Riesz representation theorem

Summary

The Riesz representation theorem, sometimes called the Riesz–Fréchet representation theorem after Frigyes Riesz and Maurice René Fréchet, establishes an important connection between a Hilbert space and its continuous dual space. If the underlying field is the real numbers, the two are isometrically isomorphic; if the underlying field is the complex numbers, the two are isometrically anti-isomorphic. The (anti-) isomorphism is a particular natural isomorphism.

Preliminaries and notation

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Let   be a Hilbert space over a field   where   is either the real numbers   or the complex numbers   If   (resp. if  ) then   is called a complex Hilbert space (resp. a real Hilbert space). Every real Hilbert space can be extended to be a dense subset of a unique (up to bijective isometry) complex Hilbert space, called its complexification, which is why Hilbert spaces are often automatically assumed to be complex. Real and complex Hilbert spaces have in common many, but by no means all, properties and results/theorems.

This article is intended for both mathematicians and physicists and will describe the theorem for both. In both mathematics and physics, if a Hilbert space is assumed to be real (that is, if  ) then this will usually be made clear. Often in mathematics, and especially in physics, unless indicated otherwise, "Hilbert space" is usually automatically assumed to mean "complex Hilbert space." Depending on the author, in mathematics, "Hilbert space" usually means either (1) a complex Hilbert space, or (2) a real or complex Hilbert space.

Linear and antilinear maps

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By definition, an antilinear map (also called a conjugate-linear map)   is a map between vector spaces that is additive:   and antilinear (also called conjugate-linear or conjugate-homogeneous):   where   is the conjugate of the complex number  , given by  .

In contrast, a map   is linear if it is additive and homogeneous:  

Every constant   map is always both linear and antilinear. If   then the definitions of linear maps and antilinear maps are completely identical. A linear map from a Hilbert space into a Banach space (or more generally, from any Banach space into any topological vector space) is continuous if and only if it is bounded; the same is true of antilinear maps. The inverse of any antilinear (resp. linear) bijection is again an antilinear (resp. linear) bijection. The composition of two antilinear maps is a linear map.

Continuous dual and anti-dual spaces

A functional on   is a function   whose codomain is the underlying scalar field   Denote by   (resp. by   the set of all continuous linear (resp. continuous antilinear) functionals on   which is called the (continuous) dual space (resp. the (continuous) anti-dual space) of  [1] If   then linear functionals on   are the same as antilinear functionals and consequently, the same is true for such continuous maps: that is,  

One-to-one correspondence between linear and antilinear functionals

Given any functional   the conjugate of   is the functional  

This assignment is most useful when   because if   then   and the assignment   reduces down to the identity map.

The assignment   defines an antilinear bijective correspondence from the set of

all functionals (resp. all linear functionals, all continuous linear functionals  ) on  

onto the set of

all functionals (resp. all antilinear functionals, all continuous antilinear functionals  ) on  

Mathematics vs. physics notations and definitions of inner product

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The Hilbert space   has an associated inner product   valued in  's underlying scalar field   that is linear in one coordinate and antilinear in the other (as specified below). If   is a complex Hilbert space ( ), then there is a crucial difference between the notations prevailing in mathematics versus physics, regarding which of the two variables is linear. However, for real Hilbert spaces ( ), the inner product is a symmetric map that is linear in each coordinate (bilinear), so there can be no such confusion.

In mathematics, the inner product on a Hilbert space   is often denoted by   or   while in physics, the bra–ket notation   or   is typically used. In this article, these two notations will be related by the equality:

 These have the following properties:

  1. The map   is linear in its first coordinate; equivalently, the map   is linear in its second coordinate. That is, for fixed   the map   with   is a linear functional on   This linear functional is continuous, so  
  2. The map   is antilinear in its second coordinate; equivalently, the map   is antilinear in its first coordinate. That is, for fixed   the map   with   is an antilinear functional on   This antilinear functional is continuous, so  

In computations, one must consistently use either the mathematics notation  , which is (linear, antilinear); or the physics notation  , whch is (antilinear | linear).

