For , choose a cutoff function on a neighborhood of its support. Its extension to smooth functions makes
independent of the choice of cutoff. For real frequency, the definition of the distributional Fourier transform gives : interchange the pairing with the integral of a Schwartz function, using the finite-order estimate on the cutoff's compact support. On each compact set of complex frequencies the exponential and all its derivatives have uniformly convergent power series. Continuity of the distribution allows termwise differentiation, with
Consequently is entire on .
For the precise exponential type, a fixed enlarged support would give an unnecessarily enlarged radius. Instead use the shrinking-cutoff exponential-type estimate. On one fixed compact neighborhood of the closed radius- ball, has finite order of a distribution . Choose near that ball, supported in the radius- ball, with for . The finite-order estimate gives
Take . Its extra exponential is bounded by , while the derivative cost is polynomial. Thus
The entire function was defined with a fixed cutoff; only its bound uses a frequency-dependent cutoff, so no holomorphic dependence is lost. This proves the required estimate with some without enlarging .
For the converse, set . Its restriction to real frequencies has polynomial growth. Define the inverse tempered distribution by
Rapid decay of the Schwartz function transform proves convergence and continuity, and Fourier inversion gives on real frequencies.
We prove its support directly by contour shifting, rather than assuming the support conclusion of the Paley–Wiener–Schwartz theorem. Let be a real unit vector and take a test function supported in for some . For every integer , integration by parts in the real-frequency Fourier integral gives
Indeed, move from the oscillatory exponential to ; its derivatives supply at most powers of .
The product is entire. Rotate coordinates so that is the first coordinate vector and apply Cauchy integral theorem to a rectangle in that one complex coordinate, integrating the remaining real coordinates afterwards. For fixed , choose ; the displayed decay estimate, uniformly on the intervening imaginary segment, makes the vertical faces vanish as the real rectangle width tends to infinity. The horizontal integrals are absolutely convergent. Hence
Using and the growth hypothesis bounds this pairing by
It tends to zero as , so the pairing vanishes. Every point outside the closed radius- ball lies in such a separating half-space; a finite partition of unity for the support of a test function outside the ball proves .
Translate this compactly supported distribution by : define . The Translation property of the Fourier transform gives
The compact-support entire extension agrees with everywhere by the identity theorem, applied successively in the complex coordinates. Fourier inversion also gives uniqueness. This completes both directions of the ball version of the Paley–Wiener–Schwartz theorem.
For the wave equation, take a real constant . The Fourier transform method for the wave equation gives
This inverse tempered distribution is twice differentiable in : time derivatives introduce polynomial frequency factors, still integrable against every Schwartz function. It has the specified initial displacement and zero initial velocity and satisfies the equation distributionally.
To apply the support theorem, replace the real norm by the entire wave cosine multiplier
This series is entire and equals regardless of the square-root choice. Write and . Since ,
Together with , this yields . The forward estimate for the translated initial support now gives
The converse therefore proves finite propagation with the stated speed:
In particular, itself need not be entire; it is the even cosine series that provides the required entire extension.
For completeness this construction identifies the distributional Cauchy solution even without initially assuming spatial temperedness. The zero-displacement wave multiplier is , entire with bound . Given a compactly supported smooth and final time , the backward solution is smooth, has support in one compact ball for by the same support theorem, and satisfies , . For the difference of two distributional solutions with zero initial data,
All pairings use compactly supported test functions. The expression vanishes initially and equals finally. Hence , establishing uniqueness in the usual time-differentiable distributional solution class.
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 and
for 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 by
The 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 set
On 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 that
To 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 gives
If , 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.