Closed unit ball 2026-10-06
The closed unit ball of a normed vector space is the set of vectors of norm at most one. In a continuous dual space it is compact in the weak-star topology by the Banach-Alaoglu theorem.
Compactly supported distribution space 2026-09-28
The continuous dual of is the space of compactly supported distributions on . Its weak topology is pointwise convergence on .
Continuous linear functional Created 2026-09-29 Updated 2026-10-03
A continuous linear functional is a continuous linear map from a topological vector space to its scalar field. The collection of all such functionals is the continuous dual space.
Duality of Lp spaces Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
For and conjugate exponent , every bounded linear functional on over a sigma-finite measure space has the formfor a unique , and its operator norm is . At the endpoint , this says .
For Fréchet spaces, the two continuity conditions for a linear map are equivalent. Original continuity makes every target continuous linear functional compose to a source continuous linear functional, proving weak continuity. Conversely, weak continuity makes these compositions continuous in the original source topology. They separate target points, so limits in the graph of a linear operator remain in the graph. The closed graph theorem for Fréchet spaces finishes the proof.
Without the hypotheses, equal continuous dual spaces do not imply equal topologies. The identity from an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space with its weak topology to its norm topology is weak-to-weak continuous but not continuous in those original topologies.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 ii Paper 3 21F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ii Paper 1 22G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 5 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Work over or . A Fréchet space is a Hausdorff, complete, metrizable locally convex space. Its topology is generated by a countable separating family of seminorms . A neighbourhood base at zero consists of finite intersectionsReplacing by makes the family increasing. One compatible translation-invariant metric isCompleteness means that a sequence Cauchy for all these seminorms converges in the space. The separating condition ensures that only when .
Let denote the continuous dual space for the original topology . The weak topology is the coarsest topology making all continuous. Its basic zero-neighbourhoods areEquivalently, it is generated by the seminorms .
To prove the Hausdorff property, fix . Some continuous seminorm has . On the one-dimensional span of , define . Then . The real or complex Hahn-Banach theorem extends this to with . Thus is originally continuous and . This proves continuous-dual point separation. For distinct , inverse images under such an of disjoint small scalar neighbourhoods of and are disjoint weak neighbourhoods. Hence the weak topology is Hausdorff.
If a linear functional is originally continuous, it belongs to and is weakly continuous by definition. Conversely, is coarser than , so every weakly continuous scalar function is originally continuous. In particular,This special case of the continuous dual of a weak topology needs no completeness argument.
For the linear map , original continuity implies that whenever . Each such composition is weakly continuous on , so the defining property of the target weak topology makes weak-to-weak continuous.
Conversely, suppose is weak-to-weak continuous. Every , , is then weakly continuous, and hence continuous for . We show that the graph of a linear operator is closed in the original product topology. If in and in , thenBy continuous-dual point separation on , this forces . The product is metrizable, so sequential closedness is closedness. The closed graph theorem for Fréchet spaces now gives original continuity of .
The relevant version of that theorem does use completeness of both spaces: a closed graph is a Fréchet space, its first-coordinate projection is a continuous linear bijection onto , and the open mapping theorem for Fréchet spaces gives a continuous inverse. Composing with the second-coordinate projection gives . ThusEquality of continuous scalar functionals does not imply equality of the two topologies; the closed graph theorem for Fréchet spaces is the extra step that makes this conclusion valid.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 6 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the Hausdorff convention for a locally convex space: a real vector space is equipped with a separating family of seminorms. Thus each is nonnegative, subadditive and satisfies , and for every some has . The topology has a neighborhood basis at consisting ofEquivalently, it is the coarsest vector-space topology making all these seminorms continuous. The separating condition is precisely what makes this topology Hausdorff. If the Hausdorff requirement were omitted, continuous linear functionals could not distinguish points in the common kernel of the seminorms.
