In mathematics, the trigonometric moment problem is formulated as follows: given a finite sequence {α0, ... αn }, does there exist a positive Borel measure μ on the interval [0, 2π] such that

In other words, an affirmative answer to the problems means that {α0, ... αn } are the first n + 1 Fourier coefficients of some positive Borel measure μ on [0, 2π].

Characterization edit

The trigonometric moment problem is solvable, that is, {αk} is a sequence of Fourier coefficients, if and only if the (n + 1) × (n + 1) Toeplitz matrix

 

is positive semidefinite.

The "only if" part of the claims can be verified by a direct calculation.

We sketch an argument for the converse. The positive semidefinite matrix A defines a sesquilinear product on Cn + 1, resulting in a Hilbert space

 

of dimensional at most n + 1, a typical element of which is an equivalence class denoted by [f]. The Toeplitz structure of A means that a "truncated" shift is a partial isometry on  . More specificly, let { e0, ...en + 1 } be the standard basis of Cn + 1. Let   be the subspace generated by { [e0], ... [en - 1] } and   be the subspace generated by { [e1], ... [en] }. Define an operator

 

by

 

Since

 

V can be extended to a partial isometry acting on all of  . Take a minimal unitary extension U of V, on a possibly larger space (this always exists). According to the spectral theorem, there exists a Borel measure m on the unit circle T such that for all integer k

 

For k = 0,...,n, the right hand side is

 

So

 

Finally, parametrized the unit circle T by eit on [0, 2π] gives

 

for some suitable measure μ.

Parametrization of solutions edit

The above discussion shows that the solutions of the trigonometric moment problem has infinitely many solutions if the Toeplitz matrix A is invertible. In that case, the solutions to the problem is in bijective correspondence with minimal unitary extensions of the partial isometry V.

Krein's generalized coresolvent formula:

For a minimal unitary extension U and a complex number |w| ≤ 1, the generalized coresolvent of [U], the class of extensions equivalent to U, is

 

References edit

  • N.I. Akhiezer, The Classical Moment Problem, Olivier and Boyd, 1965.
  • N.I. Akhiezer, M.G. Krein, Some Questions in the Theory of Moments, Amer. Math. Soc., 1962.