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Local supporting points of Lipschitz functions

Let X be a separable reflexive Banach space and f:X\to\mathbb{R} be a Lipschitz function. Say that a point x in X is a local supporting point of f if there exist x^* in X^* and an open neighborhood U ...
Anonymous's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
416 views

Which Banach spaces have categorical duals?

I was looking carefully at all the definitions, trying to understand exactly what was going on in this question on categorical duals in Banach spaces. It seems that in the category of Banach spaces ...
Andrew Stacey's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
4k views

Compact Convex sets and Extreme Points

There are examples that show the set of extreme points of a compact convex subset of a locally convex topological vector space need not be closed when the real dimension of the space is at least 3. ...
Mike Hartglass's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
570 views

Categorical duals in Banach spaces

Near the bottom of the nlab page for Banach space I see "To be described: duals (p+q=pq)". Are $(\mathbb{R}^n)_p$ and $(\mathbb{R}^n)_q$ dual objects in the closed symmetric monoidal category of ...
Reid Barton's user avatar
  • 25.2k
26 votes
3 answers
2k views

Universality of zeta- and L-functions

Voronin´s Universality Theorem (for the Riemann zeta-Function) according to Wikipedia: Let $U$ be a compact subset of the "critical half-strip" $\{s\in\mathbb{C}:\frac{1}{2}<Re(s)<1\}$ with ...
M.G.'s user avatar
  • 7,127
9 votes
1 answer
996 views

Topological "Interpolation" ?

Let E be a normed space, and let $T$:E * $\rightarrow$ E * be a nonlinear operator. Suppose that : 1) $T$ is continuous from (E *, ||.||) to itself (i.e., it is norm-continuous). and 2) $T$ is ...
Ady's user avatar
  • 4,060
29 votes
15 answers
6k views

Important results that use infinite-dimensional manifolds?

Are Banach manifolds (or other types of infinite-dimensional manifolds) just curiosities, or have they been utilized to prove some interesting/important results? Where do they turn up? Important ...
7 votes
3 answers
2k views

What are some interesting sequences of functions for thinking about types of convergence?

I'm thinking about the basic types of convergence for sequences of functions: convergence in measure, almost uniform convergence, convergence in Lp and point wise almost everywhere convergence. I'm ...
6 votes
1 answer
989 views

What is the "continuity" in "absolute continuity", in general?

The wikipedia article on absolute continuity gives a delta-epsilon definition for a measure $\mu$ defined on the Borel $\sigma$-algebra on the real line, with respect to the Lebesgue measure $\lambda$:...
kweinert's user avatar
  • 208
4 votes
3 answers
6k views

Advantages of a back-propagation neural network over other function approximation methods

Hello. Let's say I have a set of input vectors $I = \{\mathbf{x_1}, \dots, \mathbf{x_k}\} \subset \mathcal{R}^m$ and a set of output vectors $O = \{\mathbf{y_1}, \dots, \mathbf{y_k}\} \subset \...
Bruno Reis's user avatar
9 votes
4 answers
1k views

Boundedness of nonlinear continuous functionals

Let $K$ be the closed unit ball of $C[0,1]$, and let $f$ in $C(K,\mathbb{\, R})$. Is it true that there exists an infinite dimensional reflexive subspace $E$ of $C[0,1]$ s.t. $f(K\cap E)$ is bounded ? ...
Ady's user avatar
  • 4,060
6 votes
1 answer
427 views

Subspaces of $L^{2}$

[In what follows $0^{0}$= 1 by convention.] Is there some closed infinite dimensional linear subspace $F$ of $L^{2}(0,1)$ such that $\left\lvert f\right\rvert^{\left\lvert f\right\rvert}$ belongs to $...
Ady's user avatar
  • 4,060
19 votes
7 answers
2k views

Generalizations of "standard" calculus

We have the usual analogy between infinitesimal calculus (integrals and derivatives) and finite calculus (sums and forward differences), and also the generalization of infinitesimal calculus to ...
Zev Chonoles's user avatar
  • 6,792
2 votes
2 answers
317 views

Bibliography for topologies defined by a family of seminorms

Hello I am trying to learn more about Fréchet spaces (in order to study the theory of distributions) and was wondering what people thought was the best resource. Thank you very much.
Learner's user avatar
  • 143
6 votes
2 answers
1k views

Definable collections of non measurable sets of reals

Is there a definable (in Zermelo Fraenkel set theory with choice) collection of non measurable sets of reals of size continuum? More verbosely: Is there a class A = {x: \phi(x)} such that ZFC proves "...
Ashutosh's user avatar
  • 9,631
5 votes
1 answer
514 views

Request for reference: Banach-type spaces as algebraic theories.

