Equicontinuity

In mathematical analysis, a family of functions is equicontinuous if all the functions are continuous and they have equal variation over a given neighbourhood (a precise definition appears below). More generally, "equicontinuous" applies to any collection ("family") of functions (not necessarily in a sequence).

If a sequence of continuous functions converges pointwise, then the limit is not necessarily continuous (a counterexample is given by the family defined by "f"_"n"("x") = arctan "nx", which converges to a multiple of the discontinuous sign function). However, if the sequence is equicontinuous, then we can conclude that the limit is continuous.

Definitions

Let "X" and "Y" be two metric spaces, and "F" a family of functions from "X" → "Y".

The family "F" is equicontinuous at a point "x"₀ &isin; "X" if for every ε > 0, there exists a δ > 0, such that "d"("f"("x"₀), "f"("x")) < ε for all "f" &isin; "F" and all "x" such that "d"("x"₀, "x") < δ. The family is equicontinuous if it is equicontinuous at each point of "X".

The sequence "F" is uniformly equicontinuous if for every ε > 0, there exists a δ > 0, "d"("f"("x"₁), "f"("x"₂)) < ε for all "f" &isin; "F" and all "x"₁, "x"₂ &isin; "X" such that "d"("x"₁, "x"₂) < δ.

For comparison, the statement 'all functions "f" in "F" are continuous' means that for every ε > 0, every "f" &isin; "F", and every "x"₀ ∈ X, there exists a δ > 0, such that "d"("f"("x"₀), "f"("x")) < ε for all "x" &isin; "X" such that "d"("x"₀, "x") < δ. So, for continuity, δ may depend on ε, "x" and "f"; for equicontinuity, δ must be independent of "f"; and for uniform equicontinuity, δ must be independent of both "f" and "x".

Properties

As promised in the introduction, the limit of a pointwise convergent, equicontinuous sequence is continuous.

Theorem 1: Let {"f"_"n"} be an equicontinuous sequence of functions. If "f"_"n"("x") → "f"("x") for every "x" ∈ "X", then the function "f" is continuous.

The condition in the above theorem can be slightly weakened. It suffices if the sequence converges pointwise on a dense subset.

Theorem 2: Let {"f"_"n"} be an equicontinuous sequence of functions from "X" ⊂ R to R. Suppose that "f"_"n"("x") converges for all "x" ∈ "D", where "D" is a dense subset of "X". Then, "f"_"n"("x") converges for all "x" ∈ "X", and the limit function is continuous.

If the domain of the functions "f"_"n" is the closed interval [0, 1] , we can say a bit more. Firstly, the properties of equicontinuity and uniform equicontinuity are equivalent.

Theorem 3: Every equicontinuous sequence of functions from [0, 1] to R is uniformly equicontinuous.

Furthermore, equicontinuity and pointwise convergence imply uniform convergence.

Theorem 4: Let {"f"_"n"} be an equicontinuous sequence of functions from [0, 1] to R. If "f"_"n"("x") → "f"("x") for every "x" ∈ [0, 1] , then "f"_"n"("x") → "f"("x") uniformly in "x".

The final result can be viewed as a generalization of the Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem to functions.

Ascoli's theorem: Let {"f"_"n"} be an equicontinuous sequence of uniformly bounded functions from [0, 1] to R. Then there is a subsequence which converges uniformly.

The term "uniformly bounded" means that |"f"_"n"("x")| < "C" for some "C", independent of "x" and "n".

More generally, any pointwise bounded, equicontinuous sequence of complex-valued functions defined on a compact space K is uniformly bounded on "K" and contains a uniformly convergent subsequence.

Theorem 5: Let "K" be a compact metric space, and let "S" be a collection of complex-valued functions on "K". Then with respect to the uniform norm, "S" is compact if and only if "S" is (uniformly) closed, pointwise bounded, and equicontinuous. (This is analogous to the Heine-Borel theorem, which states that subsets of Rⁿ are compact if and only if they are closed and bounded.)

Generalizations

The definition for equicontinuity generalizes to functions between arbitrary metric spaces. Suppose that {"f"_"n"} is a sequence of functions from "X" to "Y". This sequence is equicontinuous if for every ε > 0 and every "x" ∈ X, there exists a δ, such that for all "n" and all "x"&prime; ∈ X with "d"_"X"("x", "x"&prime;) < δ we have "d"_"Y"("f"_"n"("x"), "f"_"n"("x"&prime;)) < ε, where "d"_"X" and "d"_"Y" denote the metrics on "X" and "Y", respectively. The definition for uniform equicontinuity can be generalized in the same manner.

Theorem 1 is still valid in this setting, but Theorem 2 only holds if the codomain "Y" is complete.

The most general scenario in which equicontinuity can be defined is for topological spaces whereas "uniform" equicontinuity requires the filter of neighbourhoods of one point to be somehow comparable with the filter of neighbourhood of another point. The latter is most generally done via a uniform structure, giving a uniform space. Appropriate definitions in these cases are as follows:

:A set "A" of functions continuous between two topological spaces "X" and "Y" is topologically equicontinuous at the points "x" ∈ "X" and "y" ∈ "Y" if for any open set "O" about "y", there are neighborhoods "U" of "x" and "V" of "y" such that for every "f" ∈ "A", if the intersection of "f" ["U"] and "V" is nonempty, "f"("U") ⊆ "O". One says "A" is said to be topologically equicontinuous at "x" ∈ "X" if it is topologically equicontinuous at "x" and "y" for each "y" ∈ "Y". Finally, "A" is equicontinuous if it is equicontinuous at "x" for all points "x" ∈ "X".

:A set "A" of continuous functions between two uniform spaces "X" and "Y" is uniformly equicontinuous if for every element "W" of the uniformity on "Y", the set::{ ("u,v") ∈ "X &times; X": for all "f" ∈ "A". ("f"("u"),"f"("v")) ∈ "W" }:is a member of the uniformity on "X"

A weaker concept is that of even continuity:

:A set "A" of continuous functions between two topological spaces "X" and "Y" is said to be evenly continuous at "x" ∈ "X" and "y" ∈ "Y" if given any open set "O" containing "y" there are neighborhoods "U" of "x" and "V" of "y" such that "f" ["U"] ⊆ "O" whenever "f"("x") ∈ "V". It is evenly continuous at "x" if it is evenly continuous at "x" and "y" for every "y" ∈ "Y", and evenly continuous if it is evenly continuous at "x" for every "x" ∈ "X".

For metric spaces, there are standard topologies and uniform structures derived from the metrics, and then these general definitions are equivalent to the metric-space definitions.Fact|date=February 2007