Continuous functions on a compact Hausdorff space
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mathematical analysis Analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with continuous functions, limit (mathematics), limits, and related theories, such as Derivative, differentiation, Integral, integration, measure (mathematics), measure, infinite sequences, series (m ...
, and especially
functional analysis Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (e.g. Inner product space#Definition, inner product, Norm (mathematics)#Defini ...
, a fundamental role is played by the space of
continuous functions In mathematics, a continuous function is a function such that a continuous variation (that is a change without jump) of the argument induces a continuous variation of the value of the function. This means that there are no abrupt changes in value ...
on a
compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in British ...
Hausdorff space In topology and related branches of mathematics, a Hausdorff space ( , ), separated space or T2 space is a topological space where, for any two distinct points, there exist neighbourhoods of each which are disjoint from each other. Of the many ...
X with values in the
real Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...
or
complex numbers In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the form a ...
. This space, denoted by \mathcal(X), is a
vector space In mathematics and physics, a vector space (also called a linear space) is a set whose elements, often called ''vectors'', may be added together and multiplied ("scaled") by numbers called '' scalars''. Scalars are often real numbers, but can ...
with respect to the pointwise addition of functions and scalar multiplication by constants. It is, moreover, a
normed space In mathematics, a normed vector space or normed space is a vector space over the real or complex numbers, on which a norm is defined. A norm is the formalization and the generalization to real vector spaces of the intuitive notion of "length" i ...
with norm defined by \, f\, = \sup_ , f(x), , the
uniform norm In mathematical analysis, the uniform norm (or ) assigns to real- or complex-valued bounded functions defined on a set the non-negative number :\, f\, _\infty = \, f\, _ = \sup\left\. This norm is also called the , the , the , or, when the ...
. The uniform norm defines the
topology In mathematics, topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformations, such ...
of
uniform convergence In the mathematical field of analysis, uniform convergence is a mode of convergence of functions stronger than pointwise convergence. A sequence of functions (f_n) converges uniformly to a limiting function f on a set E if, given any arbitrarily s ...
of functions on X. The space \mathcal(X) is a
Banach algebra In mathematics, especially functional analysis, a Banach algebra, named after Stefan Banach, is an associative algebra A over the real or complex numbers (or over a non-Archimedean complete normed field) that at the same time is also a Banach spa ...
with respect to this norm.


