Put $M={\sup }_{y>0}{\int }_{\mathbb{R}}|f(x+iy)|dx$. The goal is to obtain an integrable non-tangential maximal function without assuming in advance that $f$ has an integrable boundary density. We use a square root to place the boundary data in $L^2$, where the Hardy-Littlewood maximal function is strongly bounded.

First recall this strong bound directly from Q2. For a nonnegative $h\in L^2(\mathbb{R})$ and $\lambda >0$, split $h=h{1}_{\{h>\lambda /2\}}+h{1}_{\{h\le \lambda /2\}}$. The second summand has centered maximal function at most $\lambda /2$; the first is in $L^1$. Q2's weak estimate, in dimension one, therefore givesThe layer cake representation and Tonelli theorem then implyThis is the needed Strong Lp bound for the Hardy-Littlewood maximal function, with an explicit adequate constant.

For $\epsilon >0$, let $f_{\epsilon }(z)=f(z+i\epsilon )$ and $h_{\epsilon }(x)=|f(x+i\epsilon ){|}^{1/2}$. Q1's elementary harmonic pointwise estimate makes $f_{\epsilon }$ bounded on the closed upper half-plane. Its boundary value is continuous, and $\Vert h_{\epsilon }{\Vert }_2^2\le M$. The function $|f_{\epsilon }{|}^{1/2}$ is subharmonic: away from zeros, for any $q>0$,and regularization, or the submean inequality at zeros, extends this to the whole domain. Bounded subharmonic comparison with the Poisson integral givesHere $h_{\epsilon }$ need not be in $L^1$. The Poisson integral is nevertheless defined, since $h_{\epsilon }\in L^2\cap L^{\infty }$ and $P_y\in L^1\cap L^2$, and it tends to its continuous boundary values. To justify comparison on this unbounded domain, the difference between the two sides is bounded above, subharmonic, and zero on the real boundary. On an upper half-disk of radius $R$, use the positive harmonic barrierOn its semicircular arc, $b_R(R{e}^{i\theta })=2/\sin \theta \ge 2$, while $b_R(z)\to 0$ for every fixed interior $z$ as $R\to \infty$. The maximum principle for subharmonic functions, with a fixed bound for the difference, proves the comparison. The barrier's positive blow-up at the arc endpoints causes no difficulty.

For $|x-x^{\prime }|\le y$, the elementary inequality $y^2+|x-s{|}^2\le 3(y^2+|x^{\prime }-s{|}^2)$ givesQ2's radial decreasing kernel domination by the maximal function extends to nonnegative $L^2$ inputs by applying it to increasing bounded compactly supported truncations. Hence, taking the supremum over the cone,For any fixed cone point, $f_{\epsilon }(z)\to f(z)$ as $\epsilon \downarrow 0$. Therefore $f^{\ast }(x)\le {\mathrm{liminf}}_{\epsilon \downarrow 0}{f}_{\epsilon }^{\ast }(x)$; use a sequence of positive shifts and the Fatou lemma to concludeThe precise numerical constant is unimportant. Suprema over countable dense sets of cone points give the same values, so the maximal functions used here are measurable.

This yields boundary absolute continuity of measures rather than assuming it. The holomorphic function $f$ is a complex-valued harmonic function, so Q1 represents it as $f(x+iy)=P_y\ast \mu (x)$ for a finite complex measure $\mu$, with $f(\cdot +iy)dx\to \mu$ weak-star. Since $|f(x+iy)|\le f^{\ast }(x)$, every compactly supported continuous $\psi$ satisfiesThe dual characterization of the total variation measure implies $|\mu |\le f^{\ast }dx$, so the Radon-Nikodym theorem gives $\mu =Fdx$ with $F\in L^1$. The approximate identity now gives $f(\cdot +iy)\to F$ in the L1 norm and almost everywhere. Thus the analytic Hardy space has an integrable boundary function, unlike the unrestricted harmonic $h^1$ space.

