[Math] Solving Poissons equation in 1D with Fourier Transforms

fourier analysispoisson's equation

So ultimately I am trying to solve this in 3 dimensions but I am embarrassingly struggling with the 1-D solution right now.

$\frac{\partial^{2}}{\partial x^{2}} f(x) = \rho(x) $

I express f and ρ in terms of their Fourier transforms:

$f(x) = \frac{1}{ \sqrt{2 \pi}} \int_{-\infty}^{+\infty} f(\vec{k})e^{i \vec{k}\vec{x}}dk$

and

$\rho(x) = \frac{1}{ \sqrt{2 \pi}} \int_{-\infty}^{+\infty}\rho(\vec{k})e^{i \vec{k}\vec{x}} dk$

So from here I bring the derivative into the integral that is $f(x)$ and operate on the $e^{i \vec{k}\vec{x}}$ term:

$\frac{\partial^{2}}{\partial x^{2}} f(x) = \frac{1}{ \sqrt{2 \pi}} \int_{-\infty}^{+\infty} -k^{2} f(\vec{k})e^{i \vec{k}\vec{x}}dk$

Now how does this help me to solve the problem in k-space?

I have:

$\frac{1}{ \sqrt{2 \pi}} \int_{-\infty}^{+\infty} -k^{2} f(\vec{k})e^{i \vec{k}\vec{x}}dk = \frac{1}{ \sqrt{2 \pi}} \int_{-\infty}^{+\infty}\rho(\vec{k})e^{i \vec{k}\vec{x}} dk$

I know that I need to arrive at:

$-k^{2}f(\vec{k}) = \rho(\vec{k})$

But why can we just abandon the integrals?

Best Answer

Yes you can simply abandon the integrals because the Fourier transform is unique: if $\hat{f}=\hat{g}$ then $f=g$ (almost everywhere). To see this more clearly write your last equation as

$$\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}\int[\rho(k) + k^2f(k)]e^{ikx} = 0$$

Now the Fourier transform of $0$ is simply $0$ so by uniqueness $\rho(k) + k^2f(k) = 0$.

A slightly simpler way to solve your problem is to use the property $\hat{\left(\frac{d^nf}{dx^n}\right)} = (ik)^n\hat{f}$ which gives the desired result directly. This property is easily proven using integration by parts.

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