A linear functional δ mapping the compactly supported continuous real functions to their value at zero argument: \delta: \, C^0 \rightarrow \mathbb{R} though the following integral:
(1) | f(0) = \int_{-\infty}^{-\infty} f(x) \, \delta (x) \, dx |
which also means that:
|
(see schematic representation on Fig. 1) |
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of Dirac Delta Function |
The base definition of (1) can be naturally generalized to the wider class of real functions over the n-dimensional space C^0_n: \mathbb{R}^n \rightarrow \mathbb{R} as:
(4) | f(0) = \int_{\mathbb{R}^n} f({\bf r}) \, \delta ({\bf r}) \, dV |
where
{\bf r} = (x^1, ... , x^n) | position vector in \mathbb{R}^n |
dV = dx^1 ... dx^n | infinitesimal volume element in \mathbb{R}^n |
The above definition (4) can be thought as a product of 1-dimensional delta functions:
(5) | \delta ({\bf r})= \delta (x^1) ... \delta (x^n) |