Structure-preserving discretization of fractional vector calculus using discrete exterior calculus

Jacobson, Alon; Hu, Xiaozhe

doi:10.1016/j.camwa.2023.11.012

We construct counterexamples to classical calculus facts such as the inverse and implicit function theorems in scale calculus—a generalization of multivariable calculus to infinite-dimensional vector spaces, in which the reparameterization maps relevant to symplectic geometry are smooth. Scale calculus is a corner stone of polyfold theory, which was introduced by Hofer, Wysocki, and Zehnder as a broadly applicable tool for regularizing moduli spaces of pseudoholomorphic curves. We show how the novel nonlinear scale-Fredholm notion in polyfold theory overcomes the lack of implicit function theorems, by formally establishing an often implicitly used fact: The differentials of basic germs—the local models for scale-Fredholm maps—vary continuously in the space of bounded operators when the base point changes. We moreover demonstrate that this continuity holds only in specific coordinates, by constructing an example of a scale-diffeomorphism and scale-Fredholm map with discontinuous differentials. This justifies the high technical complexity in the foundations of polyfold theory.

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