Direct limits, multiresolution analyses, and wavelets

A multiresolution analysis for a Hilbert space realizes the Hilbert space as the direct limit of an increasing sequence of closed subspaces. In a previous paper, we showed how, conversely, direct limits could be used to construct Hilbert spaces which have multiresolution analyses with desired properties. In this paper, we use direct limits, and in particular the universal property which characterizes them, to construct wavelet bases in a variety of concrete Hilbert spaces of functions. Our results apply to the classical situation involving dilation matrices on $L^2(\R^n)$, the wavelets on fractals studied by Dutkay and Jorgensen, and Hilbert spaces of functions on solenoids.