In the real-line form of the F. and M. Riesz theorem, start with a finite complex measure whose Fourier transform of a finite measure vanishes for $\xi <0$. Its Poisson integral is holomorphic: the transformed operators ${\partial }_y$ and $i{\partial }_x$ act by $-|\xi |$ and $-\xi$, which agree on that spectrum. These identities can first be read as distributional identities and then classically, since the Poisson integral is smooth. Its harmonic $h^1$ norm is finite by Q1, so the preceding argument makes the measure absolutely continuous. A one-sided Fourier spectrum forces a finite boundary measure to have a Lebesgue density.

For the customary circle form, normalize arc length by $dm=d\theta /(2\pi )$. If $\hat{\mu }(n)=\int e^{-in\theta }d\mu (\theta )=0$ for $n<0$, thenis analytic and $F(r{e}^{i\theta })$ is the Poisson integral on the unit disk of $\mu$. Positivity and unit mass of the Poisson kernel on the circle imply ${\sup }_r\int |F(r{e}^{i\theta })|dm\le \Vert \mu {\Vert }_{\mathrm{TV}}$. The same square-root argument on the disk gives an integrable radial maximum, as follows. For $0<\rho <1$, put $h_{\rho }(\theta )=|F(\rho e^{i\theta }){|}^{1/2}$. The maximum principle for subharmonic functions on the disk givesThe supremum of these Poisson integrals is bounded by a constant times the circular Hardy-Littlewood maximal function. Indeed, for $r\ge 1/2$ the circular kernel is bounded by a constant times $(1-r)/((1-r{)}^2+{\theta }^2)$ for $|\theta |\le \pi$; splitting into arcs of radii $2^j(1-r)$ gives a summable geometric series of arc averages. For $r<1/2$ the kernel is uniformly bounded, and the whole-circle average suffices. The covering proof and the truncation argument already used on the line give the strong $L^2$ maximal bound for arcs on the circle as well. ThusLet $\rho \uparrow 1$ and apply Fatou lemma to obtain an integrable radial maximum $R(\theta )={\sup }_{0<r<1}|F(r{e}^{i\theta })|$. The measures $F(r{e}^{i\theta })dm$ tend weak-star to $\mu$ and are dominated in magnitude by $Rdm$. The same continuous-test-function argument gives $|\mu |\le Rdm$. This proves the F. and M. Riesz theorem: a finite complex measure on the circle with all negative Fourier coefficients zero is absolutely continuous with respect to arc length. Reversing the Fourier convention interchanges positive and negative indices.

We first construct a terminal integrable function without using the martingale convergence theorem. Put $G={\sup }_n|g_n|$ and $d\eta =Gdx$ on $(0,1{]}^d$. This is a finite positive measure. If $G=0$ almost everywhere the conclusion is immediate. Otherwise, for a bounded dyadic step function $h$ measurable with respect to ${\mathcal{F}}_n$ in the dyadic filtration, defineThe martingale property makes the definition independent of the choice of a sufficiently large $n$. Moreover $|\Lambda (h)|\le \int |h|d\eta$. Dyadic step functions are dense in $L^1(\eta )$: continuous functions on the closed unit cube are dense for this finite Borel measure (extend the measure by zero onto the omitted faces), and uniform continuity approximates each continuous function by step functions on fine dyadic partitions. Thus $\Lambda$ extends to a bounded linear functional on $L^1(\eta )$ of norm at most one. The duality of Lp spaces representation of this functional gives $H\in L^{\infty }(\eta )$ with $|H|\le 1$ and $\Lambda (h)=\int hHd\eta$. Set $g=HG$, taking $g=0$ where $G=0$. Then $g\in L^1(dx)$ and testing indicators of all dyadic atoms provesThis argument also works for complex-valued martingales, with a complex linear functional.

To prove convergence, choose a dyadic step function $h$ with $\Vert g-h{\Vert }_1$ arbitrarily small. For all $n$ beyond its dyadic level, $\mathbb{E}(h\mid {\mathcal{F}}_n)=h$. The L1 contraction of conditional expectation yieldsThis proves convergence in $L^1$. For convergence almost everywhere, Doob maximal inequality applied to the conditional expectations of $g-h$ givesLet the approximation error tend to zero, and then take positive rational $a$. Hence $g_n\to g$ both in $L^1$ and almost everywhere.

