8
$\begingroup$

Let $f: \mathbb R^n \to \mathbb R$ be a measurable function. Let $\mathcal L$ be the set of linear functions $\mathbb R \to \mathbb R$.

Define the roughness $\mathcal Rf(x)$ of $f$ at $x \in \mathbb R^n$ by

$$\inf_{L \in \mathcal L} \limsup_{y \to x} \left | \frac{f(y) - f(x) - L(y-x)}{|y - x|} \right |.$$

We say that $f$ is pseudo differentiable if $\mathcal Rf(x) < \infty$ for all $x \in \mathbb R^n$.

In other words, $f$ is pseudo differentiable if the difference quotients approximate the function to within $O(|y - x|)$ everywhere.

Question: Is it true that if $f$ is pseudo differentiable, then $f$ is in the Sobolev space $W^{1, 1}_\text{loc}?$

Remarks:

  1. Note that $f$ is differentiable at $x$ if and only if $\mathcal Rf(x)$ is $0$.

  2. In one dimension, the condition that $f$ is pseudo differentiable is equivalent to the upper and lower Dini derivatives being finite everywhere. In this case I believe pseudo differentiable implies (locally) absolutely continuous, and hence $W^{1,1}_\text{loc}$.

  3. In the definition of pseudo differentiable, the condition $Rf(x) < \infty$ holds for all $x$! (Instead of merely almost all $x$)

$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ A slightly easier way to state this condition is to say that $f$ is pseudo-differentiable at $x$ if $\limsup |f(y)-f(x)|/|y-x|<\infty$ (or maybe it would be more descriptive to call this locally Lipschitz continuous at $x$). $\endgroup$ Jun 18, 2022 at 15:26

1 Answer 1

8
$\begingroup$

The function $$ f(x) = \begin{cases} x\sin 1/x^2 & x\not= 0 \\ 0 & x=0 \end{cases} $$ gives a counterexample. We have $f\in C^{\infty}(U)$ when we restrict to $U=\mathbb R\setminus \{ 0\}$, so if $f$ had a distributional derivative in $L^1_{\textrm{loc}}$, it would have to be its classical derivative $f'=-(2/x^2)\cos (1/x^2)+\sin (1/x^2)$, but this fails to be integrable near $x=0$.

$\endgroup$
2
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Or $f=x^2\sin (1/x^3)$, which is even differentiable everywhere (but not $C^1$, obviously, or it would be in $W^{1,1}$). $\endgroup$ Jun 18, 2022 at 15:51
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Ah so a function can be differentiable everywhere yet it’s derivative fails to be in $L^1$. Thanks for the example! $\endgroup$
    – Nate River
    Jun 18, 2022 at 15:53

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.