Continuous shearlet frames and resolution of the wavefront set (Q652549)

\textit{G. Kutyniok} and \textit{D. Labate} [``Resolution of the wavefront set using continuous shearlets'', Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 361, No. 5, 2719--2754 (2009; Zbl 1169.42012)] showed that for shearlet generators having very specific properties, the wavefront set \(\text{WF}\, (f)\) of a tempered distribution \(f\) can be resolved in terms of the rate of decay of shearlet coefficients. The goal here is to extend this characterization to a more general class of shearlet generating functions. The techniques for wavefront characterization then need to be adjusted to this more general family. The shearlet transform of \(f\) is \[ \mathcal{SH}_\psi f(a,s,t)=\langle f,\, \psi_{ast}\rangle,\,\, a>0,\,\, s\in\mathbb{R},\,\, t\in\mathbb{R}^2, \] where \[ \psi_{ast} (x_1,x_2)= a^{-3/4}\psi\Bigl({x_1-t_1+s(x_2-t_2)\over a},{x_2-t_2\over a^{1/2}}\Bigr)\, . \] The argument is defined by the action of the shear group with product \((a,s,t)\circ (\tilde{a},\tilde{s},\tilde{t})=(a\tilde{a}, s+\tilde{s}\sqrt{a},t+S_sA_s t)\) where \(A_s=\text{ diag} (a,\sqrt{a})\) and \(S_s (x_1, x_2) = (x_1-sx_2, x_2)\). The shearlet transform is then isometric from \(L^2(\mathbb{R}^2)\) to its image in \(L^2\) of the shearlet group. Let \(f\) be a tempered distribution and \(\mathcal{D}=\mathcal{D}_1\cup\mathcal{D}_2\) where \((t_0,s_0)\in \mathcal{D}_1\subset \mathbb{R}^2\times [-1,1]\) if \(|\mathcal{SH}_\psi f(a,s,t)|=O(a^k) \) for all \((s,t)\) in a neighborhood of \((s_0,t_0)\) and all \( k\in\mathbb{N} \), and \(\mathcal{D}_2\) is the set of all \((t_0,s_0)\in \mathbb{R}^2\times [1,\infty]\) such that for \((1/s,t)\) in a neighborhood of \((s_0,t_0)\), \(|\mathcal{SH}_\psi f(a,s,t)|=O(a^k)\) for all \(k\in\mathbb{N}\). In both cases, the ``O'' constants are uniformly bounded in the given neighborhoods. Kutyniok and Labate [loc. cit.] showed that for \(\psi\) having compact Fourier support in a suitable wedge, \(\text{ WF}(f)^c=\mathcal{D}\). The primary result of this work replaces the frequency support condition on \(\psi\) by the more general condition that ``\(\psi\) has infinitely many vanishing moments in the \(x_1\)-direction'' meaning that for all \(n=1,2,\dots\), \[ \int_{\mathbb{R}^2} {|\hat{\psi}(\omega)|^2\over |\omega_1|^{2n}}\, d\omega <\infty\, . \] To define the wavefront set \(\text{ WF}^N(f)\), one says that \(x\) is an \(N\)-regular point in the \(\lambda\) direction if there is a neighborhood \(U_x\) of \(x\), a smooth cutoff function \(\Phi\) around \(U_x\) and a neighborhood \(V_\lambda\) of \(\lambda>0\) such that \[ (\Phi f)^{\wedge}(\eta) =O((1+|\eta|)^{-N}),\quad \text{ on}\,\, \Bigl\{ \eta=(\eta_1,\eta_2):\, { \eta_2\over \eta_1}\in V_\lambda \Bigr\}\, . \] Then \(\text{ WF}^N(f)\) is the complement of the set of \(N\)-regular directed points and the wavefront set is \(\text{ WF}(f)=\bigcup_{N>0} \text{ WF}^N(f) \). To establish the main result, first, one shows that \(\mathcal{SH}_\psi f(a,s,t)\) has fast decay in \(a\) if \(f\) is smooth in \(t\) and direction \(s\). This involves first representing \(L^2\)-functions in terms of continuous frames of shearlets. Then an inverse theorem is provided showing that if the shearlet transform has suitable directional decay then \(f\) must have corresponding directional smoothness.