Canonical norm and inner product on the dual space and anti-dual space

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If   then   is a non-negative real number and the map  

defines a canonical norm on   that makes   into a normed space.[1] As with all normed spaces, the (continuous) dual space   carries a canonical norm, called the dual norm, that is defined by[1]  

The canonical norm on the (continuous) anti-dual space   denoted by   is defined by using this same equation:[1]  

This canonical norm on   satisfies the parallelogram law, which means that the polarization identity can be used to define a canonical inner product on   which this article will denote by the notations   where this inner product turns   into a Hilbert space. There are now two ways of defining a norm on   the norm induced by this inner product (that is, the norm defined by  ) and the usual dual norm (defined as the supremum over the closed unit ball). These norms are the same; explicitly, this means that the following holds for every    

As will be described later, the Riesz representation theorem can be used to give an equivalent definition of the canonical norm and the canonical inner product on  

The same equations that were used above can also be used to define a norm and inner product on  's anti-dual space  [1]

Canonical isometry between the dual and antidual

The complex conjugate   of a functional   which was defined above, satisfies   for every   and every   This says exactly that the canonical antilinear bijection defined by   as well as its inverse   are antilinear isometries and consequently also homeomorphisms. The inner products on the dual space   and the anti-dual space   denoted respectively by   and   are related by   and  

If   then   and this canonical map   reduces down to the identity map.

Riesz representation theorem

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Two vectors   and   are orthogonal if   which happens if and only if   for all scalars  [2] The orthogonal complement of a subset   is   which is always a closed vector subspace of   The Hilbert projection theorem guarantees that for any nonempty closed convex subset   of a Hilbert space there exists a unique vector   such that   that is,   is the (unique) global minimum point of the function   defined by  

Statement

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Riesz representation theorem — Let   be a Hilbert space whose inner product   is linear in its first argument and antilinear in its second argument and let   be the corresponding physics notation. For every continuous linear functional   there exists a unique vector   called the Riesz representation of   such that[3]  

Importantly for complex Hilbert spaces,   is always located in the antilinear coordinate of the inner product.[note 1]

Furthermore, the length of the representation vector is equal to the norm of the functional:   and   is the unique vector   with   It is also the unique element of minimum norm in  ; that is to say,   is the unique element of   satisfying   Moreover, any non-zero   can be written as  

Corollary — The canonical map from   into its dual  [1] is the injective antilinear operator isometry[note 2][1]   The Riesz representation theorem states that this map is surjective (and thus bijective) when   is complete and that its inverse is the bijective isometric antilinear isomorphism   Consequently, every continuous linear functional on the Hilbert space   can be written uniquely in the form  [1] where   for every   The assignment   can also be viewed as a bijective linear isometry   into the anti-dual space of  [1] which is the complex conjugate vector space of the continuous dual space  

The inner products on   and   are related by   and similarly,  

The set   satisfies   and   so when   then   can be interpreted as being the affine hyperplane[note 3] that is parallel to the vector subspace   and contains  

For   the physics notation for the functional   is the bra   where explicitly this means that   which complements the ket notation   defined by   In the mathematical treatment of quantum mechanics, the theorem can be seen as a justification for the popular bra–ket notation. The theorem says that, every bra   has a corresponding ket   and the latter is unique.

Historically, the theorem is often attributed simultaneously to Riesz and Fréchet in 1907 (see references).

Proof[4]

Let   denote the underlying scalar field of  

Proof of norm formula:

Fix   Define   by   which is a linear functional on   since   is in the linear argument. By the Cauchy–Schwarz inequality,   which shows that   is bounded (equivalently, continuous) and that   It remains to show that   By using   in place of   it follows that   (the equality   holds because   is real and non-negative). Thus that    

The proof above did not use the fact that   is complete, which shows that the formula for the norm   holds more generally for all inner product spaces.


Proof that a Riesz representation of   is unique:

Suppose   are such that   and   for all   Then   which shows that   is the constant   linear functional. Consequently   which implies that    


Proof that a vector   representing   exists:

Let   If   (or equivalently, if  ) then taking   completes the proof so assume that   and   The continuity of   implies that   is a closed subspace of   (because   and   is a closed subset of  ). Let   denote the orthogonal complement of   in   Because   is closed and   is a Hilbert space,[note 4]   can be written as the direct sum  [note 5] (a proof of this is given in the article on the Hilbert projection theorem). Because   there exists some non-zero   For any     which shows that   where now   implies   Solving for   shows that   which proves that the vector   satisfies  

Applying the norm formula that was proved above with   shows that   Also, the vector   has norm   and satisfies    


It can now be deduced that   is  -dimensional when   Let   be any non-zero vector. Replacing   with   in the proof above shows that the vector   satisfies   for every   The uniqueness of the (non-zero) vector   representing   implies that   which in turn implies that   and   Thus every vector in   is a scalar multiple of    

The formulas for the inner products follow from the polarization identity.

