Mathematical Physics – When is Lebesgue Integration More Useful Than Riemann Integration in Physics?

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Riemann integration is fine for physics in general because the functions dealt with tend to be differentiable and well behaved. Despite this, it's possible that Lebesque integration can be more powerfully used even in physical situations that can be solved by Riemann integration. So my questions is:

In solving physics problems, when is Lebesque integration useful over Riemann integration?

Best Answer

An important example in quantum mechanics is e.g. the Hilbert space

$$H~=~L^2(\mathbb{R}^3)$$

of Lebesgue square integrable wave functions $\psi$ in the position space $\mathbb{R}^3$. The Lebesgue square integrable functions (as opposed to just the Riemann square integrable functions) are needed to complete the Hilbert space with respect to the square norm

$$||\psi||_2~:=~\sqrt{\int d^3x ~ |\psi(x)|^2}.$$

Concerning completeness, see also this Phys.SE post.

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