Integral linear operator

In mathematical analysis, an integral linear operator is a linear operator T given by integration; i.e.,

where ${\displaystyle K(x,y)}$ is called an integration kernel.

More generally, an integral bilinear form is a bilinear functional that belongs to the continuous dual space of ${\displaystyle X{\widehat {\otimes }}_{\epsilon }Y}$, the injective tensor product of the locally convex topological vector spaces (TVSs) X and Y. An integral linear operator is a continuous linear operator that arises in a canonical way from an integral bilinear form.

These maps play an important role in the theory of nuclear spaces and nuclear maps.

Let X and Y be locally convex TVSs, let ${\displaystyle X\otimes _{\pi }Y}$ denote the projective tensor product, ${\displaystyle X{\widehat {\otimes }}_{\pi }Y}$ denote its completion, let ${\displaystyle X\otimes _{\epsilon }Y}$ denote the injective tensor product, and ${\displaystyle X{\widehat {\otimes }}_{\epsilon }Y}$ denote its completion. Suppose that ${\displaystyle \operatorname {In} :X\otimes _{\epsilon }Y\to X{\widehat {\otimes }}_{\epsilon }Y}$ denotes the TVS-embedding of ${\displaystyle X\otimes _{\epsilon }Y}$ into its completion and let ${\displaystyle {}^{t}\operatorname {In} :\left(X{\widehat {\otimes }}_{\epsilon }Y\right)_{b}^{\prime }\to \left(X\otimes _{\epsilon }Y\right)_{b}^{\prime }}$ be its transpose, which is a vector space-isomorphism. This identifies the continuous dual space of ${\displaystyle X\otimes _{\epsilon }Y}$ as being identical to the continuous dual space of ${\displaystyle X{\widehat {\otimes }}_{\epsilon }Y}$.

Let ${\displaystyle \operatorname {Id} :X\otimes _{\pi }Y\to X\otimes _{\epsilon }Y}$ denote the identity map and ${\displaystyle {}^{t}\operatorname {Id} :\left(X\otimes _{\epsilon }Y\right)_{b}^{\prime }\to \left(X\otimes _{\pi }Y\right)_{b}^{\prime }}$ denote its transpose, which is a continuous injection. Recall that ${\displaystyle \left(X\otimes _{\pi }Y\right)^{\prime }}$ is canonically identified with ${\displaystyle B(X,Y)}$, the space of continuous bilinear maps on ${\displaystyle X\times Y}$. In this way, the continuous dual space of ${\displaystyle X\otimes _{\epsilon }Y}$ can be canonically identified as a vector subspace of ${\displaystyle B(X,Y)}$, denoted by ${\displaystyle J(X,Y)}$. The elements of ${\displaystyle J(X,Y)}$ are called integral (bilinear) forms on ${\displaystyle X\times Y}$. The following theorem justifies the word integral.

Theorem—The dual J(X, Y) of ${\displaystyle X{\widehat {\otimes }}_{\epsilon }Y}$ consists of exactly of the continuous bilinear forms u on ${\displaystyle X\times Y}$ of the form

where S and T are respectively some weakly closed and equicontinuous (hence weakly compact) subsets of the duals ${\displaystyle X^{\prime }}$ and ${\displaystyle Y^{\prime }}$, and ${\displaystyle \mu }$ is a (necessarily bounded) positive Radon measure on the (compact) set ${\displaystyle S\times T}$.