All Questions
12,935 questions
152
votes
18
answers
24k
views
Why do we care about $L^p$ spaces besides $p = 1$, $p = 2$, and $p = \infty$?
I was helping a student study for a functional analysis exam and the question came up as to when, in practice, one needs to consider the Banach space $L^p$ for some value of $p$ other than the obvious ...
126
votes
15
answers
15k
views
Does Physics need non-analytic smooth functions?
Observing the behaviour of a few physicists "in nature", I had the impression that among the mathematical tools they use a lot (along with possibly much more sofisticated maths, of course), ...
- 23.3k
107
votes
8
answers
15k
views
What do heat kernels have to do with the Riemann-Roch theorem and the Gauss-Bonnet theorem?
I know the following facts. (Don't assume I know much more than the following facts.)
The Atiyah-Singer index theorem generalizes both the Riemann-Roch theorem and the Gauss-Bonnet theorem.
The ...
- 118k
94
votes
1
answer
11k
views
The mathematical theory of Feynman integrals
It is well known that Feynman integrals are one of the tools that physicists have and mathematicians haven't, sadly.
Arguably, they are the most important such tool. Briefly, the question I'd like to ...
- 23.5k
84
votes
10
answers
25k
views
Why can't there be a general theory of nonlinear PDE?
Lawrence Evans wrote in discussing the work of Lions fils that
there is in truth no central core
theory of nonlinear partial
differential equations, nor can there
be. The sources of partial
...
81
votes
4
answers
8k
views
Did Gelfand's theory of commutative Banach algebras influence algebraic geometers?
Guillemin and Sternberg wrote the following in 1987 in a short article called "Some remarks on I.M. Gelfand's works" accompanying Gelfand's Collected Papers, Volume I:
The theory of commutative ...
- 7,329
81
votes
3
answers
9k
views
Norms of commutators
If an $n$ by $n$ complex matrix $A$ has trace zero, then it is a commutator, which means that there are $n$ by $n$ matrices $B$ and $C$ so that $A= BC-CB$. What is the order of the best constant $\...
- 31.5k
77
votes
7
answers
21k
views
What is the symbol of a differential operator?
I find Wikipedia's discussion of symbols of differential operators a bit impenetrable, and Google doesn't seem to turn up useful links, so I'm hoping someone can point me to a more pedantic discussion....
- 54.6k
77
votes
0
answers
4k
views
2, 3, and 4 (a possible fixed point result ?)
The question below is related to the classical Browder-Goehde-Kirk fixed point theorem.
Let $K$ be the closed unit ball of $\ell^{2}$, and let $T:K\rightarrow K$
be a mapping such that
$$\Vert Tx-Ty\...
- 4,060
76
votes
13
answers
8k
views
Counterexamples in PDE
Let us compile a list of counterexamples in PDE, similar in spirit to the books Counterexamples in topology and Counterexamples in analysis. Eventually I plan to type up the examples with their ...
74
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Can you hear the shape of a drum by choosing where to drum it?
I find the problem of hearing the shape of a drum fascinating. Specifically, given two connected subsets of $\mathbb R^2$ with piecewise-smooth boundaries (or a suitable generalization to a riemannian ...
- 2,358
71
votes
16
answers
21k
views
Is there a nice application of category theory to functional/complex/harmonic analysis?
[Title changed, and wording of question tweaked, by YC, because the original title asked a question which seems different from the one people want to answer.]
I've read looked at the examples in most ...
71
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Barrelled, bornological, ultrabornological, semi-reflexive, ... how are these used?
I'm not a functional analyst (though I like to pretend that I am from time to time) but I use it and I think it's a great subject. But whenever I read about locally convex topological vector spaces, ...
- 26.8k
69
votes
3
answers
12k
views
Nonconvexity and discretization
Edit: Here's a more down-to-earth, and somewhat weakened, but I believe still nontrivial, version of the main theorem.
Prototypical nonconvex spaces are $\ell^p$-spaces for $0<p<1$, say $\ell^p(\...
- 21.3k
66
votes
7
answers
10k
views
Why is the Hahn-Banach theorem so important?
Every time I hear it mentioned it is praised in the highest possible terms, and I remember one of my old lecturers saying that it is one of the 3 most important theorems in analysis. Yet the only ...
- 4,351
65
votes
9
answers
12k
views
Polish spaces in probability
Probabilists often work with Polish spaces, though it is not always very clear where this assumption is needed.
Question: What can go wrong when doing probability on non-Polish spaces?
- 651
65
votes
14
answers
6k
views
Notions of convergence not corresponding to topologies
This question concerns the ramifications of the following interesting problem that
appeared on Ed Nelson's final exam on Functional Analysis some years ago:
Exam question: Is there a metric on the ...
