[Math] metric on the space of real analytic functions

fa.functional-analysismetric-spaces

Hello,
this question may be simple but I couldn't find a reference.

Let $E$,$F$ be real Banach spaces and $\Omega\subset E$ be a bounded domain and let $C_b^{\omega}(\Omega,F)$ be the vector space of bounded real analytic functions from $\Omega$ to $F$. Now I would like to know if there is a natural way to define a metric on $C_b^\omega(\Omega,F)$, that makes the space complete.

Concretely, I have a series of real analytic functions that converge uniformly as well as their Frechet derivatives and now I would like to know if their limit is analytic again.

My first idea was to show that $C_b^\omega(\Omega,F)$ is a closed subspace of $C_b^\infty(\Omega,F)$. Here $C_{b}^{\infty}(\Omega,F)$ is the set of infinitely Frechet-differentiable functions equipped with the usual set of seminorms (i.e. $\Vert f\Vert_k:=\Vert D^k f\Vert_\infty$) defining a Frechet space and thus a metric $d(f,g):=\sum_{k=1}^\infty 2^{-k}\frac{\Vert f-g\Vert_k}{1+\Vert f-g\Vert_k}$ which makes $C_{b}^{\infty}(\Omega,F)$ a complete metric space.

Actually, I have no idea if this is true at all. Could someone please confirm if this is the right thing to prove or not?

Regards,
Mirko

Best Answer

The problem is nontrivial already in the finite dimensional case $E= \mathbb R^d$, $F=\mathbb R$. The space $C^{\omega}(\Omega)$ of real-valued real analytic functions on the open bounded set $\Omega\subset \mathbb R^d$ does not have any obvious or natural metric which would make it a Fréchet space.

The good news is that there is a "canonical" topology which renders $C^{\omega}(\Omega)$ as a complete (reflexive nuclear separable) space. In fact, it is natural to endow $C^{\omega}(\Omega)$ with either an inductive limit or a projective limit topology but these two are equivalent on $C^{\omega}(\Omega)$ as was shown by Martineau in 1966.

For practical purposes, the topology can be described following the suggestion of Piero D'Ancona in his comment above. Let $\{U_j\}_{j\in\mathbb N}$ be a monotonically decreasing sequence of open sets of $\mathbb C^d$ such that $\Omega=\bigcap U_j$. Let $\{h_j\}_{j\in\mathbb N}$ be a sequence of bounded holomorphic functions $h_j:U_j\to\mathbb C$ such that $h_j|_{U_k}=h_k$ for $k\geq j$. Then a subbase element of the topology on $C^{\omega}(\Omega)$ has the form $$\mathcal V_{j, K}=\left\{f\mbox{ is real analytic on }\Omega:\ \sup_{x\in K} \left|\partial^{\alpha} f\right|\leq C_j[\delta_j(K)]^{-|\alpha|}\ \mbox{ for every }\alpha\in\mathbb N^{d}_{0}\right\},$$ where the set $K\subset\Omega$ is compact, $\delta_j(K)=\mbox{dist}\{K,\partial U_{j+1}\}$ and $C_j$ is a constant which depends on the supremum of $h_j$ on $U_{j+1}$.

A sketch of the construction in the finite dimensional setting can be found, for instance, in A Primer of Real Analytic Functions by Krantz and Parks. Hopefully, it generalizes to the case of Banach spaces in a straightforward way.

[EDIT. Concerning your specific question whether the limit of a sequence of real analytic functions is itself an analytic function. Let $f\in C^\infty(\mathbb T)$ be a periodic smooth but non-analytic function. Then the partial Fourier sums $S_N f$ converge to $f$ in the uniform metric with all their derivatives.]