Bases and Frames

A basis is a linearly independent set of vectors that spans a given Hilbert space such that any function in that space can be expanded as a unique combination of these linearly independent vectors.On the other hand, frames are a generalization of bases such that they may be linearly dependent and, therefore, redundant. Formal definitions follow.

Definition of Bases: Consider a set of vectors \(\{e_{k}\}_{k=1}^{\infty}\) in \(H\)

Orthonormal Basis properties

Biorthogonal Bases

Definition: Sets of vectors \(\{\widetilde{e}_{k}\}_{k=1}^{\infty}\) and \(\{e_{k}\}_{k=1}^{\infty}\) constitute biorthogonal bases in \(H\) if

Bases that satisfy the above two equations are called Riesz Bases. \( f \in H \) can be expanded as

\[ f=\sum_{k=1}^{\infty} \lt f,e_{k} \gt \widetilde{e}_{k} = \sum_{k=1}^{\infty} \lt f,\widetilde{e}_{k} \gt e_{k} \]

Limitations of Bases or why we need Frames

Bases are characterized by their expansion property, ie. any function \(f \in H\) can be expressed as a linear combination of basis vectors \(e_{k}\) that span \(H\). However, it is possible to expand a function \(f \in H\) as a linear combination of another set of vectors \(\phi\) which may not be a basis in \(H\). The representation in this case may be redundant but it may provide additional flexibility which may be a good given specific applications. Another problem with basis is that they may be difficult to construct and a small change in implementing one vector in the basis may destroy the basis so having extra vectors in a redundant expansion may not be such a bad idea. In other applications, as in image compression, we may not want to keep all the coefficients of signal expansion with a set of given vectors so it is quite possible that frames may be able to do the job instead of bases which need more tedious construction.

Frames

Definition: Consider a set of vectors \(\{\phi_{k}\}_{k=1}^{\infty} \in H \) and that there exist constants \(A,B \gt 0\). \(\phi_{k}\) is a frame in \(H\) if

\[ A\|f\|^{2} \le \sum_{k=1}^{\infty} | \lt f,\phi_{k} \gt |^{2} \le B\|f\|^{2}, \forall f \in H \]

If \(A=B\) then the frame is called a Tight Frame.

If vectors \(\{\phi_{k}\}_{k=1}^{\infty} \in H \) are linearly independent then the frame is non-redundant and is called a Riesz Basis.

Let \(\{\phi_{k}\}_{k=1}^{\infty} \in H \) be a frame with frame operator \(S\) and bounds \(A,B\) then following is true

Navigation

Hilbert Space

Resources

Functional Analysis Wikibook

Basis Wiki Page

Frames Wiki page

References

Ole Christensen::An introduction to frames and Riesz bases

Mallat::A Wavelet Tour of Signal processing

Goyal et al::Fourier and Wavelet Signal Processing

Christopher Heil::A Basis Theory primer