Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

This thesis addresses four topics in the area of applied harmonic analysis. First, we show that the affine densities of separable wavelet frames affect the frame properties. In particular, we describe a new relationship between the affine densities, frame bounds and weighted admissibility constants of the mother wavelets of pairs of separable wavelet frames. This result is also extended to wavelet frame sequences. Second, we consider affine pseudodifferential operators, generalizations of pseudodifferential operators that model wideband wireless communication channels. We find two classes of Banach spaces, characterized by wavelet and ridgelet transforms, so that inclusion of the kernel and symbol in appropriate spaces ensures the operator if Schatten p-class. Third, we examine the Schatten class properties of pseudodifferential operators. Using Gabor frame techniques, we show that if the kernel of a pseudodifferential operator lies in a particular mixed modulation space, then the operator is Schatten p-class. This result improves existing theorems and is sharp in the sense that larger mixed modulation spaces yield operators that are not Schatten class. The implications of this result for the Kohn-Nirenberg symbol of a pseudodifferential operator are also described. Lastly, Fourier integral operators are analyzed with Gabor frame techniques. We show that, given a certain smoothness in the phase function of a Fourier integral operator, the inclusion of the symbol in appropriate mixed modulation spaces is sufficient to guarantee that the operator is Schatten p-class.