- 801
63
votes
5
answers
10k
views
Jean Bourgain's relatively lesser known significant contributions
Jean Bourgain passed away on December 22, 2018.
A great mathematician is no longer with us.
Terry Tao has blogged about Bourgain's death and mentioned some of his more recent significant contributions,...
60
votes
23
answers
108k
views
A good book of functional analysis [closed]
I'm a student (I've been studying mathematics 4 years at the university) and I like functional analysis and topology, but I only studied 6 credits of functional analysis and 7 in topology (the basics)....
59
votes
9
answers
10k
views
Motivation for and history of pseudo-differential operators
Suppose you start from partial differential equations and functional analysis (on $\mathbb R^n$ and on real manifolds). Which prominent example problems lead you to work with pseudo-differential ...
- 5,327
59
votes
7
answers
29k
views
Learning roadmap for harmonic analysis
In short, I am interested to know of the various approaches one could take to learn modern harmonic analysis in depth. However, the question deserves additional details. Currently, I am reading Loukas ...
57
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Recent observation of gravitational waves
It was exciting to hear that LIGO detected the merging of two black
holes one billion light-years away. One of the black holes had 36
times the mass of the sun, and the other 29. After the merging the
...
- 50.8k
53
votes
3
answers
13k
views
Pullback measures
Why do all measure theory textbooks present the concept of push-forward measure, but never the concept of pull-back measure? Doesn't the latter exist?
It's true that the naive treatment of such a ...
- 5,407
52
votes
6
answers
10k
views
Which nonlinear PDEs are of interest to algebraic geometers and why?
Motivation
I have recently started thinking about the interrelations among algebraic geometry and nonlinear PDEs. It is well known that the methods and ideas of algebraic geometry have lead to a ...
- 5,293
51
votes
2
answers
5k
views
A strengthening of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality
Suppose $\mathbf{v},\mathbf{w} \in \mathbb{R}^n$ (and if it helps, you can assume they each have non-negative entries), and let $\mathbf{v}^2,\mathbf{w}^2$ denote the vectors whose entries are the ...
- 6,351
51
votes
1
answer
6k
views
Unconditional nonexistence for the heat equation with rapidly growing data?
Consider the initial value problem
$$ \partial_t u = \partial_{xx} u$$
$$ u(0,x) = u_0(x)$$
for the heat equation in one dimension, where $u_0: {\bf R} \to {\bf R}$ is a smooth initial datum and $u: [...
- 114k
50
votes
7
answers
16k
views
Way to memorize relations between the Sobolev spaces?
Consider the Sobolev spaces $W^{k,p}(\Omega)$ with a bounded domain $\Omega$ in n-dimensional Euclidean space. When facing the different embedding theorems for the first time, one can certainly feel ...
- 2,935
48
votes
6
answers
7k
views
Is there an "elegant" non-recursive formula for these coefficients? Also, how can one get proofs of these patterns?
Not sure if this is a "good" question for this forum or if it'll get panned, but here goes anyway...
Consider this problem. I've been trying to find a formula to expand the "regular iteration" of "...
47
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Why is the Vandermonde determinant harmonic?
It can be checked that the Vandermonde determinant defined as
$$V(\alpha_1, \cdots, \alpha_n) = \prod_{1 \le i < j \le n}(\alpha_i-\alpha_j) $$
is a harmonic function, that is $\Delta V = 0$ where ...
- 763
47
votes
6
answers
6k
views
Can we actually find any fixed points with Brouwer's theorem?
Background
At the risk of greatly oversimplifying matters, let me state a heuristic from Granas and Dugundji's beautiful book: fixed point theorems fall into two broad categories. The first class is ...
- 15.5k
46
votes
0
answers
2k
views
Set-theoretic reformulation of the invariant subspace problem
The invariant subspace problem (ISP) for Hilbert spaces asks whether every bounded linear operator $A$ on $l^2$ (with complex scalars) must have a closed invariant subspace other than $\{0\}$ and $l^2$...
- 42.8k
45
votes
7
answers
9k
views
What's an example of a space that needs the Hahn-Banach Theorem?
The Hahn-Banach theorem is rightly seen as one of the Big Theorems in functional analysis. Indeed, it can be said to be where functional analysis really starts. But as it's one of those "there ...
- 26.8k
45
votes
7
answers
16k
views
What is an intuitive view of adjoints? (version 2: functional analysis)
After realising that I don't have an intuitive understanding of adjoint functors, I then realised that I don't have an intuitive understanding of adjoint linear transformations!
Again, I can use 'em, ...
