[Math] Exercise 6.9 in Rudin’s RCA (Real and Complex Analysis)

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The following is an exercise 6.9 in Rudin's Real and Complex Analysis:

Suppose that $\{ g_n \}$ is a sequence of positive continuous functions on $I=[0,1]$, that $\mu$ is a positive Borel measure on $I$, and that

(i) lim$_{n\to \infty}$ $g_n (x) = 0$ a.e. [m],

(ii) $\int_I g_n dm = 1$ for all $n$,

(iii) lim$_{n\to \infty}$ $\int_I fg_n dm = \int_I f d\mu$ for every $f\in C(I)$.

Does it follow that $\mu \perp m$?

  • I think that the answer is positive. $\{g_n\}$ seems to be something similar to good kernel. I tried to use Egoroff's theorem and then derive something useful, but couldn't. Would you please give me some help?

Best Answer

This counter example that shows that the answer is no in general:

  1. For each integer $n$ define $g_n$ to be a nonnegative continuous function on $[0,1]$ which equals $0$ except on intervals of the form $I_{n,k}=\big[\frac{k}{n},\frac{k}{n}+\frac{1}{2^n}\big]$, $0\leq k<n$, where $$\int_{I_{nk}}g_n=\frac1n$$ One can for instance use piecewise linear functions that take large values at points $k/n$, $0\leq k<n$.
  2. This sequence converges to $0$ in measure: $m\big(|g_n|>\varepsilon\big)\leq m\big(g_n\neq0\big)\leq n 2^{-n}\xrightarrow{n\rightarrow\infty}0$ for all $\varepsilon>0$.
  3. One can then take a subsequent $g_{n'}$ which converges to $0$ $m$-a.s. For sake of simplicity, let us denote the subsequence as $g_n$ (abuse of notation if you will)
  4. Claim: Let $f\in\mathcal{C}[0,1]$.
    $$\lim_n\int f g_n\,dm = \int f\,dm\tag{1}\label{one}$$ One can appeal to uniform continuity to get for any $\varepsilon >0$, a $\delta>0$ such that $|f(x)-f(y)|<\varepsilon$ whenever $|x-y|<\delta$. Taking $n$ sufficiently large (e.g. $n>\frac{1}{\delta}$)

$$ \Big(f\big(\frac{k}{n}\big) -\varepsilon\Big)g_n\mathbb{1}_{\big[\tfrac{k}{n},\tfrac{k+1}{n}\big]}\leq f g_n\mathbb{1}_{\big[\tfrac{k}{n},\tfrac{k+1}{n}\big]}\leq \Big(\varepsilon + f\big(\frac{k}{n}\big)\Big)g_n\mathbb{1}_{\big[\tfrac{k}{n},\tfrac{k+1}{n}\big]} $$ Integration gives $$ \Big( f\big(\frac{k}{n}\big) -\varepsilon\Big)\frac{1}{n}\leq \int_{\big[\tfrac{k}{n},\tfrac{k+1}{n}\big]} f g_n\,dm \leq \Big(\varepsilon + f\big(\frac{k}{n}\big)\Big)\frac{1}{n} $$ Adding over all $0\leq k<n$ results in $$ \Big|\int_I fg_n\,dm -\sum^{n-1}_{k=0}f\big(\frac{k}{n}\big)\frac{1}{n}\Big|\leq\varepsilon $$ As $f$ is continuous, $\sum^{n-1}_{k=0}f\big(\frac{k}{n}\big)\frac{1}{n}\xrightarrow{n\rightarrow\infty}\int_If\,dm$ and the claim follows.

  1. This gives a negative answer to the question in Rudin's problem by taking $\mu=m$.
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