the quadratic-form square root has the unambiguous branch with positive real part. The accretive complex quadratic reciprocal Fourier transform isUniform local integrability of the right side justifies its analytic continuation as a tempered distribution, not merely pointwise away from the origin.
For the particular form,Substitution gives the required normalized expressionFor every nonzero real , the radicand has positive real part, so the specified square root exists uniquely. Both sides are regular tempered distributions, despite their locally integrable singularities at zero.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 67 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use complex-linear distribution pairings, without conjugation. Write for the space of test functions. The smoothing convolution with a test function isOn a compact set of values, all the translated test functions have support in one compact set. Continuity of the distribution therefore permits differentiation in , giving for every multi-index. In particular this convolution is a smooth function, even if is not tempered.
For the first associativity identity, integration against and the distribution pairing can be interchanged: the integrand has a common compact support in , depends smoothly on the integration variable, and satisfies the finite-order continuity estimate there. ConsequentlyThe common-support argument matters: a general distribution cannot be paired with arbitrary noncompact functions.
For convolution of distributions with a compactly supported factor, first take with compact support and defineThe inner pairing is interpreted using a cutoff function equal to one near . It is smooth in and has support in . To see continuity, restrict to a fixed compact support . The order of a distribution estimate for controls derivatives of the inner function by finitely many derivatives of , and its support lies in the fixed compact set . Applying the corresponding estimate for givesThus is a distribution, not merely a formal iterated pairing.
Choose an additional cutoff function in equal to one on a neighborhood of . The resulting joint kernel is compactly supported in both variables, so the tensor product of distributions permits reversing the pairings. One justification is to approximate that smooth compact kernel, in all the required derivative seminorms, by finite sums of products of one-variable kernels; the two orders agree on such products and their continuity estimates pass to the limit. Reversing consequently gives . If rather than has compact support, use the same construction with the roles reversed; pairing against a smooth function is then legitimate.
Evaluating the resulting smoothing convolution with a test function givesIf has compact support, is itself a test function; if has compact support, its action on the smooth inner convolution uses a cutoff. This explains the meaning of the formula in either case. It also proves uniqueness: , and reflection runs through all test functions. When both factors have compact support, the same definition gives , their Minkowski sum.
The Schwartz space consists of smooth functions for which every seminorm is finite. A tempered distribution is a continuous linear functional on this space. Fix the angular-frequency Fourier transform conventionThe Fourier transform isomorphism of the Schwartz space makes the dual definition continuous. For a compactly supported distribution, a fixed cutoff function near its support extends the action to smooth functions by . A finite-order estimate controls this by finitely many Schwartz space seminorms, so both compactly supported factors are tempered.
Their Fourier transform of a compactly supported distribution is the smooth function . Applying the compact-support convolution definition to the exponential givesThe convolution theorem has no extra factor with this normalization.
For the spherical surface measure convolution, put . Rotate the polar axis to the direction of ; rotational invariance of surface area givesAt the removable value is , the total sphere area. Hence .
For , angular integration in Fourier inversion now givesThis conditional integral can be made rigorous by first inserting and then taking in tempered distributions. The supplied sine identity gives an integral of when , and zero off that interval. Thusas a regular distribution. To justify the limiting density as well as the signs, expand the product of sines into four sine terms and use . The four arctangents are uniformly bounded; the regularized inverse is bounded by a constant times , which is a locally integrable function in three dimensions. Dominated convergence theorem therefore identifies the distributional limit with the displayed density.
Changing the two endpoint sphere values does not change the regular distribution; this includes the source's closed-interval representative. At a jump, symmetric Fourier inversion instead takes the half-value. If , the singularity at the origin remains locally integrable and is not a point mass. As a normalization check,exactly the product of the original sphere areas.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 69 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Work first with in the Schwartz space, so that all Fourier manipulations and spectral contour integrals are justified; weaker classes follow by the usual density or distribution arguments. DefineThe phase is purely imaginary. Since , setting reduces the spectral equation to . The whole-plane Cauchy-Pompeiu formula therefore constructs the solution decaying spatially at infinity:The freedom to add times an entire function is removed by this decay condition. For every fixed , the integral is a spatial Cauchy-Green operator applied to a modulated source.
Now differentiate in the conjugate spectral parameter. The two exponential derivatives produce , canceling the Cauchy denominator, soThis is the spectral dbar equation: its right-hand side is the forward transform of multiplied by a known plane wave. Apply the whole-plane Cauchy-Pompeiu formula again, now in :The spatial spectral equation also gives as . One way to justify this is to integrate by parts in the first Cauchy integral: , where the modulated Cauchy integral tends to zero by the Riemann-Lebesgue lemma. Comparing the coefficient of the spectral contour integral therefore givesThis derives the transform pair from two uses of the Cauchy-Pompeiu formula, not from an assumed inversion formula.
To identify the usual normalization, write and . Then . Set , , so . The result is exactly the two-dimensional Fourier transform pairThe factor four in the real-frequency change of variables is essential.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 71 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
We place the definitions and the unheaded preliminary requests here before addressing the first labelled property. The Schwartz space consists of smooth functions with finite seminormsfor every pair of multi-indices. Convergence means convergence in each seminorm. The tempered distribution space is its continuous dual space, with weak convergence tested against every Schwartz function. A continuous functional satisfies a bound by finitely many of these seminorms, equivalently by one sufficiently large weighted derivative seminorm.
