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A finite regular complex measure of total variation one can be approximated on a finite-dimensional vector subspace of continuous functions by a finite sum of phased point evaluations with ${\sum }_i|t_i|=1$. The Krein-Milman theorem and the extreme points of the dual unit ball of C(K) give weak-star approximation by convex combinations of phased point masses. A finite norm net of the vector subspace unit ball turns finitely many scalar approximations into one uniform estimate. Repeated nodes may be kept separate to retain the exact coefficient-magnitude sum.

Every bounded discrete harmonic function on ${\mathbb{Z}}^d$ is constant. After rescaling its range to $[0,1]$, place it in the compact convex set of all such functions; translation invariance and the mean-value identity force every extreme point to be constant, and the Krein-Milman theorem finishes the proof.

A nonempty compact face of a convex set in a Hausdorff locally convex space contains an extreme point. Chains of compact faces have nonempty compact intersection. A minimal face supplied by the Zorn lemma must be a singleton, since a separating linear functional would otherwise expose a proper maximizer face. This is the existence step in the Krein-Milman theorem.

A sufficient geometric form of the Hahn-Banach separation theorem is this: if $C$ is a nonempty closed convex set in a real normed vector space and $x\notin C$, there exists a continuous linear functional $\ell$ such thatWe use this form without proving it, as permitted. We will prove the Krein-Milman theorem for a nonempty compact convex set $K$: $K$ is the closed convex hull of its extreme points.

First prove the existence of extreme points by the minimal compact face argument. A face of a convex set $K$ is a convex subset $F$ such that, whenever $ta+(1-t)b\in F$ with $a,b\in K$ and $0<t<1$, both $a$ and $b$ belong to $F$. Consider all nonempty compact faces of $K$, ordered by reverse inclusion. The set $K$ itself is such a face. A chain has a nonempty compact intersection, by the finite intersection property and compactness of $K$. This intersection is convex and a face, since membership in every face forces the same membership of endpoints. It is an upper bound in the reverse order. The Zorn lemma therefore gives a minimal nonempty compact face $F$.

If $F$ contained distinct $a,b$, geometric separation of one point from the other would give a continuous real linear $\ell$ with $\ell (a)\ne \ell (b)$. Compactness supplies a maximum $m={\max }_F\ell$. The set $F^{\prime }=\{v\in F:\ell (v)=m\}$ is a nonempty proper compact convex subset. It is also a face of $K$: if a strict convex combination belongs to $F^{\prime }$, first the face property of $F$ puts both endpoints in $F$, and then linearity and maximality of $m$ force both their values to equal $m$. Thus $F^{\prime }$ contradicts minimality of $F$. Hence $F=\{e\}$, whose face property says precisely that $e$ is an extreme point of $K$. The same argument starts with any nonempty compact face, so every such face contains an extreme point of $K$.

Let $E$ be the set of all extreme points of $K$ and $C=\overline{\mathrm{conv}}E$. It is nonempty, and $C\subseteq K$ because $K$ is closed and convex. Suppose $x\in K\setminus C$. Geometric separation gives a continuous real linear $\ell$ with $\ell (x)>{\sup }_C\ell$. Let $m={\max }_K\ell$ and consider the maximizer face $F=\{v\in K:\ell (v)=m\}$. It is nonempty, compact and a face of $K$, so the previous argument gives an extreme point $e\in F$. But $e\in E\subseteq C$, whilea contradiction. Therefore every point of $K$ belongs to the closed convex hull of its extreme points, provingNeither completeness of the ambient normed space nor finite dimensionality was used; compactness is the key hypothesis.

An extreme point $x$ of a convex set $K$ is one for which $x=(1-t)y+tz$, $y,z\in K$ and $0<t<1$ imply $y=z=x$. It is enough to test midpoint decompositions: a nontrivial interior point of a segment is itself the midpoint of a shorter nontrivial segment contained in that segment.

We prove the Krein-Milman theorem. Assume first that $K$ is nonempty. A face of a convex set $K$ means a convex subset $F$ with the property that whenever an interior point of a segment in $K$ belongs to $F$, both endpoints belong to $F$. The family of nonempty compact faces of $K$, including $K$ itself, has a minimal member by the Zorn lemma: every inclusion-decreasing chain has a nonempty intersection by compactness and the finite intersection property, and that intersection is again a compact face.

Let $M$ be such a minimal face. If it contains two distinct points, the continuous dual of a Hausdorff locally convex space separates them, by the permitted Hahn-Banach theorem. Choose a continuous real linear functional $\ell$ that is not constant on $M$. It attains a maximum on the compact set $M$, andis a nonempty proper compact face of $M$, and hence a face of $K$. Indeed, equality at the maximum in a convex combination forces both endpoint values to be maximal. This contradicts minimality. Thus $M$ is a singleton, and its point is extreme in $K$. The same argument applied within any nonempty compact face proves that every such face contains an extreme point of $K$.

