Decomposition of Besov and Triebel–Lizorkin spaces on the sphere

A discrete system of almost exponentially localized elements (needlets) on the n-dimensional unit sphere Sn is constructed. It shown that the needlet system can be used for decomposition of Besov and Triebel–Lizorkin spaces on the sphere. As an application of Besov spaces on Sn, a Jackson estimate for nonlinear m-term approximation from the needlet system is obtained. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved