6/21/2015

DeltaFunctionfromWolframMathWorld

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DeltaFunction

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y''+y=2delta(t2),y(0)=0,y'(0)=0

Thedeltafunctionisageneralizedfunctionthatcanbedefinedasthelimitofaclassofdeltasequences.Thedelta
functionissometimescalled"Dirac'sdeltafunction"orthe"impulsesymbol"(Bracewell1999).Itisimplementedin
theWolframLanguageasDiracDelta[x].
Formally, isalinearfunctionalfromaspace(commonlytakenasaSchwartzspace orthespaceofallsmooth
functionsofcompactsupport )oftestfunctions .Theactionof on ,commonlydenoted
or
,then
givesthevalueat0of foranyfunction .Inengineeringcontexts,thefunctionalnatureofthedeltafunctionisoften
suppressed.

SchrdingerEquation
foraDiracBubble
Potential
S.M.Blinder

ThedeltafunctioncanbeviewedasthederivativeoftheHeavisidestepfunction,

InteractiveEntries

(1)

RandomEntry
NewinMathWorld
MathWorldClassroom

(Bracewell1999,p.94).

Howthe
Superpositionofthe
PeriodicPulsationsof
+1and1Generates
ValuesoftheMertens
Function
R.M.Abrarov

Thedeltafunctionhasthefundamentalpropertythat
AboutMathWorld

(2)

ContributetoMathWorld

ParticleinaBox
SpectraforDelta
FunctionPerturbation
YogeshN.Joglekar

SendaMessagetotheTeam

and,infact,
MathWorldBook

(3)

IntegralsoverDirac
DeltaFunction
Representations
PorschaMcRobbie

WolframWebResources
13,572entries
Lastupdated:ThuJun112015

Created,developed,and
nurturedbyEricWeisstein
atWolframResearch

for

Additionalidentitiesinclude
(4)
for

,aswellas
(5)
(6)

Moregenerally,thedeltafunctionofafunctionof isgivenby
(7)

wherethe saretherootsof .Forexample,examine

(8)
Then

,so

and

,giving
(9)

Thefundamentalequationthatdefinesderivativesofthedeltafunction

is
(10)

Letting

inthisdefinition,itfollowsthat
(11)
(12)
(13)

wherethesecondtermcanbedroppedsince

,so(13)implies
(14)

Ingeneral,thesameproceduregives
(15)

butsinceanypowerof times
integratesto0,itfollowsthatonlytheconstanttermcontributes.Therefore,all
termsmultipliedbyderivativesof
vanish,leaving
,so
(16)

whichimplies

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/DeltaFunction.html

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DeltaFunctionfromWolframMathWorld
(17)
Otheridentitiesinvolvingthederivativeofthedeltafunctioninclude
(18)
(19)
(20)

where denotesconvolution,
(21)

and
(22)
Anintegralidentityinvolving

isgivenby
(23)

Thedeltafunctionalsoobeysthesocalledsiftingproperty
(24)

(Bracewell1999,pp.7475).
AFourierseriesexpansionof

gives
(25)
(26)
(27)
(28)

so
(29)

(30)

ThedeltafunctionisgivenasaFouriertransformas
(31)

Similarly,
(32)

(Bracewell1999,p.95).Moregenerally,theFouriertransformofthedeltafunctionis
(33)

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DeltaFunctionfromWolframMathWorld
Thedeltafunctioncanbedefinedasthefollowinglimitsas

,
(34)
(35)
(36)
(37)
(38)
(39)
(40)

where
isanAiryfunction,
arbitrarypositiveintegerorder.

isaBesselfunctionofthefirstkind,and

isaLaguerrepolynomialof

Thedeltafunctioncanalsobedefinedbythelimitas
(41)

Deltafunctionscanalsobedefinedintwodimensions,sothatintwodimensionalCartesiancoordinates
(42)

(43)
(44)

and
(45)
Similarly,inpolarcoordinates,
(46)

(Bracewell1999,p.85).
InthreedimensionalCartesiancoordinates
(47)

(48)

and
(49)
incylindricalcoordinates

,
(50)

Insphericalcoordinates

,
(51)

(Bracewell1999,p.85).
Aseriesexpansionincylindricalcoordinatesgives
(52)
(53)

Thesolutiontosomeordinarydifferentialequationscanbegivenintermsofderivativesof
example,thedifferentialequation

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/DeltaFunction.html

(Kanwal1998).For

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DeltaFunctionfromWolframMathWorld
(54)
hasclassicalsolution
(55)

anddistributionalsolution
(56)
(M.Trott,pers.comm.,Jan.19,2006).Notethatunlikeclassicalsolutions,adistributionalsolutiontoan thorder
ODEneednotcontain independentconstants.

SEEALSO:

DeltaSequence,DoubletFunction,FourierTransformDeltaFunction,GeneralizedFunction,ImpulseSymbol,
PoincarBertrandTheorem,ShahFunction,Sokhotsky'sFormula
RELATEDWOLFRAMSITES:

http://functions.wolfram.com/GeneralizedFunctions/DiracDelta/,
http://functions.wolfram.com/GeneralizedFunctions/DiracDelta2/
REFERENCES:
Arfken,G.MathematicalMethodsforPhysicists,3rded.Orlando,FL:AcademicPress,pp.481485,1985.
Bracewell,R."TheImpulseSymbol."Ch.5inTheFourierTransformandItsApplications,3rded.NewYork:McGrawHill,pp.74
104,2000.
Dirac,P.A.M.QuantumMechanics,4thed.London:OxfordUniversityPress,1958.
Gasiorowicz,S.QuantumPhysics.NewYork:Wiley,pp.491494,1974.
Kanwal,R.P."ApplicationstoOrdinaryDifferentialEquations."Ch.6inGeneralizedFunctions,TheoryandTechnique,2nded.
Boston,MA:Birkhuser,pp.291255,1998.
Papoulis,A.Probability,RandomVariables,andStochasticProcesses,2nded.NewYork:McGrawHill,pp.9798,1984.
Spanier,J.andOldham,K.B."TheDiracDeltaFunction
Hemisphere,pp.7982,1987.

."Ch.10inAnAtlasofFunctions.Washington,DC:

vanderPol,B.andBremmer,H.OperationalCalculusBasedontheTwoSidedLaplaceIntegral.Cambridge,England:Cambridge
UniversityPress,1955.

ReferencedonWolfram|Alpha:DeltaFunction
CITETHISAS:
Weisstein,EricW."DeltaFunction."FromMathWorldAWolframWebResource.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/DeltaFunction.html

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