Sparked by Yemon Choi's answer to Is the category of Banach spaces with contractions an algebraic theory? I've just spent a merry time reading and doing a bit of reference chasing. Imagine my delight ...
Andrew Stacey's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
635 views

What's the nearest algebraic theory to inner product spaces?

Following the references to the accepted answer to Is the category of Banach spaces with contractions an algebraic theory? one discovers that there is an algebraic theory (infinitary) which is closely ...
Andrew Stacey's user avatar
20 votes
3 answers
4k views

What is the origin of the term "spectrum" in mathematics?

The use of the term "spectrum" to denote the prime ideals of a ring originates from the case that the ring is, say, $\mathbb{C}[T]$ where $T$ is a linear operator on a finite-dimensional vector space; ...
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
763 views

Approximating with translated Gaussians and low-frequency trig functions

Defining the translated Gaussians by $f_t(x)=\exp(-(x-t)^2)$ for $t,x\in\Bbb{R}$, we showed that the linear span of $\{f_t \mid 0 \le t < \epsilon\}$ is dense in $L^2(\Bbb{R})$, for any $\epsilon&...
Axel Boldt's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
726 views

The "ultimate" indefinite inner product space

This can be considered as a relative of Splitting a space into positive and negative parts. Is there a real (non-trivial) vector space $V$, endowed with a nondegenerate symmetric bilinear pairing $\...
Ady's user avatar
  • 4,060
4 votes
1 answer
321 views

What functorial topologies are there on the space of linear maps between LCTVS?

Setup: we consider the category of locally convex topological vector spaces with morphisms as continuous linear maps. This time, I'm explicitly allowing the axiom of choice (or at least the Hahn-...
Andrew Stacey's user avatar
13 votes
4 answers
2k views

Is the category of Banach spaces with contractions an algebraic theory?

Consider the category of Banach spaces with contractions as morphisms (weak, so $\|T\| \le 1$). Is this an algebraic theory? I suspect that this is true. The "operations" will be weighted sums, ...
Andrew Stacey's user avatar
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, ...
Andrew Stacey's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
765 views

Can we distinguish the algebraic and continuous duals of a Banach space without choice (or HBT)?

The algebraic dual of a normed vector space is the space of all linear functionals to the ground field (either $\mathbb{R}$ or $\mathbb{C}$ for this question). The continuous dual is the subspace of ...
Andrew Stacey's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
2k views

Conditional expectation of convolution product equals..

Let $X, Y$ be two $L^1$ random variables on the probablity space $(\Omega, \mathcal{F}, P)$. Let $\mathcal{G} \subset \mathcal{F}$ be a sub-$\sigma$-algebra. Consider the conditional expectation ...
student1729's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
708 views

Hilbert spaces are induced by a bilinear form. How about n-linear forms?

A Hilbert space is a complete vector space equipped with scalar product, i.e. a symmetric positive definite bilinear form. What if we replace 'bilinear' by 'n-linear'? One might wonder, whether the $...
shuhalo's user avatar
  • 5,327
2 votes
3 answers
946 views

How can I measure the Morse index in infinite dimensions?

Let $V$ be a vector space over $\mathbb R$, and $a: V\otimes V\to \mathbb R$ a symmetric bilinear pairing. Recall that the Morse index of $a$ is the maximal dimension of any subspace $V_- \subseteq V$...
Theo Johnson-Freyd's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
3k views

Splitting a space into positive and negative parts

Let $V$ be a vector space over $\mathbb R$. A symmetric bilinear pairing on $V$ is a linear map $a: V\otimes V \to \mathbb R$. Because $\mathbb R$ is characteristic not-two, I will freely confuse ...
Theo Johnson-Freyd's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
609 views

When is $A : C(X) \to C(Y)$ a composition operator?

A composition operator $C\_T : C(X) \to C(Y)$ with $T \in C(Y, X)$ is defined by $C\_T f := f \circ T, f \in C(X)$. I read in the book about Composition Operators by Singh and others that a ...
santker heboln's user avatar
15 votes
2 answers
2k views

What is a projective space?

Is there a "recognition principle" for projective spaces? What categories are there with projective spaces for objects? Background: Although the title is a nod to What is a metric space?, ...
Andrew Stacey's user avatar
21 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is Dependent Choice all we really need?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom_of_dependent_choice Is DC sufficient for the understanding of objects that are countable in some suitable sense? For example, is DC sufficient for the full ...
Andre's user avatar
  • 1,199
11 votes
2 answers
862 views

Monotone Lipschitz embedding ?

In 1974, Aharoni proved that every separable metric space (X, d) is Lipschitz isomorphic to a subset of the Banach space c_0. Thus, for some constant L, there is a map K: X --> c_0 that satisfies the ...
Ady's user avatar
  • 4,060
4 votes
5 answers
3k views

Generalize Fourier transform to other basis than trigonometric function

The Fourier transform of periodic function $f$ yields a $l^2$-series of the functions coefficients when represented as countable linear combination of $\sin$ and $\cos$ functions. In how far can this ...
shuhalo's user avatar
  • 5,327
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, ...
Andrew Stacey's user avatar
18 votes
3 answers
2k views

What are the right categories of finite-dimensional Banach spaces?