For the second assertion, write $M={\sup }_n\mathbb{E}|f_n|<\infty$ and take the given first-exit stopping time $\tau$. Each $g_n=f_{\tau \wedge n}$ is integrable, being a finite sum of restrictions of integrable variables. Its increments satisfyThe indicator is ${\mathcal{F}}_n$-measurable, so taking its conditional expectation proves that $(g_n)$ is a martingale.

The overshoot at $\tau$ need not be bounded by $N$. Instead, for a fixed $m$, on $\{\tau =j\}$ with $j\le m$ we have $|f_j|\le \mathbb{E}(|f_m|\mid {\mathcal{F}}_j)$. Integrating over this ${\mathcal{F}}_j$-measurable event, summing the disjoint events, and including $\{\tau >m\}$ givesThe variables $Z_m=|f_{\tau }|1_{\{\tau \le m\}}$ increase to $Z$, and $Z_m\le |g_m|$. The monotone convergence theorem gives $\mathbb{E}Z\le M$. Before stopping, the process has magnitude less than $N$; after stopping it remains at $f_{\tau }$. ConsequentlyThis is the integrable overshoot of a stopped L1-bounded martingale. The first part now proves that every such stopped process converges almost everywhere.

Finally, Doob maximal inequality gives $|\{{\sup }_n|f_n|\ge N\}|\le M/N$, by applying the finite-horizon estimate and then increasing the horizon. Thus ${\sup }_n|f_n|$ is finite almost everywhere. Outside the union of the null sets for all positive integer stopping thresholds, choose an integer $N$ larger than this supremum. No stopping occurs at that point, so $f_n=g_n$ for all $n$, and $f_n$ converges to a finite limit almost everywhere. We have not assumed, or concluded, $L^1$ convergence for this general $L^1$-bounded martingale.

For a positive Borel measure $\nu$, the centered Hardy-Littlewood maximal function and the uncentered maximal function of a finite measure areWe use open balls and allow infinite values. For signed or complex measures the definition uses their total variation measure. Since a centered ball is also an admissible uncentered ball, and every ball $B(c,r)$ containing $x$ lies in $B(x,2r)$,For functions, $m(f)$ means the centered Hardy-Littlewood maximal function of $|f|dx$.

The set $E_{\alpha }$ is the union of the open balls $B$ with $\nu (B)>\alpha |B|$. In particular, each witnessing ball lies entirely inside $E_{\alpha }$. If $K\subset E_{\alpha }$ is compact, take a finite witnessing cover of $K$. Choose its largest-radius ball, discard all balls meeting it, and repeat. The selected balls $B_j$ are disjoint. Every discarded ball has no larger radius than the selected ball that discarded it and is contained in its threefold dilation. HenceTaking the supremum over compact $K$ by inner regularity of Lebesgue measure proves the stronger, localized estimateIf the right side is infinite there is nothing to prove. Positivity of the measure is important: a signed version uses $|\nu |(E_{\alpha })$, not $\nu (E_{\alpha })$.

For the radial-kernel inequality, integrability implies $\varphi (r)\to 0$. For $0<s<\varphi (0)$, let $r(s)$ be the unique radius with $\varphi (r(s))=s$. The layer cake representation and Tonelli theorem giveThe last integral equals the total mass of $\varphi (|\cdot |)$, namely one. Taking the absolute value of the original convolution therefore proves the claim with constant exactly one. This is radial decreasing kernel domination by the maximal function.