The continuous dual space consists of all continuous linear functionals . We first prove the needed Hahn-Banach theorem. Let be a real-valued sublinear function on , meaning and for , and let be linear on a vector subspace , with . To extend across , writeThe necessary bounds on areThey are compatible becauseTaking one variable equal to zero also shows that are finite. Choose . The upper bound proves domination when , after dividing by ; the lower bound proves it when , after dividing by . Thus on . This is the one-dimensional dominated extension of a real linear functional.
Order all dominated extensions of by extension of their domains. A chain has an upper bound obtained by taking the union of the domains and linear functionals. Zorn's lemma gives a maximal extension, and the one-dimensional construction shows that its domain must be all of . We have therefore proved the real dominated-extension theorem. In particular, when is a seminorm, domination at both and gives .
For , choose a continuous seminorm with , and define on its one-dimensional span. Then . Extend by the theorem just proved to with . This bound makes continuous, and . Applying this to the difference of two distinct points proves that separates the points of , the continuous-dual separation theorem for Hausdorff locally convex spaces.
For separation from a closed linear subspace, choose a basic balanced neighborhood of zero such that . WriteThen for every . On , define , which is well-defined since . For ,for the inequality is immediate. The proved extension theorem gives a continuous dominated by , withThis proves separation of a point from a closed linear subspace without using any unproved Hahn-Banach extension or separation result.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 6 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For , the real Lp space is the vector space of real measurable functions with , identifying functions equal almost everywhere. Its Lp norm is . For , take the essentially bounded real measurable functions, with the same identification and norm . The identification makes each norm definite; absolute homogeneity follows from the Lebesgue integral, and the triangle inequality follows from Minkowski inequality for finite , or directly from the essential supremum for .
Here is a completeness proof valid on any measure space. For , a Cauchy sequence has a subsequence with . Choose measurable function representatives and put . By Minkowski inequality and the monotone convergence theorem,Consequently the series converges absolutely almost everywhere. Define there, and define it to be zero on the measurable exceptional null set. Then , and Fatou lemma applied to each tail gives . The original Cauchy sequence also converges in Lp norm, by the triangle inequality. For , choose the same subsequence using the essential supremum norm. Outside one measurable null set, all the bounds hold and is bounded. The series then converges uniformly there, with an essentially bounded measurable function limit and the same tail estimate in essential supremum norm. Thus all these spaces are Banach spaces.
The duality of Lp spaces says that, for and , the mapis an isometric isomorphism of normed spaces. This form of Lp duality on an arbitrary measure space requires no finiteness hypothesis on . At , a standard version assumes a sigma-finite measure and identifies with through the same dual pairing. That endpoint assertion must not be made without a suitable measure-space hypothesis.
We first prove the required duality of Lp spaces for a finite measure. Let and set . For disjoint measurable , the indicator functions of their partial unions converge in Lp norm to that of their union, so is countably additive. It has finite variation measure: for every finite measurable partition , choosing real signs givesAlso implies . The Radon-Nikodym theorem supplies a Radon-Nikodym derivative with . Linearity gives for simple functions. Uniform approximation by simple functions extends this identity to bounded measurable functions: both their Lp norm errors and the errors in integration against tend to zero.
To establish the correct integrability, test with the bounded measurable function . Since , writing givesThe second inequality is also valid when . The monotone convergence theorem gives and . Density of simple functions in the Lp space, together with Hölder's inequality, now gives on all of . Conversely Hölder's inequality gives . If , testing againstgives and , so . This also proves uniqueness of the representing Radon-Nikodym derivative.
For completeness, the passage to an arbitrary measure space can be made without losing a hypothesis in the reflexive Banach space argument below. On a sigma-finite measure space, exhaust by nested finite-measure sets . The representing Radon-Nikodym derivatives on agree on overlaps by uniqueness. Their glued density has Lp norm by the monotone convergence theorem, and represents because in Lp norm. Every on an arbitrary measure space is supported on a sigma-finite measurable set: the sets have finite measure and their union is .
