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I am searching for an example of an measurable space $(\Omega,\mathfrak{A},\mu)$ and a measurable function f: $\Omega \to \mathbb{R}$ such that $f \in \mathfrak{L}^1 (\Omega,\mathfrak{A},\mu)$ but $f^2 \notin \mathfrak{L}^1(\Omega,\mathfrak{A},\mu)$

I guess the standard example for this woulf be $f =\frac{1}{\sqrt{|x|}}$, but I thought you can construct something better, having the free choice of the measurable space.

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  • $\begingroup$ This isn't true, it just shows that $\mathfrak{L}^2\not\subseteq\mathfrak{L}^1$. You'd still need to show that the normal inclusion holds, which of course is generally false. $\endgroup$ Jun 19, 2017 at 20:38
  • $\begingroup$ Do you really mean $f^2 \notin \mathfrak L^2$, or was it $f$? $\endgroup$ Jun 19, 2017 at 20:41
  • $\begingroup$ No it really is $f^2$ since 1/x is not integrable. $\endgroup$
    – user335236
    Jun 19, 2017 at 20:45
  • $\begingroup$ But neither is $f$? $\endgroup$
    – Paul
    Jun 19, 2017 at 20:48
  • $\begingroup$ If $f = 1/\sqrt{|x|}$ (say on $[-1,1]$ with Lebesgue measure), that $1/|x|$ is not integrable says $f^2 \notin \mathfrak L^1$. It's also not in $\mathfrak L^2$, but that has little to do with the fact that $\mathfrak L^1 \not \subset \mathfrak L^2$. $\endgroup$ Jun 19, 2017 at 20:49

2 Answers 2

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Consider $\mathbb{R}$ with Lebesgue measure $\lambda$, let $\rho(x) := (x^2+1)^{-1}$ on $\mathbb{R}$, and define a $\lambda$-absolutely continuous positive measure $\mu$ on $\mathbb{R}$ by $d\mu := \rho d\lambda$. Then, as you can easily check, the function $f(x) := \sqrt{\lvert x \rvert}$ on $\mathbb{R}$ satisfies $f \in L^1(\mathbb{R},\mu) \setminus L^2(\mathbb{R},\mu)$. More generally, do you see how to construct similar examples out of $\mathbb{R}^n$ with the $n$-dimensional Lebesgue measure?

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(I). Measure spaces are a very broad class. For example the counting measure on the subsets of $\mathbb N$ (or on the subsets of any set) where $\mu (S)$ is the number of members of $S$ if $S$ is finite, and $\mu (S)=\infty$ if $S$ is an infinite set. In this case, $f\in L^1\implies \infty > \sum_{n\in \mathbb N}f(n) \implies \infty > \sum_{n\in \mathbb N}f(n)^2 \implies f^2\in L^1.$

An atom of a measure $\mu$ is a set $A\in dom (\mu)$ such that $\mu (A)\ne 0$ and such that for any $B\in dom (\mu)$ with $B\subset A$ we have $\mu (B)=0$ or $\mu (B)=\mu (A).$

For example, with the counting measure on $\mathbb N,$ the set $\{n\}$ is an atom for each $n\in \mathbb N.$

(II). Let $(M,S,\mu)$ be a measure space where $S$ is a $\sigma$-algebra on M, and $\mu:S\to [0,\infty]$ is a countably additive measure with $\mu(M)\ne 0.$

We can prove that if $A\in S$ with $\mu(A)\ne 0,$ and if no subset of $A$ is an atom of $\mu,$ then for each $r\in (0,\mu(A))$ there exists $B$ with $A\supset B\in S$ with $r>\mu(B)>0.$ And from this we can prove that for any sequence $(r_n)_{n\in \mathbb N}$ of positive reals there exists a sequence $(B_n)_{n\in \mathbb N}$ of subsets of $A$ that are in $dom (\mu),$ such that $x_n>\mu(B_n)>0$ for every $n$, and such that $B_m\cap B_n=\phi$ when $m\ne n.$

Consider the case $r_n=1/n^3.$ For $x\in M$ let $f(x)=1/n^2m(B_n)$ for $x\in B_n,$ and $f(x)=0$ if $x$ is not in any $B_n.$ Then $\int_M|f|d\mu=\sum_{m\in \mathbb N}1/n^2<\infty$ but $\int_{B_n}|f|^2d\mu=\sum_{n\in \mathbb N}1/(n^4m(B_n)\geq \sum_{n\in \mathbb N}1/n=\infty.$

So $f\in L^1$ and $f^2\not \in L^1.$

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