Observations

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If   then   So in particular,   is always real and furthermore,   if and only if   if and only if  

Linear functionals as affine hyperplanes

A non-trivial continuous linear functional   is often interpreted geometrically by identifying it with the affine hyperplane   (the kernel   is also often visualized alongside   although knowing   is enough to reconstruct   because if   then   and otherwise  ). In particular, the norm of   should somehow be interpretable as the "norm of the hyperplane  ". When   then the Riesz representation theorem provides such an interpretation of   in terms of the affine hyperplane[note 3]   as follows: using the notation from the theorem's statement, from   it follows that   and so   implies   and thus   This can also be seen by applying the Hilbert projection theorem to   and concluding that the global minimum point of the map   defined by   is   The formulas   provide the promised interpretation of the linear functional's norm   entirely in terms of its associated affine hyperplane   (because with this formula, knowing only the set   is enough to describe the norm of its associated linear functional). Defining   the infimum formula   will also hold when   When the supremum is taken in   (as is typically assumed), then the supremum of the empty set is   but if the supremum is taken in the non-negative reals   (which is the image/range of the norm   when  ) then this supremum is instead   in which case the supremum formula   will also hold when   (although the atypical equality   is usually unexpected and so risks causing confusion).

Constructions of the representing vector

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Using the notation from the theorem above, several ways of constructing   from   are now described. If   then  ; in other words,  

This special case of   is henceforth assumed to be known, which is why some of the constructions given below start by assuming  

Orthogonal complement of kernel

If   then for any    

If   is a unit vector (meaning  ) then   (this is true even if   because in this case  ). If   is a unit vector satisfying the above condition then the same is true of   which is also a unit vector in   However,   so both these vectors result in the same  

Orthogonal projection onto kernel

If   is such that   and if   is the orthogonal projection of   onto   then[proof 1]  

Orthonormal basis

Given an orthonormal basis   of   and a continuous linear functional   the vector   can be constructed uniquely by   where all but at most countably many   will be equal to   and where the value of   does not actually depend on choice of orthonormal basis (that is, using any other orthonormal basis for   will result in the same vector). If   is written as   then   and  

If the orthonormal basis   is a sequence then this becomes   and if   is written as   then  

Example in finite dimensions using matrix transformations

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Consider the special case of   (where   is an integer) with the standard inner product   where   are represented as column matrices   and   with respect to the standard orthonormal basis   on   (here,   is   at its  th coordinate and   everywhere else; as usual,   will now be associated with the dual basis) and where   denotes the conjugate transpose of   Let   be any linear functional and let   be the unique scalars such that   where it can be shown that   for all   Then the Riesz representation of   is the vector   To see why, identify every vector   in   with the column matrix   so that   is identified with   As usual, also identify the linear functional   with its transformation matrix, which is the row matrix   so that   and the function   is the assignment   where the right hand side is matrix multiplication. Then for all     which shows that   satisfies the defining condition of the Riesz representation of   The bijective antilinear isometry   defined in the corollary to the Riesz representation theorem is the assignment that sends   to the linear functional   on   defined by   where under the identification of vectors in   with column matrices and vector in   with row matrices,   is just the assignment   As described in the corollary,  's inverse   is the antilinear isometry   which was just shown above to be:   where in terms of matrices,   is the assignment   Thus in terms of matrices, each of   and   is just the operation of conjugate transposition   (although between different spaces of matrices: if   is identified with the space of all column (respectively, row) matrices then   is identified with the space of all row (respectively, column matrices).

This example used the standard inner product, which is the map   but if a different inner product is used, such as   where   is any Hermitian positive-definite matrix, or if a different orthonormal basis is used then the transformation matrices, and thus also the above formulas, will be different.

Relationship with the associated real Hilbert space

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Assume that   is a complex Hilbert space with inner product   When the Hilbert space   is reinterpreted as a real Hilbert space then it will be denoted by   where the (real) inner-product on   is the real part of  's inner product; that is:  

The norm on   induced by   is equal to the original norm on   and the continuous dual space of   is the set of all real-valued bounded  -linear functionals on   (see the article about the polarization identity for additional details about this relationship). Let   and   denote the real and imaginary parts of a linear functional   so that   The formula expressing a linear functional in terms of its real part is   where   for all   It follows that   and that   if and only if   It can also be shown that   where   and   are the usual operator norms. In particular, a linear functional   is bounded if and only if its real part   is bounded.