Use support localization of an Lp functional as follows. For a sigma-finite measurable , let be the operator norm of restricted to functions supported in . The support observation gives . Choose approaching this supremum and set ; then . If a sigma-finite had , functions supported on the disjoint sets have the direct-sum Lp norm. Optimizing their two scalar coefficients by Hölder's inequality, and using functions approaching the two restriction operator norms, would givea contradiction. Thus vanishes on functions supported outside . The density on , extended by zero, represents globally. The case simply uses . This proves the stated Lp duality on an arbitrary measure space.
Finally let and let , where stars denote continuous dual spaces. Compose with to obtain the bounded linear functional on . Applying duality of Lp spaces with the exponents reversed gives with . For the canonical embedding into the bidual , its value on is also . Since is onto, . Its norm is by the same dual pairing norm identity. Therefore , which proves that is a reflexive Banach space through its actual canonical embedding into the bidual.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 6 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The weak topology on a normed vector space is , the coarsest topology making every bounded linear functional continuous. A neighbourhood base at is given by finitely many inequalities , with . In the complex case, separation uses real parts of bounded linear functionals.
Mazur theorem states that the weak closure of a convex set equals its closure in the norm topology. The weak topology is coarser than the norm topology, so the norm closure is contained in the weak closure. Conversely, if is outside the norm closure of a convex set , the Hahn-Banach separation theorem gives and with . The corresponding weak topology neighbourhood of misses , so is outside its weak closure. This proves Mazur theorem, including the empty-set case. In particular, if converges weakly to , then is in the weak closure of every tail and therefore in the norm closure of its convex hull. Choosing a finite convex combination of the th tail within of proves the usual Mazur lemma formulation as well.
The weak-star topology on the continuous dual space is : convergence means pointwise convergence on , and a neighbourhood base prescribes finitely many evaluation inequalities. The Banach-Alaoglu theorem states that the closed unit ball of is compact in this weak-star topology, even if is incomplete. Embed this closed unit ball intowhere or . Each factor is compact, so is compact by the Tychonoff theorem. Inside , the equations and define a closed set. Every such point defines a linear functional satisfying , hence belongs to the closed unit ball of . Thus this image is closed in . The product topology on it is exactly the weak-star topology, proving Banach-Alaoglu theorem. Evaluations also separate its points, so the weak-star topology is Hausdorff.
For the canonical embedding into the bidual , we have . Restricting all evaluations at therefore gives exactly . Thus the induced subspace topology is the weak topology on .
Now identify with . Let be a bounded convex set, write for its norm closure in , and let be its weak-star topology closure in . Boundedness places in a multiple of the closed unit ball of , so is compact by Banach-Alaoglu theorem. The preceding subspace topology identification and Mazur theorem giveIf is a weakly compact set, its image in the Hausdorff weak-star topology is compact and therefore closed. It contains , so . Conversely, if , the displayed identity gives , and its compactness is precisely weak compactness in . Hence . This argument also covers .
For a bounded linear operator , its Banach-space adjoint is , defined by . Evaluation at any fixed is thus evaluation at after applying . Each is continuous in the relevant weak-star topology, proving that is weak-star continuous. Applying the same result to shows that is weak-star continuous. Direct evaluation gives
Use for the closed unit ball; using the open ball gives the same norm closure of . Goldstine theorem says that is weak-star dense in . Put . It is compact and closed in the weak-star topology by Banach-Alaoglu theorem and the established continuity. It contains . Conversely, Goldstine theorem gives, for every , a net from converging weak-star to ; its image converges weak-star to . ConsequentlyApply the preceding bounded convex set criterion in , and then scale the closed unit ball. We obtain the bidual characterization of weakly compact operators:The canonical embedding into the bidual on the right specifies exactly which copy of is intended.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 6 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
All vector spaces in this solution are complex, while convex combinations use real coefficients. An extreme point of a convex set is one for which , and , forces . Equivalently, is not the midpoint of two distinct points of .
