Variation of Ascoli-Arzelà theorem for $C^1$ functions

arzela-ascolicompactnessfunctional-analysis

Let $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ be an open set and let $(f_n)_n \subset C^1(\Omega)$ such that $\exists C > 0, \, \sup_{x \in \Omega} |f_n(x)| + \sup_{x \in \Omega} |Df_n(x)| \le C$ for all $n \in \mathbb{N}$.

I have already proven that if $K \subset \Omega$ is compact there exists a subsequence $(f_{n_j})_j$ and there exists a function $f \in C^0(K)$ such that $||f_n – f||_{C^0(K)} \rightarrow 0$. This is a not so trivial application of Ascoli-Arzelà theorem.

I am asked also to prove that there exists a subsequence $(f_{n_j})_j$ and there exists a function $f \in C^0(\Omega)$ such that $||f_n – f||_{C^0(\Omega)} \rightarrow 0$ uniformly on compact subset of $\Omega$.

I think that I should somehow use what I have already demonstrated and my idea was to try to approximate $\Omega$ with a sequence of compact sets. However, I don't know how to proceed in order to find the sought subsequence.

Any hint would be greatly appreciated.

Best Answer

Indeed, the idea of approximating $\Omega$ by a sequence of compact sets will work. Let $$ K_j:=\left\{x\in\mathbb R^n, \lVert x\rVert\leqslant j\right\}\cap \left\{x\in\mathbb R^n, d\left(x,\mathbb R^n\setminus\Omega \right)\leqslant 1/j\right\}, $$ where $d(x,S)=\inf\{\lVert x-y\rVert,y\in S\}$ and $\lVert \cdot\rVert$ denotes the Euclidean norm. Then $K_j$ is compact for each $j$ and $\Omega=\bigcup_{j\geqslant 1}K_j$. Moreover, notice that each compact subset of $\Omega$ is contained in some $\Omega_j$.

Now you can use a diagonal extraction process to find a subsequence for which the uniform convergence holds for each $K_j$ and in view of the previous remark, for each compact subset of $\Omega$.

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