Dirac's representation theory as a framework for signal theory. I: Discrete finite signals (Q1271543)

After defining the ``Dirac space'' consisting of the vectors of sampled signals with \(K\) data points (they are kets in quantum-mechanical terminology), the author discusses orthonormal and non-orthonormal bases of this space. Some main points of signal theory, in particular the sampling theorem, are developed using the sort of spectral theory of observables used in quantum mechanics. The author's variant of the sampling theorem is based on a decomposition of the Dirac space into two subspaces of equal dimension. The sampling theorem then manifests as a relation between the complete basis in a subspace and the ``overcomplete'' basis obtained by projecting the basis of the Dirac space into the subspace. For Part II see Zbl 0924.94015 below.