An application is boundary convergence of the Poisson integral. Its normalized radial profile is $c_d(1+r^2{)}^{-(d+1)/2}$, so ${\sup }_{t>0}|P_t\ast f|\le m(f)$. For a continuous compactly supported $g$, the approximate identity property gives $P_t\ast g\to g$ pointwise. For arbitrary $f\in L^1$, put $h=f-g$; thenThe preceding weak type (1,1) estimate and the elementary integral bound for $|h|$ show that the set where this exceeds $2a$ has measure at most $(3^d+1)\Vert h{\Vert }_1/a$. Continuous compactly supported functions are dense in $L^1$, so this measure is zero. Thus the Poisson integrals of an integrable function converge to it almost everywhere; the same approximate identity also gives convergence in $L^1$.

A harmonic function on $\Omega$ is a twice continuously differentiable function satisfying $\Delta u=0$ there. For complex-valued functions this means that both its real part and its imaginary part are harmonic functions. The mean value property for harmonic functions characterizes harmonicity: a continuous function is harmonic exactly when its value at each point equals its average over every sphere, or equivalently every ball, whose closed ball lies in $\Omega$. In the forward direction, the derivative of the spherical average vanishes by the divergence theorem. Conversely, radial smoothing leaves a continuous function with the mean value property unchanged locally; it is therefore smooth. Expanding its small-ball average gives $u(x)+r^2\Delta u(x)/(2(d+3))+o(r^2)$ in dimension $d+1$, and hence $\Delta u=0$.

Write $M=\Vert u{\Vert }_{h^1}$ and $v_{d+1}$ for the volume of the unit ball in ${\mathbb{R}}^{d+1}$. We first obtain a pointwise estimate directly from the mean value property for harmonic functions, before using any boundary representation. For the ball of radius $r=t/2$ centered at $(x,t)$,Thus every upward shift of $u$ is a bounded harmonic function, with a continuous bounded boundary value.

The required map is the Poisson integralThe Poisson kernel for the upper half-space is positive, has integral one, and is harmonic as a function of $(x,t)$. Its normalization follows by polar coordinates and $r=\tan \theta$, which reduces the radial integral to ${\int }_0^{\pi /2}{\sin }^{d-1}\theta d\theta$; direct differentiation gives ${\Delta }_{x,t}{P}_t=0$. Differentiation under the integral on compact subsets proves that $P\mu$ is a harmonic function. Tonelli theorem givesHere the total variation norm of a measure is the norm on finite signed or complex Borel measures.

The Poisson kernel for the upper half-space is an approximate identity: for $\psi \in C_0({\mathbb{R}}^d)$, $P_t\ast \psi \to \psi$ uniformly. Indeed, uniform continuity controls translations smaller than a fixed radius, and the kernel mass outside that radius tends to zero. ConsequentlyThe dual characterization of the total variation norm of a measure, as the supremum over $\psi \in C_0$ of supremum norm at most one, now gives the reverse inequality $\Vert \mu {\Vert }_{\mathrm{TV}}\le \Vert P\mu {\Vert }_{h^1}$. Thus $P$ is a linear isometry and is injective.

For surjectivity, fix $s>0$ and put $u_s(x)=u(x,s)$. Bounded harmonic uniqueness in the upper half-space givesTo justify this uniqueness, subtract the Poisson integral of the bounded continuous boundary value from the upward-shifted harmonic function. Their difference is bounded and harmonic and has zero continuous boundary values. Its odd reflection across the boundary is an entire bounded harmonic function; the reflection is harmonic across the flat boundary by harmonic odd reflection across a hyperplane. The Liouville theorem for harmonic functions makes it constant, and oddness makes it zero. The initial pointwise estimate supplies the boundedness needed here. To see the reflection locally, take a ball centered on the hyperplane and extend the boundary data on its upper hemisphere oddly to its lower hemisphere. The harmonic solution on this ball is odd and zero on its equatorial disk. The maximum principle for harmonic functions identifies it with the given difference on the upper half-ball, proving that the reflected function is harmonic across the boundary.