Representing a functional and its real part

The Riesz representation of a continuous linear function   on a complex Hilbert space is equal to the Riesz representation of its real part   on its associated real Hilbert space.

Explicitly, let   and as above, let   be the Riesz representation of   obtained in   so it is the unique vector that satisfies   for all   The real part of   is a continuous real linear functional on   and so the Riesz representation theorem may be applied to   and the associated real Hilbert space   to produce its Riesz representation, which will be denoted by   That is,   is the unique vector in   that satisfies   for all   The conclusion is   This follows from the main theorem because   and if   then   and consequently, if   then   which shows that   Moreover,   being a real number implies that   In other words, in the theorem and constructions above, if   is replaced with its real Hilbert space counterpart   and if   is replaced with   then   This means that vector   obtained by using   and the real linear functional   is the equal to the vector obtained by using the origin complex Hilbert space   and original complex linear functional   (with identical norm values as well).

Furthermore, if   then   is perpendicular to   with respect to   where the kernel of   is be a proper subspace of the kernel of its real part   Assume now that   Then   because   and   is a proper subset of   The vector subspace   has real codimension   in   while   has real codimension   in   and   That is,   is perpendicular to   with respect to  

Canonical injections into the dual and anti-dual

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Induced linear map into anti-dual

The map defined by placing   into the linear coordinate of the inner product and letting the variable   vary over the antilinear coordinate results in an antilinear functional:  

This map is an element of   which is the continuous anti-dual space of   The canonical map from   into its anti-dual  [1] is the linear operator   which is also an injective isometry.[1] The Fundamental theorem of Hilbert spaces, which is related to Riesz representation theorem, states that this map is surjective (and thus bijective). Consequently, every antilinear functional on   can be written (uniquely) in this form.[1]

If   is the canonical antilinear bijective isometry   that was defined above, then the following equality holds:  

Extending the bra–ket notation to bras and kets

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Let   be a Hilbert space and as before, let   Let   which is a bijective antilinear isometry that satisfies  

Bras

Given a vector   let   denote the continuous linear functional  ; that is,   so that this functional   is defined by   This map was denoted by   earlier in this article.

The assignment   is just the isometric antilinear isomorphism   which is why   holds for all   and all scalars   The result of plugging some given   into the functional   is the scalar   which may be denoted by  [note 6]

Bra of a linear functional

Given a continuous linear functional   let   denote the vector  ; that is,  

The assignment   is just the isometric antilinear isomorphism   which is why   holds for all   and all scalars  

The defining condition of the vector   is the technically correct but unsightly equality   which is why the notation   is used in place of   With this notation, the defining condition becomes  

Kets

For any given vector   the notation   is used to denote  ; that is,  

The assignment   is just the identity map   which is why   holds for all   and all scalars  

The notation   and   is used in place of   and   respectively. As expected,   and   really is just the scalar  

Adjoints and transposes

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Let   be a continuous linear operator between Hilbert spaces   and   As before, let   and  

Denote by   the usual bijective antilinear isometries that satisfy:  

Definition of the adjoint

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For every   the scalar-valued map  [note 7] on   defined by  

is a continuous linear functional on   and so by the Riesz representation theorem, there exists a unique vector in   denoted by   such that   or equivalently, such that  

The assignment   thus induces a function   called the adjoint of   whose defining condition is   The adjoint   is necessarily a continuous (equivalently, a bounded) linear operator.

If   is finite dimensional with the standard inner product and if   is the transformation matrix of   with respect to the standard orthonormal basis then  's conjugate transpose   is the transformation matrix of the adjoint  

Adjoints are transposes

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It is also possible to define the transpose or algebraic adjoint of   which is the map   defined by sending a continuous linear functionals   to   where the composition   is always a continuous linear functional on   and it satisfies   (this is true more generally, when   and   are merely normed spaces).[5] So for example, if   then   sends the continuous linear functional   (defined on   by  ) to the continuous linear functional   (defined on   by  );[note 7] using bra-ket notation, this can be written as   where the juxtaposition of   with   on the right hand side denotes function composition:  

The adjoint   is actually just to the transpose  [2] when the Riesz representation theorem is used to identify   with   and   with