- 26.8k
45
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Existence and uniqueness of Haar measure on compacta; a cohomological approach
I am trying to use a modification of group cohomology to prove the existence and uniqueness of Haar measure on a compact Hausdorff group.
I think the best way of introducing the idea I am pursuing is ...
user30211
44
votes
10
answers
47k
views
Is square of Delta function defined somewhere?
I am wondering whether anyone knows if the square of Dirac Delta function is defined somewhere.
In the beginning, this question might look strange. But by restricting the space of the test functions, ...
44
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Example of a compact set that isn't the spectrum of an operator
This question is somewhat ill-posed (due to the word easy) and is triggered by idle curiosity:
Is there an easy example of a (separable, infinite-dimensional) Banach space $X$ and a nonempty ...
- 5,743
43
votes
3
answers
9k
views
Why the name 'separable' space?
It is well known that a separable space is a topological space that has a countable dense subset. I am wondering how is this related to the name 'separable'? Any intuition where the name come from?
- 1,157
43
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Can $L^p(\mathbb{R})$ and $ L^q(\mathbb{R})$ be isomorphic?
Let $p,q \in (1,\infty)$ with $p\neq q$. Are the Banach spaces $L^p(\mathbb{R})$, $L^q(\mathbb{R})$ isomorphic?
- 559
42
votes
5
answers
6k
views
Why is symplectic geometry so important in modern PDE ?
First, we recall that symplectic manifold is a smooth manifold, $M$, equipped with a closed nondegenerate differential 2-form, $\omega$, called the symplectic form. The study of symplectic manifolds ...
- 1,644
42
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Do we lose any solutions when applying separation of variables to partial differential equations?
For example, consider the following problem
$$\frac{\partial u}{\partial t} = k\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial x^2},\hspace{0.5cm} u(x,0)=f(x),\hspace{0.5cm} u(0,t)=0,\hspace{0.5cm} u(L,t)=0$$
Textbooks (...
41
votes
4
answers
16k
views
Product of Borel sigma algebras
If $X$ and $Y$ are separable metric spaces, then the Borel $\sigma$-algebra $B(X \times Y)$ of the product is the $\sigma$-algebra generated by $B(X)\times B(Y)$. I am embarrassed to admit that I ...
- 31.5k
40
votes
5
answers
5k
views
"Entropy" proof of Brunn-Minkowski Inequality?
I read in an information theory textbook the Brunn-Minkowski inequality follows from the Entropy Power inequality.
The first one says that if $A,B$ are convex polygons in $\mathbb{R}^d$, then
$$ m(...
- 22.8k
40
votes
5
answers
10k
views
Is there a natural measures on the space of measurable functions?
Given a set Ω and a σ-algebra F of subsets, is there some natural way to assign something like a "uniform" measure on the space of all measurable functions on this space? (I suppose first ...
- 1,475
40
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Recent fundamental new directions in PDEs
My main interests are in modern geometry/topology, algebra and mathematical physics. I observe that there is a raising communication, language and social barrier between this community and the ...
- 5,232
39
votes
5
answers
5k
views
Explicit eigenvalues of the Laplacian
Let $(M,g)$ be a compact manifold without boundary.
Question: For which $(M,g)$ are the eigenvalues of the Laplace operator on functions explicitly known?
An important example is the $n$-sphere ...
- 1,101
39
votes
3
answers
14k
views
Is the Invariant Subspace Problem interesting?
There's an amusing comment in Peter Lax's Functional Analysis book. After a brief description of the Invariant Subspace Problem, he says (paraphrasing) "...this question is still open. It is also an ...
- 1,241
39
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Why is there a connection between enumerative geometry and nonlinear waves?
Recently I encountered in a class the fact that there is a generating function of Gromov–Witten invariants that satisfies the Korteweg–de Vries hierarchy. Let me state the fact more precisely. ...
- 1,589
38
votes
2
answers
13k
views
What, exactly, has Louis de Branges proved about the Riemann Hypothesis?
I know this is a dangerous topic which could attract many cranks and nutters, but:
According to Wikipedia [and probably his own website, but I have a hard time seeing exactly what he's claiming] Louis ...
- 1,990
37
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Which differential equations allow for a variational formulation?
Many ODE's and PDE's arising in nature have a variational formulation. An example of what I mean is the following. Classical motions are solutions $q(t)$ to Lagrange's equation
$$
\frac{d}{dt}\frac{\...
- 7,583
37
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Moving one family of commuting self-adjoint operators to another without losing commutativity on the way
This is actually not a question of mine, so I'll be short on motivation and say nothing beyond that if this were true, a few fancy harmonic analysis techniques that a colleague of mine used in proving ...
- 61.9k