Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2023/iii/paper-106/4/b/solution

The estimate
shows . For nonzero , the rank-one operator
has norm one and attains equality. The zero cases are immediate.
Embed the operator unit ball into
by . The product is compact by Tychonoff theorem. A pointwise limit of these coordinates is a bilinear form satisfying
By the stated representation theorem for bounded bilinear forms, for a unique operator with . The image is therefore closed and compact. Its product topology is precisely the weak operator topology .
The linear span separates operators, and the preceding compactness lets part (a) identify isometrically with . Thus is a dual Banach space. This is the operator predual from matrix coefficients.

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