Compact operatorIn functional analysis, a branch of mathematics, a compact operator is a linear operator , where are normed vector spaces, with the property that maps bounded subsets of to relatively compact subsets of (subsets with compact closure in ). Such an operator is necessarily a bounded operator, and so continuous. Some authors require that are Banach, but the definition can be extended to more general spaces. Any bounded operator that has finite rank is a compact operator; indeed, the class of compact operators is a natural generalization of the class of finite-rank operators in an infinite-dimensional setting.
Reflexive spaceIn the area of mathematics known as functional analysis, a reflexive space is a locally convex topological vector space (TVS) for which the canonical evaluation map from into its bidual (which is the strong dual of the strong dual of ) is an isomorphism of TVSs. Since a normable TVS is reflexive if and only if it is semi-reflexive, every normed space (and so in particular, every Banach space) is reflexive if and only if the canonical evaluation map from into its bidual is surjective; in this case the normed space is necessarily also a Banach space.
Sublinear functionIn linear algebra, a sublinear function (or functional as is more often used in functional analysis), also called a quasi-seminorm or a Banach functional, on a vector space is a real-valued function with only some of the properties of a seminorm. Unlike seminorms, a sublinear function does not have to be nonnegative-valued and also does not have to be absolutely homogeneous. Seminorms are themselves abstractions of the more well known notion of norms, where a seminorm has all the defining properties of a norm that it is not required to map non-zero vectors to non-zero values.
Banach manifoldIn mathematics, a Banach manifold is a manifold modeled on Banach spaces. Thus it is a topological space in which each point has a neighbourhood homeomorphic to an open set in a Banach space (a more involved and formal definition is given below). Banach manifolds are one possibility of extending manifolds to infinite dimensions. A further generalisation is to Fréchet manifolds, replacing Banach spaces by Fréchet spaces. On the other hand, a Hilbert manifold is a special case of a Banach manifold in which the manifold is locally modeled on Hilbert spaces.
Laurent SchwartzLaurent-Moïse Schwartz (ʃvaʁts; 5 March 1915 – 4 July 2002) was a French mathematician. He pioneered the theory of distributions, which gives a well-defined meaning to objects such as the Dirac delta function. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1950 for his work on the theory of distributions. For several years he taught at the École polytechnique. Laurent Schwartz came from a Jewish family of Alsatian origin, with a strong scientific background: his father was a well-known surgeon, his uncle Robert Debré (who contributed to the creation of UNICEF) was a famous pediatrician, and his great-uncle-in-law, Jacques Hadamard, was a famous mathematician.
Functional (mathematics)In mathematics, a functional (as a noun) is a certain type of function. The exact definition of the term varies depending on the subfield (and sometimes even the author). In linear algebra, it is synonymous with linear forms, which are linear mappings from a vector space into its field of scalars (that is, they are elements of the dual space ) In functional analysis and related fields, it refers more generally to a mapping from a space into the field of real or complex numbers.
Semi-reflexive spaceIn the area of mathematics known as functional analysis, a semi-reflexive space is a locally convex topological vector space (TVS) X such that the canonical evaluation map from X into its bidual (which is the strong dual of the strong dual of X) is bijective. If this map is also an isomorphism of TVSs then it is called reflexive. Semi-reflexive spaces play an important role in the general theory of locally convex TVSs. Since a normable TVS is semi-reflexive if and only if it is reflexive, the concept of semi-reflexivity is primarily used with TVSs that are not normable.
Projection (linear algebra)In linear algebra and functional analysis, a projection is a linear transformation from a vector space to itself (an endomorphism) such that . That is, whenever is applied twice to any vector, it gives the same result as if it were applied once (i.e. is idempotent). It leaves its unchanged. This definition of "projection" formalizes and generalizes the idea of graphical projection. One can also consider the effect of a projection on a geometrical object by examining the effect of the projection on points in the object.
LF-spaceIn mathematics, an LF-space, also written (LF)-space, is a topological vector space (TVS) X that is a locally convex inductive limit of a countable inductive system of Fréchet spaces. This means that X is a direct limit of a direct system in the category of locally convex topological vector spaces and each is a Fréchet space. The name LF stands for Limit of Fréchet spaces. If each of the bonding maps is an embedding of TVSs then the LF-space is called a strict LF-space.
Differential operatorIn mathematics, a differential operator is an operator defined as a function of the differentiation operator. It is helpful, as a matter of notation first, to consider differentiation as an abstract operation that accepts a function and returns another function (in the style of a higher-order function in computer science). This article considers mainly linear differential operators, which are the most common type. However, non-linear differential operators also exist, such as the Schwarzian derivative.
Linear subspaceIn mathematics, and more specifically in linear algebra, a linear subspace or vector subspace is a vector space that is a subset of some larger vector space. A linear subspace is usually simply called a subspace when the context serves to distinguish it from other types of subspaces. If V is a vector space over a field K and if W is a subset of V, then W is a linear subspace of V if under the operations of V, W is a vector space over K.
Spaces of test functions and distributionsIn mathematical analysis, the spaces of test functions and distributions are topological vector spaces (TVSs) that are used in the definition and application of distributions. Test functions are usually infinitely differentiable complex-valued (or sometimes real-valued) functions on a non-empty open subset that have compact support. The space of all test functions, denoted by is endowed with a certain topology, called the , that makes into a complete Hausdorff locally convex TVS.
