Limit of $L^p$ norm

Solution 1:

Fix $\delta>0$ and let $S_\delta:=\{x,|f(x)|\geqslant \lVert f\rVert_\infty-\delta\}$ for $\delta<\lVert f\rVert_\infty$. We have $$\lVert f\rVert_p\geqslant \left(\int_{S_\delta}(\lVert f\rVert_\infty-\delta)^pd\mu\right)^{1/p}=(\lVert f\rVert_\infty-\delta)\mu(S_\delta)^{1/p},$$ since $\mu(S_\delta)$ is finite and positive. This gives $$\liminf_{p\to +\infty}\lVert f\rVert_p\geqslant\lVert f\rVert_\infty.$$ As $|f(x)|\leqslant\lVert f\rVert_\infty$ for almost every $x$, we have for $p>q$, $$ \lVert f\rVert_p\leqslant\left(\int_X|f(x)|^{p-q}|f(x)|^qd\mu\right)^{1/p}\leqslant \lVert f\rVert_\infty^{\frac{p-q}p}\lVert f\rVert_q^{q/p},$$ giving the reverse inequality.

Solution 2:

Let $f:X\to \mathbb{R}$. Assume that $f$ is measurable, and that $\|f\|_p<\infty$ for all large $p$. Suppose for convenience that $f\geq 0$. (If not, just work with $f^*:=|f|$.) We define $$ \|f\|_{\infty}:=\sup \{r\in \mathbb{R}: \mu\left( \{x:|f(x)|\geq r\} \right)>0\}. $$

I claim without proof that $\|f\|_p < \infty$ for large $p$ implies that $\|f\|_\infty < \infty$.

If $\|f\|_{\infty}=0$, we can see that the proposition holds trivially. If $\|f\|_{\infty}\neq 0$, let $M:=\|f\|_{\infty}$.

Fix $\epsilon$ such that $0< \epsilon < M$. Define $D:=\{x:f(x)\geq M-\epsilon\}$. Observe that $\mu(D)>0$ by definition of $\|f\|_{\infty}$. Also, $\mu(D)<\infty$ since $f$ is integrable for all large $p$. Now we can establish $\liminf_{p\to\infty }\|f\|_p\geq M-\epsilon$ by $$ \left( \int_{X}f(x)^p dx \right)^{1/p} \geq \left( \int_D (M-\epsilon)^pdx \right)^{1/p} = (M-\epsilon)\mu(D)^{1/p} \xrightarrow{p\to\infty}(M-\epsilon) $$

Now we show $\limsup_{p\to\infty}\|f\|_{p} \leq M+\epsilon$. Let $\tilde{f}(x) := \dfrac{f(x)}{M+\epsilon}$. Observe that $0\leq \tilde{f}(x)\leq M/(M+\epsilon)<1$, and that $$ \left( \int_{X} f(x)^p dx \right)^{1/p} = (M+\epsilon)\left( \int_{X} \tilde{f}(x)^p dx \right)^{1/p}. $$

Now it suffices to show that $\int_X \tilde{f}(x)^p dx$ is bounded above by $1$ as $p\to \infty$, since then we have

$$ \left( \int_{X} f(x)^p dx \right)^{1/p} = (M+\epsilon)\left( \int_{X} \tilde{f}(x)^p dx \right)^{1/p} \leq M+\epsilon. $$

But observe that $$ \int_{X} f(x)^{a+b} dx = \int_{X} f(x)^{a}f(x)^b dx $$ $$ \leq \int_{X} f(x)^{a} \left(\frac{M}{M+\epsilon}\right) ^b dx = \left(\frac{M}{M+\epsilon}\right)^b \int_{X} f(x)^{a} dx. $$
Therefore $\int_{X} f(x)^{p} dx$ will eventually be less than one. This shows $\displaystyle\limsup_{p\to\infty}\|f\|_{p} \leq M+\epsilon$ and completes the proof.