This is inspired partly by this question, especially Tom Leinster's answer. Let me start with some background. I apologize that this will be rather long, since I'm hoping for input from people who ...
Mark Meckes's user avatar
  • 11.4k
9 votes
2 answers
1k views

Explicitly describing extreme points of infinite dimensional convex sets

I am currently trying to apply some results from Choquet theory - i.e., the generalisation of results by Minkowski and Krein-Milman for representing points in a compact, convex set C by probability ...
Mark Reid's user avatar
  • 325
6 votes
3 answers
324 views

Inverses in convolution algebras

Let $G$ be a locally compact totally disconnected group, and to make life easy let's suppose its Haar measure is bi-invariant. Let $C_c(G)$ be the space of locally constant complex functions on $G$ ...
D. Savitt's user avatar
  • 2,713
11 votes
7 answers
1k views

What are some interesting ways of making new metrics out of old metrics?

If $d(x,y)$ and $e(x,y)$ are metrics then $d(x,y)+e(x,y)$ and $\frac{d(x,y)}{1+d(x,y)}$ are metrics. If $d_i(x,y)$ for $i=1,\dots,n$ are metrics then so is $\sqrt{\sum_{i=1}^n{d_i^2(x,y)}}$ Are ...
Kim Greene's user avatar
  • 3,613
5 votes
3 answers
230 views

Is the Fell-Doran problem trivial in a topological setting?

The Fell-Doran problem is a problem in functional analysis. It goes as follows: Let $A$ be a complex unital algebra, $X$ a locally convex space, and $L(X)$ the algebra of all continuous endomorphisms ...
Bruce Bartlett's user avatar
3 votes
4 answers
1k views

Is there a use for a Hilbert space that uses a different norm than the one induced by the inner product?

$l_1$ minimization / compressed sensing comes to mind. Does anyone have any concrete examples? Or is such a construct completely useless?
suppe's user avatar
  • 49
6 votes
2 answers
1k views

Closed, complemented subspaces of $l^1(X)$ when $X$ is uncountable

... are all isomorphic to $l^1$ on some other index set. At least, that much I "know" from 2nd-hand sources, since the original proof is apparently in a paper of Köthe from the 1930s 1960s (in ...
Yemon Choi's user avatar
  • 25.8k
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 ...
jon's user avatar
  • 801
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 ...
Andrew Stacey's user avatar
20 votes
3 answers
4k views

Basis of l^infinity

Is it possible to exhibit a (Hamel) basis for the vector space l^infinity, given by the bounded sequences of real numbers?
Shake Baby's user avatar
  • 1,638
5 votes
1 answer
1k views

Are smooth functions on an uncountable sum continuous?

Consider the linear space $\sum_{\mathbb{R}} \mathbb{R}$. As in the Frolicher-Kriegl-Michor view, we make this into a Frolicher space as follows. Equip it with the locally convex topology of the ...
Andrew Stacey's user avatar
15 votes
4 answers
2k views

Can one do without Riesz Representation?

In more detail, can one establish that the continuous linear dual of a Hilbert space is again a Hilbert space without appealing to the Riesz Representation Theorem? For me, the Riesz Representation ...
Andrew Stacey's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
383 views

Neglect of Compact Quantum Metric Spaces [closed]

Does anyone have an opinion on Rieffel's theory of compact quantum metric spaces? To me it seems to be a very interesting new area of mathematics. It shows how to generalise complicated geometric ...
John McCarthy's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
1k views

Gelfand-Naimark from the category-theoretic point of view

I was thinking about the Gelfand-Naimark theorem asserting the isometric * isomorphism between a commutative $C^*$-algebra (with unit) $\mathcal{A}$ and the $C^*$ -algebra of continuous complex-valued ...
Gian Maria Dall'Ara's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
2k views

Various Cartan's Lemmata

I am a bit amazed by "Cartan's Lemma".. I have so far seen it in : Algebraic Geometry sources: Look at Proposition 2.9 of Freitag and Kiehl's Étale Cohomology where he used étale morphism to describe ...
Jose Capco's user avatar
  • 2,275
5 votes
3 answers
753 views

Regularity of sparse Fourier transforms

Suppose $F$ has discrete Fourier transform $(a_n)$ where $a_n=0$ unless $n=2^k$ for some $k > 0$, in which case $a_n=1/k$ (or $a_n=1/k^2$ if you want: I'm happy with anything polynomial). What ...
Matthew Daws's user avatar
  • 18.7k