Refinable functions with non-integer dilations (Q996256)

Let \(\lambda \in {\mathbb R}\) with \(| \lambda| >1\) be a dilation factor. Let \(c_j,\, d_j \in {\mathbb R}\) \((j=0,\ldots, m)\) be given with \(c_0+\, \ldots \, + c_m = | \lambda| \). A real function (or distribution) \(f\) is called \(\lambda\)-refinable, if \[ f(x) = \sum_{j=0}^m c_j\, f(\lambda x - d_j). \] In this paper, the authors study the decay of the Fourier transform \(\hat f\) of a \(\lambda\)-refinable function \(f\). They prove that uniform decay of \(\hat f\) can be achieved for any dilation factor \(\lambda\). For any dilation factor \(\lambda\) and any integer \(k\geq 0\), it is shown that there exists a compactly supported \(\lambda\)-refinable \(C^k({\mathbb R})\)-function with \(c_j>0\). The connection between algebraic properties of \(\lambda\) and the regularity of \(\lambda\)-refinable functions is discussed, too. The authors construct explicitly a \(\lambda\)-refinable function \(f\), where \(\lambda\) is a certain algebraic number and \(\hat f\) has uniform decay. This paper can be viewed as a continuation of related investigations on Bernoulli convolutions. Finally, the authors formulate some open problems.