In mathematics, Schwartz space ${\displaystyle {\mathcal {S}}}$ is the function space of all functions whose derivatives are rapidly decreasing. This space has the important property that the Fourier transform is an automorphism on this space. This property enables one, by duality, to define the Fourier transform for elements in the dual space ${\displaystyle {\mathcal {S}}^{*}}$ of ${\displaystyle {\mathcal {S}}}$, particularly, for tempered distributions. A function in the Schwartz space is sometimes called a Schwartz function.

A two-dimensional Gaussian function is an example of a rapidly decreasing function.

Schwartz space is named after French mathematician Laurent Schwartz.

Definition

Let ${\displaystyle \mathbb {N} }$ be the set of non-negative integers, and for any ${\displaystyle n\in \mathbb {N} }$, let ${\displaystyle \mathbb {N} ^{n}:=\underbrace {\mathbb {N} \times \dots \times \mathbb {N} } _{n{\text{ times}}}}$ be the n-fold Cartesian product. The Schwartz space or space of rapidly decreasing functions on ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{n}}$ is the function space

$${\displaystyle S\left(\mathbb {R} ^{n},\mathbb {C} \right):=\left\{f\in C^{\infty }(\mathbb {R} ^{n},\mathbb {C} )\mid \forall \alpha ,\beta \in \mathbb {N} ^{n},\|f\|_{\alpha ,\beta }<\infty \right\},}$$

where ${\displaystyle C^{\infty }(\mathbb {R} ^{n},\mathbb {C} )}$ is the function space of smooth functions from ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{n}}$ into ${\displaystyle \mathbb {C} }$, and

$${\displaystyle \|f\|_{\alpha ,\beta }:=\sup _{x\in \mathbb {R} ^{n}}\left|x^{\alpha }(D^{\beta }f)(x)\right|.}$$

Here, ${\displaystyle \sup }$ denotes the supremum, and we used multi-index notation, i.e. ${\displaystyle x^{\alpha }:=x_{1}^{\alpha _{1}}x_{2}^{\alpha _{2}}\ldots x_{n}^{\alpha _{n}}}$ and ${\displaystyle D^{\beta }:=\partial _{1}^{\beta _{1}}\partial _{2}^{\beta _{2}}\ldots \partial _{n}^{\beta _{n}}}$.

To put common language to this definition, one could consider a rapidly decreasing function as essentially a function f(x) such that f(x), f ′(x), f ′′(x), ... all exist everywhere on R and go to zero as x→ ±∞ faster than any reciprocal power of x. In particular, S(Rⁿ, C) is a subspace of the function space C^∞(Rⁿ, C) of smooth functions from Rⁿ into C.

Examples of functions in the Schwartz space

• If α is a multi-index, and a is a positive real number, then

  ${\displaystyle x^{\alpha }e^{-a|x|^{2}}\in {\mathcal {S}}(\mathbf {R} ^{n}).}$

• Any smooth function f with compact support is in S(Rⁿ). This is clear since any derivative of f is continuous and supported in the support of f, so (x^αD^β) f has a maximum in Rⁿ by the extreme value theorem.
• Because the Schwartz space is a vector space, any polynomial ${\displaystyle \phi (x^{\alpha })}$ can by multiplied by a factor ${\displaystyle e^{-ax^{2}}}$ for ${\displaystyle a>0}$ a real constant, to give an element of the Schwartz space. In particular, there is an embedding of polynomials inside a Schwartz space.

Properties

See also

• Bump function
• Schwartz–Bruhat function
• Nuclear space

References