Showing equivalence of two definitions of essential supremum

  • I
  • Thread starter psie
  • Start date
  • Tags
    Supremum
In summary, the document discusses the equivalence of two definitions of the essential supremum in measure theory. It illustrates how both definitions yield the same result by demonstrating that the essential supremum can be characterized in terms of measurable functions and their behavior almost everywhere. The proof involves showing that for any measurable set and a given function, the essential supremum reflects the least upper bound of the function's values, accounting for sets of measure zero. This establishes a fundamental understanding of the essential supremum's role in analysis and its applications in various mathematical contexts.
  • #1
psie
269
32
TL;DR Summary
I've encountered the following two definitions of essential supremum and was wondering if someone could check if my "proof" of equivalence of the two definitions is correct.
Assume ##f: X\to\mathbb R## to be a measurable function on a measure space ##(X,\mathcal A,\mu)##. The first definition is ##\operatorname*{ess\,sup}\limits_X f=\inf A##, where $$A=\{a\in\mathbb R: \mu\{x\in X:f(x)>a\}=0\}$$ and the second is ##\operatorname*{ess\,sup}\limits_X f=\inf B## where $$B= \left\{\sup_X g:g=f\ \text{pointwise a.e.}\right\}.$$.

First, it is easily seen that if ##h=f## a.e., then ##\mu\{x\in X: f(x) > \sup_X h\} = 0##, so ##B\subset A##, which shows that ##\inf B\geq \inf A##. Now, I can't show the other inclusion of the sets and I suspect these sets are not necessarily equal, but what I can show is that if ##a\in A##, then ##h:=\min\{f,a\}=f## a.e. and ##\sup_X h\leq a## (*). So for ##a\in A##, we can find a ##b\in B## such that ##b\leq a##. Thus ##\inf A\geq \inf B##.

Any thoughts on this?

(*) ##h:=\min\{f,a\}## means ##h(x):=\min\{f(x),a\}##.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #2
I agree with your proof.


I think the sets are equal because if you pick some a such that f is always smaller than a (which is the problem region for you attempt at a bijection), you can just arbitrarily define like, g(x)=f(x) if x is not zero, g(0)=a
 
  • Like
Likes psie
Back
Top