Choose $s_j\downarrow 0$. The measures $u_{s_j}dx$ have total variation norm of a measure at most $M$. By the Banach-Alaoglu theorem, and separability of $C_0({\mathbb{R}}^d)$, a subsequence converges in the weak-star topology to a finite measure $\mu$ with $\Vert \mu {\Vert }_{\mathrm{TV}}\le M$. For fixed $(x,t)$ and $s_j<t$,The kernels in this display belong to $C_0$ and converge uniformly to $P_t(x-\cdot )$. The uniform measure norm bound therefore allows passage to the limit, giving $u(x,t)=P\mu (x,t)$. This proves the Poisson representation of harmonic h1 by finite measures, including onto-ness.

Finally $P_t(x)\le c_d{t}^{-d}$, so the Poisson representation of harmonic h1 by finite measures improves the preliminary pointwise constant:The last occurrence of $h^1({\mathbb{R}}^{d+1})$ in the printed question is understood as the harmonic Hardy space of the upper half-space defined earlier in that question.

A spatial finite difference method and time discretization for a linear evolution problem give a recurrence $U^{n+1}=B_{h,k}{U}^n$. To obtain numerical stability on $0\le nk\le T$, one needs a bound $\Vert B_{h,k}^n\Vert \le C_T$ uniform in the permitted grid sizes and time steps. More generally a growth estimate $\Vert B_{h,k}^n\Vert \le C{e}^{cnk}$ is sufficient. The finite-time stability versus power boundedness distinction matters: growth per step of $1+O(k)$ can be compatible with the latter finite-time estimate, whereas unrestricted geometric growth at a fixed Courant number is not.

The eigenvalue method diagonalizes $B_{h,k}$ into modes. If $B_{h,k}$ is a normal matrix, the spectral theorem gives $\Vert B_{h,k}^n{\Vert }_2={\max }_j|{\mu }_j{|}^n$. Thus $|{\mu }_j|\le 1$ gives contraction, and $|{\mu }_j|\le e^{ck}$ gives the preceding growth estimate. A diagonalizable matrix $B=V\Lambda V^{-1}$ has $\Vert B^n{\Vert }_2\le \Vert V{\Vert }_2\Vert V^{-1}{\Vert }_2{\max }_j|{\mu }_j{|}^n$, so its condition number must remain bounded uniformly as the mesh changes. A stable-looking list of eigenvalues alone is insufficient.

Indeed,Both eigenvalues are one, but the Jordan block gives growth proportional to $n\sim T/k$, violating uniform finite-time numerical stability. A nonnormal Fourier amplification matrix can similarly exhibit large amplification even with its eigenvalues inside the unit disk. Eigenvector conditioning and the full powers of the amplification operator are essential.

For constant-coefficient schemes on a periodic or infinite grid, a Fourier transform diagonalizes scalar translation-invariant stencils. This yields von Neumann stability analysis using the Fourier amplification symbol $G(\theta )$. The discrete Parseval identity turns a bound on $G(\theta {)}^n$ into a discrete L2 norm estimate. For systems, the symbol is a matrix; a uniform power bound for matrix Fourier symbols is required, rather than a bound on its spectral radius alone.

For the heat equation, a central finite difference in space and the explicit Euler method in time giveThe scalar condition $|G|\le 1$ for every frequency is exactly $0\le r\le 1/2$. With zero Dirichlet boundary conditions, the spatial matrix is symmetric and diagonalized by sine modes, leading to the same uniform sufficient restriction. By contrast, the Backward Euler diffusion scheme has $G(\theta )=[1+4r{\sin }^2(\theta /2){]}^{-1}$ and is stable for every $r\ge 0$.

For the advection equation $u_t+a{u}_x=0$, $a>0$, centered space with the explicit Euler method gives $G=1-i\nu \sin \theta$, $\nu =ak/h$, and $|G{|}^2=1+{\nu }^2{\sin }^2\theta$. At fixed positive Courant number, repeated powers are unbounded as the mesh is refined. The upwind finite difference scheme instead haswhich gives contraction precisely for $0\le \nu \le 1$. This comparison shows why the spatial stencil and time method must be analyzed together.

