Scale-uniform inverse inequalities for scaled kernel spaces

Abstract: Inverse inequalities are an important tool in the stability and convergence analysis of kernel approximation methods. In a multiscale setting, however, the trial space changes with the kernel scale $δ$, and inverse estimates for a fixed kernel are not sufficient. The constants must remain controlled as $δ\to0$. In this paper, we study scale-uniform inverse inequalities for spaces generated by scaled positive definite kernels whose native spaces are Sobolev spaces. We first establish inverse estimates in scale-dependent Sobolev spaces. On bounded domains, this leads to a scale-uniform inverse inequality in standard Sobolev norms with $L<sup>2$ as the weaker norm. The estimate requires only that the separation distance of the centers be bounded above by a fixed multiple of the kernel scale. This allows the kernel scale to decrease more slowly than the separation distance, as is relevant in multiscale refinement. We then establish more general scale-uniform Bernstein inequalities on the whole space. Our result covers a broad range of weaker and stronger Sobolev indices under the same relation between the separation distance and the kernel scale. The proof works directly with the Fourier representation of functions in the kernel space and combines a low-high frequency decomposition with frame estimates for separated exponential polynomials. This avoids the additional scale factors that arise from separate comparisons of scaled and standard Sobolev norms.