The Bochner-Minlos theorem
1 Introduction
We take to be the set of positive integers. If is a set and , we typically deal with the product as the set of functions .
In this note I am following and greatly expanding the proof of the Bochner-Minlos theorem given by Barry Simon, Functional Integration and Quantum Physics, p. 11, Theorem 2.2.
2 The Kolmogorov extension theorem
If is a topological space, and for the maps are defined by
then the spaces and maps constitute a projective system, and its limit in the category of topological spaces is with the maps , where has the initial topology for the family (namely, the product topology). We say that a function depends on only finitely many coordinates if there is some and some function such that . We denote by the set of all continuous functions that depend on only finitely many coordinates.
If is a noncompact locally compact Hausdorff space, write , and let be the collection of all subsets of such that either (i) or (ii) and is compact in . One proves11 1 Gerald B. Folland, Real Analysis: Modern Techniques and Their Applications, second ed., p. 132, Proposition 4.36. that is a compact Hausdorff space and that the inclusion map is a homeomorphism , where has the subspace topology inherited from . Also, if then there is some whose restriction to equals if and only if there is some and some constant such that , in which case
We call the one-point compactification of . For example, one checks that the one-point compactification of is homeomorphic to .
Theorem 1 (Kolmogorov).
Suppose that for each , is a Borel probability measure on , and that for any and any Borel set in we have
equivalently, for . There is then a Borel probability measure on such that for any and any Borel set in ,
equivalently, .
Proof.
Let , the one-point compactification of , and let have the product topology, with which it is a compact Hausdorff space. For each , if is a Borel set in , we define . This is a Borel measure on . If , , and , then
We define in the following way. For , there is some and some such that . We define
If and with , then , giving
so the definition of makes sense.
It is straightforward to check that is an algebra over . The algebra separates points in , and the constant map belongs to ; the latter fact tells us that there is no such that for all . Therefore, the Stone-Weierstrass theorem22 2 Gerald B. Folland, Real Analysis: Modern Techniques and Their Applications, second ed., p. 141, Corollary 4.50. tells us that is dense in the Banach algebra .
If and , then , which is finite because is compact. Because each is a probability measure,
showing that is a bounded linear map, with . Because is dense in , there is a bounded linear map whose restriction to is equal to , and that satisfies . Moreover, if satisfies , then it is apparent that ; we say that is a positive linear functional. The fact that is a positive linear functional implies that is too. Because is a positive linear functional with , by the Riesz-Markov theorem33 3 Walter Rudin, Real and Complex Analysis, third ed., p. 40, Theorem 2.14. there is a Borel probability measure on such that
If is a Borel set in with the product topology, define . is a Borel probability measure on .
Now that we have in our hands a Borel probability measure on it remains to verify that it does what we want it to do. ∎
3 Sequence spaces
For and , we define
and . We define to be the set of all those for which , and we take as granted that for each , is a Hilbert space. For , let be the inclusion map. As
the map is a bounded operator. In fact, if we now demonstrate that is a Hilbert-Schmidt operator, and so compact, which is the conclusion of Rellich’s theorem. For , define by
These are an orthonormal basis for , and
Because , this last expression is . This shows that is a Hilbert-Schmidt operator.
For and , define
(1) |
and using the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality,
is thus the dual space of the Banach space . That is, as a vector space , but we shall be interested in with the weak-* topology with which it is a locally convex space, rather than with the norm topology with which it is a Banach space.
Since is a bounded linear map for , the spaces and the maps are a projective system of Banach spaces, and this projective system has a limit in the category of locally convex spaces. This limit is a Fréchet space. The duals with the weak-* topology are locally convex spaces and constitute a direct system with the maps , where for . This direct system has a colimit in the category of locally convex spaces which is equal to with the weak-* topology.44 4 Paul Garrett, http://www.math.umn.edu/~garrett/m/fun/notes_2012-13/04_blevi_sobolev.pdf, p. 15. As sets,
We also denote by the dual pairing of and : for and ,
For any , there is some for which . But if then , and so this dual pairing coincides with (1).
