Universality properties of Walsh-Fourier series (Q478493)

For a function \(f\in L[0,1)\), the authors consider the Walsh-Fourier partial sums \((S_n f)\) defined in terms of the system of Walsh-Paley functions on the interval \([0,1)\). It is known that for \(f\in L^p[0,1)\) with \(p>1\), the sequence \((S_n f)\) converges to \(f\) in \( L^p[0,1)\) as well as everywhere. Moreover, there exist functions in \(L[0,1)\) so that \((S_n f)\) diverges everywhere on \([0,1)\). If \(f\) is continuous on \([0,1)\), and thus \(f\in L^2[0,1)\), the analogue of Carleson's theorem for Walsh-Fourier series implies that \((S_n f)\) converges pointwise to \(f\) almost everywhere on \([0,1)\). On the other hand, using the Banach-Steinhaus theorem, it is easy to see that, for a fixed point \(x_0\in [0,1)\), there exists a set \(M\), dense in the space \(C[0,1)\) of continuous real-valued functions, so that \((S_n f)\) diverges unboundedly at the point \(x_0\) for all \(f\in M\). In view of that it is natural to ask for possible limit functions in the case of divergence of \((S_n f)\). In this paper the authors study this question replacing the space \(C[0,1)\) by the span of the Walsh functions, uniformly closed in the space of bounded functions on \([0,1)\). This leads to the space of W-continuous functions on \([0,1)\), where a function is called W-continuous if it is continuous for the dyadic topology on \([0,1)\) to the usual topology. The authors show that Walsh-Fourier series of W-continuous functions can have maximal sets of limit functions on small subsets of the unit interval.