In mathematics, a linear form (also known as a linear functional, a one-form, or a covector) is a linear map from a vector space to its field of scalars (often, the real numbers or the complex numbers). If V is a vector space over a field k, the set of all linear functionals from V to k is itself a vector space over k with addition and scalar multiplication defined pointwise. This space is called the dual space of V, or sometimes the algebraic dual space, when a topological dual space is also considered. It is often denoted Hom(V, k) , or, when the field k is understood, V^*; other notations are also used, such as V', V^{#} or V^{\vee}. When vectors are represented by column vectors (as is common when a basis is fixed), then linear functionals are represented as row vectors, and their values on specific vectors are given by matrix products (with the row vector on the left).

Examples

The constant zero function, mapping every vector to zero, is trivially a linear functional. Every other linear functional (such as the ones below) is surjective (that is, its range is all of k).

Linear functionals in Rn

Suppose that vectors in the real coordinate space \R^n are represented as column vectors For each row vector there is a linear functional defined by and each linear functional can be expressed in this form. This can be interpreted as either the matrix product or the dot product of the row vector \mathbf{a} and the column vector \mathbf{x}:

Trace of a square matrix

The trace of a square matrix A is the sum of all elements on its main diagonal. Matrices can be multiplied by scalars and two matrices of the same dimension can be added together; these operations make a vector space from the set of all n \times n matrices. The trace is a linear functional on this space because and for all scalars s and all n \times n matrices

(Definite) Integration

Linear functionals first appeared in functional analysis, the study of vector spaces of functions. A typical example of a linear functional is integration: the linear transformation defined by the Riemann integral is a linear functional from the vector space C[a, b] of continuous functions on the interval [a, b] to the real numbers. The linearity of I follows from the standard facts about the integral:

Evaluation

Let P_n denote the vector space of real-valued polynomial functions of degree \leq n defined on an interval [a, b]. If then let be the evaluation functional The mapping is linear since If are n + 1 distinct points in [a, b], then the evaluation functionals form a basis of the dual space of P_n ( proves this last fact using Lagrange interpolation).

Non-example

A function f having the equation of a line with a \neq 0 (for example, ) is a linear functional on \R, since it is not linear. It is, however, affine-linear.

Visualization

In finite dimensions, a linear functional can be visualized in terms of its level sets, the sets of vectors which map to a given value. In three dimensions, the level sets of a linear functional are a family of mutually parallel planes; in higher dimensions, they are parallel hyperplanes. This method of visualizing linear functionals is sometimes introduced in general relativity texts, such as Gravitation by.

Applications

Application to quadrature

If are n + 1 distinct points in, then the linear functionals defined above form a basis of the dual space of Pn , the space of polynomials of degree \leq n. The integration functional I is also a linear functional on Pn , and so can be expressed as a linear combination of these basis elements. In symbols, there are coefficients for which for all f \in P_n. This forms the foundation of the theory of numerical quadrature.

In quantum mechanics

Linear functionals are particularly important in quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanical systems are represented by Hilbert spaces, which are anti–isomorphic to their own dual spaces. A state of a quantum mechanical system can be identified with a linear functional. For more information see bra–ket notation.

Distributions

In the theory of generalized functions, certain kinds of generalized functions called distributions can be realized as linear functionals on spaces of test functions.

Dual vectors and bilinear forms

Every non-degenerate bilinear form on a finite-dimensional vector space V induces an isomorphism V → V : v ↦ v∗ such that where the bilinear form on V is denoted (for instance, in Euclidean space, is the dot product of v and w). The inverse isomorphism is V → V : v∗ ↦ v, where v is the unique element of V such that for all w \in V. The above defined vector v∗ ∈ V is said to be the dual vector of v \in V. In an infinite dimensional Hilbert space, analogous results hold by the Riesz representation theorem. There is a mapping V ↦ V from V into its V.

Relationship to bases

Basis of the dual space

Let the vector space V have a basis, not necessarily orthogonal. Then the dual space V^* has a basis called the dual basis defined by the special property that Or, more succinctly, where \delta_{ij} is the Kronecker delta. Here the superscripts of the basis functionals are not exponents but are instead contravariant indices. A linear functional \tilde{u} belonging to the dual space \tilde{V} can be expressed as a linear combination of basis functionals, with coefficients ("components") ui , Then, applying the functional \tilde{u} to a basis vector yields due to linearity of scalar multiples of functionals and pointwise linearity of sums of functionals. Then So each component of a linear functional can be extracted by applying the functional to the corresponding basis vector.

The dual basis and inner product

When the space V carries an inner product, then it is possible to write explicitly a formula for the dual basis of a given basis. Let V have (not necessarily orthogonal) basis In three dimensions ( n = 3 ), the dual basis can be written explicitly for where ε is the Levi-Civita symbol and the inner product (or dot product) on V. In higher dimensions, this generalizes as follows where \star is the Hodge star operator.

Over a ring

Modules over a ring are generalizations of vector spaces, which removes the restriction that coefficients belong to a field. Given a module M over a ring R, a linear form on M is a linear map from M to R, where the latter is considered as a module over itself. The space of linear forms is always denoted Homk(V, k) , whether k is a field or not. It is a right module if V is a left module. The existence of "enough" linear forms on a module is equivalent to projectivity.

