Lebesgue Integral of Dirac Delta "function"

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
33 replies · 7K views
lightarrow said:
Thanks for the link, I'll certainly will watch it. My initial question has been motivated from the fact a physics teacher stated that the Dirac Delta distribution is the only correct way of doing the integral, from - oo to +oo, of:

f(x) = 0, if x is different fro 0
f(x) = +oo if x =0

(and up to here I certainly agree with him)

/because the lebesgue integral of f(x) is zero/.

I replied to him that f(0) = +oo is meaningless (even in the codomain - oo +oo) and it's this the /first/ reason why the lebesgue integral of that f(x) cannot give the right answer.
If I "approximate" f(x) with the functions

f_n(x) = k*n for -1/n < x < 1/n
f_n(x) = 0 else

I get k as integral.
If I approximate f(x) with

g_n(x) = n^2 for -1/n < x < 1/n
g_n(x) = 0 else
I get +oo.

If I use:
h_n(x) = sqrt(n) for -1/n < x < 1/n
h_n(x) = 0 else
I get 0.

So, to me, it's impossibile to do the lebesgue integral of f(x) without precisly specifing what "f(0) = +oo" means. Or, the Lebesgue integral simply cannot be computed.

--
lightarrow
Still, this is better and more rigorous than what I did , but you still do not get an actual value of 0 unless you extend continuously. You can also redefine , e.g., ##f(x)=1/x## so that ##f(0)= +\infty##
 
Physics news on Phys.org
WWGD said:
Still, this is better and more rigorous than what I did , but you still do not get an actual value of 0 unless you extend continuously. You can also redefine , e.g., ##f(x)=1/x## so that ##f(0)= +\infty##
Ok, I can also take ##f_n(x) = (n/\sqrt(\pi)) exp[-(nx)^2]##

--
lightarrow
 
lightarrow said:
Ok, I can also take ##f_n(x) = (n/\sqrt(\pi)) exp[-(nx)^2]##

--
lightarrow
Sorry, don't see it here, ##f_n(0)=\frac {n}{\sqrt{\pi}} ##. My point is that , you can use sequential continuity in order to define ##f_n(0)##, and do not define it explicitly; just a (relatively minor) point.
 
Thanks to every one for the answers.

--
lightarrow