Properties

* By
Urysohn's lemma In topology, Urysohn's lemma is a lemma that states that a topological space is normal if and only if any two disjoint closed subsets can be separated by a continuous function. Section 15. Urysohn's lemma is commonly used to construct continuo ...
, \mathcal(X)
separates points ''Separates'' is the second album by English punk rock band 999, released in 1978. ''Separates'' was released in the United States under the title ''High Energy Plan'', with a different cover and slightly altered track listing; on ''High Energ ...
of X: If x, y \in X are distinct points, then there is an f \in \mathcal(X) such that f(x) \neq f(y). * The space \mathcal(X) is infinite-dimensional whenever X is an infinite space (since it separates points). Hence, in particular, it is generally not
locally compact In topology and related branches of mathematics, a topological space is called locally compact if, roughly speaking, each small portion of the space looks like a small portion of a compact space. More precisely, it is a topological space in which ev ...
. * The
Riesz–Markov–Kakutani representation theorem In mathematics, the Riesz–Markov–Kakutani representation theorem relates linear functionals on spaces of continuous functions on a locally compact space to measures in measure theory. The theorem is named for who introduced it for continuo ...
gives a characterization of the
continuous dual space In mathematics, any vector space ''V'' has a corresponding dual vector space (or just dual space for short) consisting of all linear forms on ''V'', together with the vector space structure of pointwise addition and scalar multiplication by cons ...
of \mathcal(X). Specifically, this dual space is the space of
Radon measure In mathematics (specifically in measure theory), a Radon measure, named after Johann Radon, is a measure on the σ-algebra of Borel sets of a Hausdorff topological space ''X'' that is finite on all compact sets, outer regular on all Borel se ...
s on X (regular
Borel measure In mathematics, specifically in measure theory, a Borel measure on a topological space is a measure that is defined on all open sets (and thus on all Borel sets). Some authors require additional restrictions on the measure, as described below. F ...
s), denoted by \operatorname(X). This space, with the norm given by the
total variation In mathematics, the total variation identifies several slightly different concepts, related to the (local or global) structure of the codomain of a function or a measure. For a real-valued continuous function ''f'', defined on an interval 'a'' ...
of a measure, is also a Banach space belonging to the class of
ba space In mathematics, the ba space ba(\Sigma) of an algebra of sets \Sigma is the Banach space consisting of all bounded and finitely additive signed measures on \Sigma. The norm is defined as the variation, that is \, \nu\, =, \nu, (X). If Σ is ...
s. *
Positive linear functional In mathematics, more specifically in functional analysis, a positive linear functional on an ordered vector space (V, \leq) is a linear functional f on V so that for all positive elements v \in V, that is v \geq 0, it holds that f(v) \geq 0. In ot ...
s on \mathcal(X) correspond to (positive) regular
Borel measure In mathematics, specifically in measure theory, a Borel measure on a topological space is a measure that is defined on all open sets (and thus on all Borel sets). Some authors require additional restrictions on the measure, as described below. F ...
s on X, by a different form of the Riesz representation theorem. * If X is infinite, then \mathcal(X) is not reflexive, nor is it weakly
complete Complete may refer to: Logic * Completeness (logic) * Completeness of a theory, the property of a theory that every formula in the theory's language or its negation is provable Mathematics * The completeness of the real numbers, which implies t ...
. * The
Arzelà–Ascoli theorem The Arzelà–Ascoli theorem is a fundamental result of mathematical analysis giving necessary and sufficient conditions to decide whether every sequence of a given family of real-valued continuous functions defined on a closed and bounded inter ...
holds: A subset K of \mathcal(X) is
relatively compact In mathematics, a relatively compact subspace (or relatively compact subset, or precompact subset) of a topological space is a subset whose closure is compact. Properties Every subset of a compact topological space is relatively compact (since ...
if and only if it is
bounded Boundedness or bounded may refer to: Economics * Bounded rationality, the idea that human rationality in decision-making is bounded by the available information, the cognitive limitations, and the time available to make the decision * Bounded e ...
in the norm of \mathcal(X), and
equicontinuous In mathematical analysis, a family of functions is equicontinuous if all the functions are continuous and they have equal variation over a given neighbourhood, in a precise sense described herein. In particular, the concept applies to countable fa ...
. * The
Stone–Weierstrass theorem In mathematical analysis, the Weierstrass approximation theorem states that every continuous function defined on a closed interval can be uniformly approximated as closely as desired by a polynomial function. Because polynomials are among the si ...
holds for \mathcal(X). In the case of real functions, if A is a
subring In mathematics, a subring of ''R'' is a subset of a ring that is itself a ring when binary operations of addition and multiplication on ''R'' are restricted to the subset, and which shares the same multiplicative identity as ''R''. For those wh ...
of \mathcal(X) that contains all constants and separates points, then the closure of A is \mathcal(X). In the case of complex functions, the statement holds with the additional hypothesis that A is closed under
complex conjugation In mathematics, the complex conjugate of a complex number is the number with an equal real part and an imaginary part equal in magnitude but opposite in sign. That is, (if a and b are real, then) the complex conjugate of a + bi is equal to a - ...
. * If X and Y are two compact Hausdorff spaces, and F : \mathcal(X) \to \mathcal(Y) is a
homomorphism In algebra, a homomorphism is a structure-preserving map between two algebraic structures of the same type (such as two groups, two rings, or two vector spaces). The word ''homomorphism'' comes from the Ancient Greek language: () meaning "same" ...
of algebras which commutes with complex conjugation, then F is continuous. Furthermore, F has the form F(h)(y) = h(f(y)) for some continuous function f : Y \to X. In particular, if C(X) and C(Y) are isomorphic as algebras, then X and Y are
homeomorphic In the mathematical field of topology, a homeomorphism, topological isomorphism, or bicontinuous function is a bijective and continuous function between topological spaces that has a continuous inverse function. Homeomorphisms are the isomorphi ...
topological spaces. * Let \Delta be the space of
maximal ideal In mathematics, more specifically in ring theory, a maximal ideal is an ideal that is maximal (with respect to set inclusion) amongst all ''proper'' ideals. In other words, ''I'' is a maximal ideal of a ring ''R'' if there are no other ideals cont ...
s in \mathcal(X). Then there is a one-to-one correspondence between Δ and the points of X. Furthermore, \Delta can be identified with the collection of all complex homomorphisms \mathcal(X) \to \Complex. Equip \Deltawith the
initial topology In general topology and related areas of mathematics, the initial topology (or induced topology or weak topology or limit topology or projective topology) on a set X, with respect to a family of functions on X, is the coarsest topology on ''X'' tha ...
with respect to this pairing with \mathcal(X) (that is, the
Gelfand transform In mathematics, the Gelfand representation in functional analysis (named after I. M. Gelfand) is either of two things: * a way of representing commutative Banach algebras as algebras of continuous functions; * the fact that for commutative C*-al ...
). Then X is homeomorphic to Δ equipped with this topology. * A sequence in \mathcal(X) is weakly
Cauchy Baron Augustin-Louis Cauchy (, ; ; 21 August 178923 May 1857) was a French mathematician, engineer, and physicist who made pioneering contributions to several branches of mathematics, including mathematical analysis and continuum mechanics. He w ...
if and only if it is (uniformly) bounded in \mathcal(X) and pointwise convergent. In particular, \mathcal(X) is only weakly complete for X a finite set. * The
vague topology In mathematics, particularly in the area of functional analysis and topological vector spaces, the vague topology is an example of the weak-* topology which arises in the study of measures on locally compact Hausdorff spaces. Let X be a locally com ...
is the
weak* topology In mathematics, weak topology is an alternative term for certain initial topologies, often on topological vector spaces or spaces of linear operators, for instance on a Hilbert space. The term is most commonly used for the initial topology of a ...
on the dual of \mathcal(X). * The
Banach–Alaoglu theorem In functional analysis and related branches of mathematics, the Banach–Alaoglu theorem (also known as Alaoglu's theorem) states that the closed unit ball of the dual space of a normed vector space is compact in the weak* topology. A common proo ...
implies that any normed space is isometrically isomorphic to a subspace of C(X) for some X.


