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Suppose $(X,\mathscr{F},\mu)$, and $\{f_n,f:n\in\mathbb{N}\}$ be a a collection of measurable functions.

  1. It is a well known fact that if $f_n$ converges to $f$ point-wise $\mu$-a.s., then $f_n$ converges to $f$ weakly in measure, that is, for any $A\in\mathscr{F}$ with $\mu(A)<\infty$ and any $\delta>0$ $$\lim_n\mu(A\cap\{|f_n-f|>\delta\})=0$$

  2. Conversely, if $\mu$ is $\sigma$--finite and $f_n$ converges to $f$ weakly in measure, then there exists a subsequence $f_{n_k}$ such that $f_{n_k}$ converges point-wise $\mu$-a.s. to $f$.

An immediate consequence of (1) and (2) is the following

Proposition: If $\mu$ is $\sigma$-finite and $f_n$ converges to $f$ $\mu$-a.s. and $f_n$ converges to $g$ weakly in measure, then $f=g$ $\mu$-a.s.

My questions are: Does the Proposition above hold when $\mu$ is not $\sigma$-finite? Are there any semi-finite measures for which the Proposition does not hold?

This is motivated by a seemingly (at first sight) trivial question that appeared here. As it is pointed out in the comments to that question, the problem is indeed trivial when $\mu$ is $\sigma$-finite.


Note: $\mu$ is semi-finite if for any $A\in\mathscr{F}$, $\mu(A)>0$ implies that there is $B\in\mathscr{B}$, $B\subset A$, such that $0<\mu(B)<\infty$.


Edit: If $\mu$ is semi-finite, the conclusion of the Proposition above holds: Let $f_n$,$f$ and $g$ be as in the Proposition above, and suppose $\mu(|f-g|>0)>0$. Then there exists $A\in\mathscr{F}$ with $0<\mu(A)<\infty$ on which $f\neq g$. Since $f_n$ converges point wise $\mu$-a.s. to $f$, by (1) we have that for any $\delta>0$ $\mu(A\cap\{|f_n-f|>\delta\})\xrightarrow{n\rightarrow\infty}0$ Hence $$\mu(A\cap\{|f-g|>2\delta\})\leq\mu(A\cap\{|f_n-g|>\delta\})+\mu(A\cap\{|f_n-f|>\delta\})\xrightarrow{n\rightarrow\infty}0$$ This means that $\mu(A\cap\{|f-g|>0\})=0$ which is a contradiction. $\Box$

The first question, in the case where $\mu$ admits atoms of infinite mass still escapes me. Recall that every measure $\mu$ can be expressed as the sum of two measures $\mu_0$ and $\nu$ where $\mu_0$ is semi-finite, and $\nu(A)=\infty$ if $A\in\mathscr{F}$ contains an atom of infinite mass, and $\nu(A)=0$ other wise. Then $\mu_0(|f-g|>0)=0$.

Mittens
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  • Well, if the measure has no sets of finite nonzero measure then the definition of convergence weakly in measure is vacuous... – Eric Wofsey Jul 31 '21 at 05:02
  • @EricWofsey: I though about that example $\mu=\infty\delta_0$ on $([0,1],\mathscr{B}([0,1])$ and indeed, that seems to produce a counter example. But is this the only pathological example? – Mittens Jul 31 '21 at 05:05
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    Well that depends on what you mean by "only". Of course there are many trivial variations on this example you can make. – Eric Wofsey Jul 31 '21 at 05:06
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    I don't understand your proof for the semifinite case. What are the $f,g$ you are starting with? You seem (at best) to be proving that the limit of (local) convergence in measure has to coincide with the a.s. limit if it exists. Or am I missing something? – PhoemueX Jul 31 '21 at 09:02
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    The functions $f$ and $g$ are as in the statement of the Proposition: $f_n$ converges to $f$ point wise $\mu$-a.s., and $f_n$ converges to $g$ weakly in measure. Te argument shows that $f=g$ $\mu$-a.s. If not, there is a set of positive finite measure, say $A$, where $f\neq g$, that is, $0<\mu(A\cap{|f-g|<0)<\infty$. Then, using the well known results from the finite case, one gets that $\mu(A\cap{|f-g|>0})=0$ which is a contradiction. – Mittens Jul 31 '21 at 09:08

1 Answers1

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Here is a counter example that shows that the proposition given in the OP may fail when $\mu$ is not semi finite. On the Borel space $([0,1],\mathscr{B}([0,1])$ define the measure $$\mu=\infty\cdot\delta_0 +\lambda_1$$ where $\lambda_1$ is restriction to $(0,1]$ of the Lebesgue measure on the real line, and $\delta_0$ is the measure that assigns the value $1$ to any set that contains $0$ and the value $0$ otherwise.

It is obvious that $\mu$ is not semi finite since $\{0\}$ is an atom with $\mu(\{0\})=\infty$. For $n\in\mathbb{N}$ define $f_n=\frac{1}{n}\mathbb{1}_{(0,1]}$, and let $f\equiv0$ and $g=\mathbb{1}_{\{0\}}$. It is readily seen that $\lim_{n\rightarrow0}f_n(x)=f(x)=0$ for all $x\in [0,1]$, and that for any set $B\in\mathbb{B}((0,1])$ and $\delta>0$ $$\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}\mu\big(x\in B: |f_n(x)-g(x)|>\delta\big)=0$$ However $$\mu\big(x\in[0,1]:f(x)\neq g(x)\big)=\mu(\{0\})=\infty$$.

Mittens
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