Balian-Low type theorems in finite dimensions (Q1741833)

Balian-Low theorems are statements about Gabor systems. Recall, a Gabor system $G(g, \alpha, \beta)$ generated by $g \in L^2 (\mathbb{R})$ with respect to a lattice generated by $\alpha,\beta >0 $ is given by \[ G(g,\alpha,\beta)=\{e^{2\pi i \alpha k}g(x-\beta n)\quad k,n\in \mathbb{Z}\}. \] The Balian-Low theorem states that if $G(g, \alpha, \beta)$ is an orthonormal basis or a Riesz basis in $L^2 (\mathbb{R})$ then \[ \int |x g(x) |^2 dx = \infty\text{ or }\int |\xi \hat g(\xi) |^2 d\xi = \infty, \] where $\hat g$ is the Fourier transform of $g$, see for example [\textit{C. Heil}, A basis theory primer. Expanded ed. Basel: Birkhäuser (2011; Zbl 1227.46001)]. \par This paper is devoted to the ``finite dimensional Balian-Low conjecture'' in [\textit{M. Lammers} and \textit{S. Stampe}, ``The finite Balian-Low conjecture'', in: International Conference on Sampling Theory and Applications (SampTA). 139--143 (2015)] in the list of references. The authors answer this question in the affirmative. The corresponding statement is formulated as Theorem 1.1, and it is shown how the classical Balian-Low theorem follows as its corollary (in Section 6). \par The quantitative Balian-Low theorem from the authors [J. Fourier Anal. Appl. 19, No. 5, 1078--1092 (2013; Zbl 1304.42079)] is proved here in a finite dimensional version, Theorem 1.5. Both Theorems 1.1 and 1.5 are extended to Gabor systems over rectangles (Theorems 1.8 and 1.9). As the main tool the authors use the Zak transform in its finite and continuous version. Improvements of some results from [loc. cit.] are given in Section 3. Theorem 1.1 is proved in Section 4, based on the Zak transform properties from Section 3. Then, the main ideas from [loc. cit.] together with appropriate improvements are used to prove a finite dimensional version of the quantitative Balian-Low theorem, Theorem 1.5.