Generalizations

The space C(X) of real or complex-valued continuous functions can be defined on any topological space X. In the non-compact case, however, C(X) is not in general a Banach space with respect to the uniform norm since it may contain unbounded functions. Hence it is more typical to consider the space, denoted here C_B(X) of bounded continuous functions on X. This is a Banach space (in fact a commutative Banach algebra with identity) with respect to the uniform norm. It is sometimes desirable, particularly in
measure theory In mathematics, the concept of a measure is a generalization and formalization of geometrical measures ( length, area, volume) and other common notions, such as mass and probability of events. These seemingly distinct concepts have many simil ...
, to further refine this general definition by considering the special case when X is a
locally compact In topology and related branches of mathematics, a topological space is called locally compact if, roughly speaking, each small portion of the space looks like a small portion of a compact space. More precisely, it is a topological space in which ev ...
Hausdorff space. In this case, it is possible to identify a pair of distinguished subsets of C_B(X): * C_(X), the subset of C(X) consisting of functions with
compact support In mathematics, the support of a real-valued function f is the subset of the function domain containing the elements which are not mapped to zero. If the domain of f is a topological space, then the support of f is instead defined as the smallest ...
. This is called the space of functions vanishing in a neighborhood of infinity. * C_0(X), the subset of C(X) consisting of functions such that for every r > 0, there is a compact set K \subseteq X such that , f(x), < r for all x \in X \backslash K. This is called the space of functions vanishing at infinity. The closure of C_(X) is precisely C_0(X). In particular, the latter is a Banach space.


References

* . * . * * . {{Functional analysis Banach spaces Complex analysis Theory of continuous functions Functional analysis Real analysis Types of functions