The Krein-Milman theorem says that every nonempty compact convex set in a Hausdorff locally convex space is the closed convex hull of its extreme points. Here is a proof. A face of a convex set is a convex set such that whenever an interior point of a segment in belongs to , both endpoints belong to . Consider nonempty compact faces, ordered by reverse inclusion. A chain has nonempty intersection by compactness and the finite intersection property; that intersection is again a compact face. The Zorn lemma therefore gives a minimal nonempty compact face .
If contains distinct , a continuous real linear functional on the underlying real locally convex space distinguishes them. Such a linear functional exists because the space is Hausdorff and locally convex, by the Hahn-Banach theorem. The maximizers of on form a nonempty proper compact face of . A face of a face is a face of , contradicting minimality. Therefore is a singleton, yielding an extreme point. The same argument inside any nonempty compact face of supplies an extreme point of lying in that face.
Let be the closed convex hull of the extreme points of . It is a nonempty closed subset of compact , hence compact. If , the Hahn-Banach separation theorem provides a continuous real linear functional with . Its maximizer set on is a nonempty compact face, which contains an extreme point of . But and , a contradiction. Thus , proving Krein-Milman theorem.
For a nonempty compact Hausdorff space , the extreme points of the dual unit ball of C(K) areThis is the permitted description without proof, with denoting the complex space of continuous functions on a compact space equipped with the supremum norm. If is empty, and the closed unit ball of its continuous dual space has the single extreme point instead.
The complex Banach–Stone theorem states that a surjective complex-linear isometric isomorphism of normed spaces has the formwhere and is a homeomorphism. Conversely, every such map is a surjective complex-linear isometric isomorphism of normed spaces for the supremum norm.
To prove this, suppose first that are nonempty. The Banach-space adjoint is a bijective isometric isomorphism of normed spaces on the continuous dual spaces, so it bijects their closed unit balls and preserves extreme points. The displayed extreme point description gives uniquelyUniqueness follows by evaluating at the constant function , and then using that continuous functions separate points of a compact Hausdorff space. Evaluation gives the required formula for , and is continuous. Surjectivity of on extreme points proves surjectivity of : the preimage of any is for some . If , every function in the range of has equal values at these two points after division by ; surjectivity of and separation of points force . Thus is bijective.
For every , is continuous. The evaluation map , , is a continuous injection of a compact Hausdorff space into a Hausdorff product topology, hence a homeomorphism onto its image. Continuity of every coordinate proves continuity of . A continuous bijection between compact Hausdorff spaces is a homeomorphism. Conversely the weighted-composition formula plainly preserves the supremum norm, and its inverse isIf one compact space is empty, a surjective isometric isomorphism of normed spaces forces the other to be empty, and the empty homeomorphism gives the corresponding trivial case. This completes Banach–Stone theorem.
Neither the space of sequences converging to zero nor can be isometrically a continuous dual space of a Banach space. Indeed, every nonzero continuous dual space has a nonempty weak-star compact closed unit ball by Banach-Alaoglu theorem, and Krein-Milman theorem then guarantees an extreme point. A bijective linear isometry preserves extreme points of closed unit balls.
The closed unit ball of has no extreme points. Given with , choose with and . The two distinct elements remain in that closed unit ball and have midpoint .
The closed unit ball of the complex Lp space also has no extreme points. An element of norm less than one can be perturbed by a sufficiently small nonzero Lp space element in both directions. If , the non-atomic measure admits a measurable set of mass ; for example the continuous function attains . Put . For , the distinct functions both have Lp normwith the two coefficients interchanged for the minus sign. Their midpoint is . Thus neither proposed space is isometrically a Banach dual.
Finally, is a connected space, whereas is disconnected. They cannot be homeomorphic. By Banach–Stone theorem, and are not isometrically isomorphic as complex Banach spaces.