Change of field

Suppose that X is a vector space over \Complex. Restricting scalar multiplication to \R gives rise to a real vector space X_{\R} called the of X. Any vector space X over \Complex is also a vector space over \R, endowed with a complex structure; that is, there exists a real vector subspace X_{\R} such that we can (formally) write as \R-vector spaces.

Real versus complex linear functionals

Every linear functional on X is complex-valued while every linear functional on X_{\R} is real-valued. If then a linear functional on either one of X or X_{\R} is non-trivial (meaning not identically 0) if and only if it is surjective (because if then for any scalar s, ), where the image of a linear functional on X is \C while the image of a linear functional on X_{\R} is \R. Consequently, the only function on X that is both a linear functional on X and a linear function on X_{\R} is the trivial functional; in other words, where denotes the space's algebraic dual space. However, every \Complex-linear functional on X is an \R-linear (meaning that it is additive and homogeneous over \R), but unless it is identically 0, it is not an \R-linear on X because its range (which is \Complex) is 2-dimensional over \R. Conversely, a non-zero \R-linear functional has range too small to be a \Complex-linear functional as well.

Real and imaginary parts

If then denote its real part by and its imaginary part by Then and are linear functionals on X_{\R} and The fact that for all implies that for all x \in X, and consequently, that and The assignment defines a bijective \R-linear operator whose inverse is the map defined by the assignment that sends to the linear functional defined by The real part of L_g is g and the bijection is an \R-linear operator, meaning that and for all r \in \R and Similarly for the imaginary part, the assignment induces an \R-linear bijection whose inverse is the map defined by sending to the linear functional on X defined by This relationship was discovered by Henry Löwig in 1934 (although it is usually credited to F. Murray), and can be generalized to arbitrary finite extensions of a field in the natural way. It has many important consequences, some of which will now be described.

Properties and relationships

Suppose is a linear functional on X with real part and imaginary part Then \varphi = 0 if and only if if and only if Assume that X is a topological vector space. Then \varphi is continuous if and only if its real part is continuous, if and only if \varphi's imaginary part \varphi_i is continuous. That is, either all three of and \varphi_i are continuous or none are continuous. This remains true if the word "continuous" is replaced with the word "bounded". In particular, if and only if where the prime denotes the space's continuous dual space. Let If for all scalars of unit length (meaning |u| = 1) then Similarly, if denotes the complex part of \varphi then implies If X is a normed space with norm |\cdot| and if is the closed unit ball then the supremums above are the operator norms (defined in the usual way) of and \varphi_i so that This conclusion extends to the analogous statement for polars of balanced sets in general topological vector spaces.

In infinite dimensions

Below, all vector spaces are over either the real numbers \R or the complex numbers \Complex. If V is a topological vector space, the space of continuous linear functionals — the — is often simply called the dual space. If V is a Banach space, then so is its (continuous) dual. To distinguish the ordinary dual space from the continuous dual space, the former is sometimes called the. In finite dimensions, every linear functional is continuous, so the continuous dual is the same as the algebraic dual, but in infinite dimensions the continuous dual is a proper subspace of the algebraic dual. A linear functional f on a (not necessarily locally convex) topological vector space X is continuous if and only if there exists a continuous seminorm p on X such that |f| \leq p.

Characterizing closed subspaces

Continuous linear functionals have nice properties for analysis: a linear functional is continuous if and only if its kernel is closed, and a non-trivial continuous linear functional is an open map, even if the (topological) vector space is not complete.

Hyperplanes and maximal subspaces

A vector subspace M of X is called maximal if (meaning and M \neq X) and does not exist a vector subspace N of X such that A vector subspace M of X is maximal if and only if it is the kernel of some non-trivial linear functional on X (that is, M = \ker f for some linear functional f on X that is not identically 0 ). An affine hyperplane in X is a translate of a maximal vector subspace. By linearity, a subset H of X is a affine hyperplane if and only if there exists some non-trivial linear functional f on X such that If f is a linear functional and s \neq 0 is a scalar then This equality can be used to relate different level sets of f. Moreover, if f \neq 0 then the kernel of f can be reconstructed from the affine hyperplane by

Relationships between multiple linear functionals

Any two linear functionals with the same kernel are proportional (i.e. scalar multiples of each other). This fact can be generalized to the following theorem. If f is a non-trivial linear functional on X with kernel N, x \in X satisfies f(x) = 1, and U is a balanced subset of X, then if and only if |f(u)| < 1 for all u \in U.

Hahn–Banach theorem

Any (algebraic) linear functional on a vector subspace can be extended to the whole space; for example, the evaluation functionals described above can be extended to the vector space of polynomials on all of \R. However, this extension cannot always be done while keeping the linear functional continuous. The Hahn–Banach family of theorems gives conditions under which this extension can be done. For example,

Equicontinuity of families of linear functionals

Let X be a topological vector space (TVS) with continuous dual space X'. For any subset H of X', the following are equivalent: H is equicontinuous; H is contained in the polar of some neighborhood of 0 in X; H is a neighborhood of 0 in X; If H is an equicontinuous subset of X' then the following sets are also equicontinuous: the weak-* closure, the balanced hull, the convex hull, and the convex balanced hull. Moreover, Alaoglu's theorem implies that the weak-* closure of an equicontinuous subset of X' is weak-* compact (and thus that every equicontinuous subset weak-* relatively compact).

Footnotes

Proofs