Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2026/iii/paper-106/2/f/iii/solution

Let be the completion under the assumed algebra norm. Restriction sends every to a character of the dense subalgebra , hence by part i to for some . Continuity of the restriction says exactly that . Conversely, every continuous for the algebra norm extends uniquely through the completion, and continuity of multiplication makes the extension a character of . Restriction and extension therefore give a bijection
For , choose converging to in the algebra norm. Characters on the unital Banach algebra are uniformly norm bounded, so converges uniformly to the function . This function is continuous. Hence is continuous into the Gelfand topology. Its inverse is again , so the bijection is a homeomorphism. In particular, is compact.
Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.

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