On the density of polyharmonic splines (Q1944309)

Let \(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^d\) and \(|\cdot |\) denote the Euclidean norm on \(\mathbb{R}^d\). Let \(k> d/2\) and set \[ \phi_{d,k} (r) =\begin{cases} r^{2k-d}, & \text{\(d\) odd}\\ r^{2k-d}\log r, & \text{\(d\) even} \end{cases} \] for \(r\geq 0\). In this article, the authors consider the problem of density (fundamentality) of translates of the radial basis functions \(\phi_{d,k}(|\cdot -y|)\) (called polyharmonic splines) in \(C(\Omega)\), as \(y\) varies over a set \(Y\). This is a popular tool used to construct approximants on \(\mathbb{R}^d\). Density is not difficult to prove if one adds to the linear combination of translates a low degree polynomial, or when the set \(Y\) is larger than \(\Omega\). When \(\Omega = Y\) is the unit ball in \(R^d\), then density is proven. If \(\Omega = Y\) is any compact set in \(R^d\), then it is shown that the set of translates are dense in \(C_0(\Omega)\), i.e., the set of continuous functions on \(\Omega\) that vanish on the boundary of \(\Omega\).