Boundary treatment can destroy the normality or mode decomposition available on a periodic grid, so a finite-interval scheme needs its own uniform operator estimate. Multilevel time schemes likewise require the root condition for a multistep method and uniform bounds for the associated amplification matrices; simple scalar root tests do not establish these bounds for arbitrary systems. Once consistency of a numerical method, a well-posed linear evolution problem and the required numerical stability estimate hold, the Lax equivalence theorem gives numerical convergence. Eigenvalues provide a powerful route to that estimate when the accompanying eigenvector and boundary analysis is justified.

A constant-step linear multistep method has the formwith ${\alpha }_k\ne 0$. The characteristic polynomials of a linear multistep method encode both accuracy and error propagation. The method has order of a numerical method $p$ when insertion of a sufficiently smooth exact solution leaves an unnormalized local truncation error $O(h^{p+1})$. The exponential-symbol order criterion for a multistep method expresses this as $\rho (e^z)-z\sigma (e^z)=O(z^{p+1})$. In particular, first-order consistency of a numerical method requires $\rho (1)=0$ and ${\rho }^{\prime }(1)=\sigma (1)$.

Accuracy alone is insufficient. For $f=0$, perturbations obey the recurrence $\rho (E)e_n=0$. The root condition for a multistep method requires every root of a polynomial $\rho$ to lie in the closed unit disk, with each unit-circle root simple. This is zero-stability. A root outside the unit disk causes geometric amplification as $n\sim T/h$ increases; a repeated unit-circle root permits polynomial growth in $n$. Either can destroy convergence even for starting perturbations tending to zero.

The Dahlquist equivalence theorem states that, for a fixed-coefficient method and a well-posed ordinary differential equation with a suitably Lipschitz continuous right-hand side, consistency of a numerical method and zero-stability are equivalent to convergence for all convergent starting data. If the starting errors are $O(h^p)$ and the exact solution is sufficiently smooth, the global error is $O(h^p)$ on a fixed time interval. A stability estimate bounds the propagated sum of $O(h^{p+1})$ local defects over $O(1/h)$ steps; the discrete Gronwall inequality controls the dependence of $f$ on the accumulated error. Implicit methods also require the locally consistent, uniquely solvable update branch for sufficiently small $h$.

For example, the explicit Euler method has order one and $\rho (\zeta )=\zeta -1$, satisfying the root condition for a multistep method. The two-step Adams-Bashforth method has order two and $\rho (\zeta )=\zeta (\zeta -1)$, again satisfying it. The trapezoidal rule has order two with one step. The two-step Simpson multistep method, $Y_{n+2}-Y_n=h(f_{n+2}+4f_{n+1}+f_n)/3$, has order four and the simple roots $1,-1$: it is zero-stable, although its parasitic amplification root can spoil long-time decay. These examples distinguish finite-time numerical convergence from absolute stability.

The first Dahlquist barrier gives the maximum possible order of a convergent ordinary real $k$-step method:These bounds assume only first-derivative evaluations, fixed coefficients and zero-stability; the sixth-order multiderivative multistep method in solution is outside that class.

To obtain arbitrarily high convergent order within the ordinary class, increase the number of steps. The Adams-Bashforth method integrates a polynomial interpolation of $k$ past derivative values and has order $k$. The Adams–Moulton method includes the new endpoint and has order $k+1$ for $k$ steps. In both families $\rho (\zeta )={\zeta }^{k-1}(\zeta -1)$, so the root condition for a multistep method holds for every fixed $k$. Starting values can be generated by a Runge-Kutta method of sufficient accuracy. The backward differentiation formula instead differentiates an interpolating polynomial; its order-$k$ members are zero-stable only for $1\le k\le 6$.

Finally, high order and favorable stiff stability are separate design goals. By the Second Dahlquist barrier, an ordinary A-stable linear multistep method has order at most two. One may accept a smaller linear stability domain, use suitable backward differentiation formula members for stiff problems, or switch to high-order implicit Runge-Kutta methods or multiderivative multistep methods. A convergent high-order formula still needs time steps appropriate to its stability properties and the problem's eigenvalues.