Use the Fourier transform conventionDifferentiation under the integral and integration by parts express as a constant of modulus one times the Fourier transform of . Its supremum is bounded by the norm of that function. For , this norm is at most a constant times finitely many Schwartz seminorms, using the integrable weight . Thus is continuous.
For completeness, Fourier inversion follows by inserting in the inverse integral and using Fubini's theorem. The result is convolution with the Gaussian approximate identityIt tends to , while integrability of allows the damping factor to be removed by dominated convergence theorem. Consequently . Reflection preserves every Schwartz seminorm, so the inverse transform is continuous as well. This proves the Fourier transform isomorphism of the Schwartz space.
Define the Fourier transform of a tempered distribution by transposition,The Schwartz-space continuity just proved makes this a tempered distribution. Its inverse is , where . These maps are continuous for weak convergence, since each pairing is a pairing with a fixed transformed test. They are also continuous for the strong dual topology, because the Schwartz-space maps take bounded sets to bounded sets.
The convolution of a tempered distribution with a Schwartz function isSmooth dependence of translated Schwartz functions gives . The finite-seminorm estimate and show that each derivative has at most polynomial growth. In particular, is a smooth function defining a tempered distribution. It need not itself be a Schwartz function; for example .
Writing , its distributional pairing is . The inner convolution is a Schwartz function, and this identity follows by integration in the Schwartz topology, justified by the weighted seminorm estimates. A direct Fubini's theorem calculation gives . HenceMultiplication is well defined because multiplication by acts continuously on .
Now write the Hilbert transform as convolution with , the principal-value reciprocal distribution. The given Heaviside function transform, together with , yieldsThe value of the sign function at zero is irrelevant to its regular distribution. Thus the Hilbert-transform Fourier multiplier isApplying Plancherel theorem, whose normalization here is , proves the isometry:The principal-value integral agrees with this convolution: near its singular point subtract , and use odd cancellation; at infinity the Schwartz decay gives convergence. The Hilbert transform has domain , but generally does not take values in , as the tail in part (c) demonstrates.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 327 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the Fourier transform convention , with inverse factor . The Paley–Wiener–Schwartz theorem can be stated with sharp convex support: for a nonempty compact convex set , let its support function be . Then is the Fourier transform of a unique distribution supported in if and only if it is entire andfor some and nonnegative integer . For , this is the familiar bound . Allowing some characterizes all compactly supported distributions. Here the extension of the Fourier transform is , interpreted with a cutoff equal to one near the support of a distribution.
First suppose . Fix one smooth cutoff function equal to one near . Pairing the resulting compactly supported exponential with shows that is an entire function: differentiation with respect to inserts , and the power series converges in the test-function seminorms uniformly on compact subsets of .
To keep the exponential type exactly , rather than that of a fixed larger neighborhood, use a shrinking-cutoff exponential-type estimate. There are cutoffs equal to one on , supported in , and satisfying for . One construction convolves the indicator of with a unit-mass mollifier supported in . Continuity of on a fixed compact neighborhood gives a finite order of a distribution there. By the product rule,Taking proves the required bound with , since the extra exponential factor is at most . The value of the pairing is independent of the chosen cutoff because all cutoffs agree near . Thus the forward direction has the exact asserted support function, without an unproved estimate on derivatives restricted only to .
Conversely, suppose the entire has the stated bound. Its restriction to real frequency has polynomial growth, so define a tempered distribution byThe Schwartz space decay makes this integral absolutely convergent and continuous; by Fourier inversion, on real frequency. It remains to prove the support assertion by mollifier regularization for contour recovery of support.
Choose a nonnegative unit-mass mollifier supported in , and setOn real frequency, decays faster than any polynomial after enough applications of integration by parts to ; hence is smooth, by differentiation under the integral sign. More generally, for every integer there is such thatTo obtain this estimate, write the transform of as the real-frequency transform of and integrate by parts; each derivative introduces at most one factor of .
Fix a unit vector and take . A contour-shift proof of the Paley–Wiener–Schwartz theorem moves the inverse-transform contour to :Here is a justification of the shift. Rotate coordinates so is the first coordinate direction, apply the Cauchy integral theorem on a rectangle in the first complex variable, and integrate over the other real variables. For fixed , the vertical sides at real part have an integrated bound proportional to , and hence vanish as . The same decay bounds give absolute convergence on the horizontal sides. No contour shift of an unregularized polynomially growing integral is needed.
Positive homogeneity of the support function now givesIf , the Hahn-Banach separation theorem supplies a unit vector with . Letting proves . Therefore and .
Since and its modulus is at most one on real frequency, the dominated convergence theorem in the formula for gives as tempered distributions, and thus as distributions. A test function supported outside has positive distance from , so its pairing with is zero for all sufficiently small . This proves . The Fourier transform of a compactly supported distribution constructed in the forward direction equals on ; applying the one-variable identity theorem successively in each coordinate extends the equality to . Injectivity of the Fourier transform of a tempered distribution proves uniqueness and completes both directions.
For the independence application, put and . The ball version of the Paley–Wiener–Schwartz theorem supplies a nonzero distribution supported in with . By the Translation property of the Fourier transform,where . Distinct integer points are at least distance one apart. For distinct positive indices , the largest possible radius sum is . Thus these closed balls, and hence the distribution supports, are pairwise disjoint.
If , injectivity of the Fourier transform gives . For each , choose a smooth cutoff function equal to one near its ball and zero near all other balls. Multiplying the distributional identity by this cutoff isolates . Since is not identically zero, , so . Consequently are linearly independent over . This Fourier independence from disjoint distribution supports uses the quantitative exponential types to establish support separation.