4 Positive-definite functions
If is a vector space and is a function, we say that is positive-definite if for any positive integer and for any and , we have
If is positive-definite, one proves that , , and .
If is a probability measure on , we define the Fourier transform of to be the function defined by
because and is a probability measure, this integral is finite. Using the dominated convergence theorem, one checks that is continuous. It is apparent that . If and , then
so is positive-definite.
5 Cylinder sigma-algebras
is a topological space and so has a Borel -algebra. We shall now define a -algebra on , called the cylinder -algebra of and denoted , that is strictly contained in the Borel -algebra of . For , define by . We define to be the coarsest -algebra such that for each , the map is measurable, where has the Borel -algebra. Since each is continuous, is measurable with respect to the Borel -algebra on , so is contained in the Borel -algebra of ; it is not obvious that the cylinder -algebra is strictly contained in the Borel -algebra. Unless we say otherwise, when we speak of measurable functions on or measures on we mean with respect to the cylinder -algebra.
6 Minlos’s theorem
In the following theorem we obtain a Borel probability measure on with the product topology. We denote by the Borel -algebra of . The collection is a -algebra on . We assert that , and that does not contain the Borel -algbera of , and thus that the restriction of to is not a Borel measure.
Theorem 2 (Minlos).
If is positive-definite, continuous, and , then there is some probability measure on such that .
Proof.
For , define by
The Banach spaces and the maps constitute a projective system in the category of locally convex spaces, with the limit , which is thus a Fréchet space, with the maps ,
The dual maps are defined for by
and the maps constitute a direct system, and their colimit in the category of locally convex spaces is denoted
, and the maps satisfy
The function satisfies, for and ,
because and is positive-definite. Furthermore, , and is a composition of continuous functions so is itself continuous. Therefore, for each we have by Bochner’s theorem that there is one and only Borel probability measure on that satisfies . If , for we have
Since , it follows that . Therefore, the Borel probability measures satisfy the conditions of the Kolmogorov extension theorem, and so there is some Borel probability measure on such that . Now that we have our hands on the measure , one must prove that .
Supposing that we have proved , we now prove that . Let . is continuous at and , and as has the locally convex topology induced by the family of seminorms , there is some and some such that implies that . Suppose that . On the one hand, if , then
On the other hand, if , using and so , we get
Therefore, for any ,
Then, for we have
(2) |
Let , let , and let be the measure on with
Using , it is straightforward to check that is a probability measure on . Furthermore, we calculate, using respectively , , and ,
and for , taking as known the Fourier transform of a Gaussian function,
Then, using , the integral of the left-hand side of (2) over with respect to is
The integral of the right-hand side of (2) over with respect to is
Combining these, (2) is
Taking ,
(3) |
But
so taking , (3) yields
i.e. , and . That is, we have proved that for any there is some such that
which shows that , i.e. that is a probability measure. ∎
7 References
There don’t seem to be many detailed presentations of the Bochner-Minlos theorem, or Minlos’s theorem, in the literature. Cf. Sazonov’s theorem. Doing some searching through books, the following look like they have enough details so that they are not worse than nothing, which is more than can always be said:
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Helge Holden, Bernt Øksendal, Jan Ubøe and Tusheng Zhang, Stochastic Partial Differential Equations: A Modeling, White Noise Functional Approach, second ed., Appendix A, pp. 257ff.
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Takeyuki Hida, Brownian Motion, pp. 116ff., §3.2
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I. M. Gelfand and N. Ya. Vilenkin, Generalized Functions. Volume 4: Applications of Harmonic Analysis
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V. I. Bogachev, Measure Theory, vol. II, p. 124, Theorem 7.13.7
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A. V. Skorokhod, Basic Principles and Applications of Probability Theory, p. 51, §2.4.4
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N. Bourbaki, Integration II: Chapters 7–9, p. IX.100, §6, Theorem 4