Let $C=\overline{\mathrm{conv}}(\mathrm{ext}K)$. It is contained in $K$, since the latter is closed and convex, and extreme points exist when $K$ is nonempty. If $x_0\in K\setminus C$, the permitted separation theorem provides a continuous real linear functional $\ell$ with $\ell (x_0)>{\sup }_C\ell$. Let $F$ be its maximizer face on $K$. This nonempty compact face contains an extreme point $v$ of $K$, butcontradicting $v\in \mathrm{ext}K\subseteq C$. ThereforeFor empty $K$, the equality holds with the usual empty convex-hull convention. This proves both the extreme-point existence step and the closed-convex-hull step; no compactness of the set of extreme points itself is assumed.

The real absolutely summable sequence space is ${\ell }^1=\{x=(x_j):{\sum }_j|x_j|<\infty \}$ with norm $\Vert x{\Vert }_1={\sum }_j|x_j|$. The real l-infinity sequence space is ${\ell }^{\infty }=\{x=(x_j):{\sup }_j|x_j|<\infty \}$ with norm $\Vert x{\Vert }_{\infty }={\sup }_j|x_j|$. Their completeness is allowed as given; their extreme points still require proof.

For ${\ell }^1$, an interior point of the unit ball is not extreme because small opposite perturbations in one coordinate stay in the ball. At a boundary point with two nonzero coordinates $i,j$, choose $0<\epsilon <\min (|x_i|,|x_j|)$ and putThe two distinct vectors $x+z,x-z$ both have norm one and average to $x$, so $x$ is not extreme. A remaining boundary point must be $\pm e_j$. If $e_j=(y+z)/2$ with $\Vert y{\Vert }_1,\Vert z{\Vert }_1\le 1$, the $j$th coordinate forces $y_j=z_j=1$, exhausting both norm budgets and forcing all other coordinates to zero. The negative case is identical. ThusFor ${\ell }^{\infty }$, if $|x_j|<1$ in even one coordinate, small opposite changes to that coordinate give a nontrivial midpoint decomposition within the ball. If every $x_j=\pm 1$, a midpoint decomposition forces both summands to have that same value in every coordinate, so they equal $x$. HenceThese are precisely the extreme points of real sequence-space unit balls for the two spaces under consideration.

A point $x$ of a convex set $K$ is an extreme point if $x=(1-t)a+tb$ with $a,b\in K$ and $0<t<1$ forces $a=b=x$. It is enough to test midpoints: a nontrivial interior point of a segment is the midpoint of a smaller nontrivial segment.

Here is a proof of the Krein-Milman theorem. The empty-set case is immediate, so take $K\ne \varnothing$. A face of a convex set is a convex subset $F\subseteq K$ such that an interior convex combination lying in $F$ has both endpoints in $F$. Consider nonempty compact faces. They include $K$. Every inclusion chain has nonempty intersection, because its closed subsets of the compact set $K$ have the finite intersection property. The intersection remains a compact face. The Zorn lemma, ordered by reverse inclusion, therefore supplies a minimal nonempty compact face $F$.

If $F$ contains two distinct points, the Hausdorff locally convex hypotheses and the allowed separation theorem supply a continuous real linear functional $\ell$ taking different values there. Its maximizer set in $F$ is nonempty and compact. It is convex, and if a convex combination attains the maximum, both endpoint values attain it too; hence it is a face of $F$. A face of a face is a face of $K$, by applying the defining endpoint property twice. This maximizer face is proper because $\ell$ is nonconstant, contradicting minimality. Thus $F$ is a singleton, whose point is extreme in $K$. The same minimal compact face argument inside any nonempty compact face shows that each such face contains an extreme point of $K$.

Let $H=\overline{\mathrm{conv}}(\mathrm{ext}K)$. Since $K$ is compact, hence closed in the Hausdorff space, and convex, $H\subseteq K$. It is nonempty, closed and convex. If $p\in K\setminus H$, the allowed strict separation theorem supplies a continuous linear functional withThe maximizer face of $\ell$ on $K$ contains an extreme point $e$ by the preceding argument. Then $e\in H$ but $\ell (e)={\max }_K\ell \ge \ell (p)>{\sup }_H\ell$, a contradiction. ThereforeAll closures refer to the given locally convex topology, and compactness is what justified both maxima and chain intersections.

For the real l-infinity sequence space, if $|x_j|<1$ for any coordinate, choose $0<ϵ\le 1-|x_j|$. The two distinct sequences $x\pm ϵe_j$ belong to the closed unit ball and have midpoint $x$, so $x$ is not extreme. Conversely, if every $x_j$ is one or minus one, writing $x=(1-t)a+tb$ for unit-ball sequences forces $a_j=b_j=x_j$ at every coordinate, because an endpoint of $[-1,1]$ cannot be a nontrivial convex average of its points. ThusFor the space of sequences converging to zero, every unit-ball sequence has some coordinate with $|x_j|<1$, since its coordinates tend to zero. The same opposite single-coordinate perturbations still belong to $c_0$, givingThese are extreme points of real sequence-space unit balls. There is no conflict with Krein-Milman: the norm-closed unit ball of $c_0$ is not compact in the norm topology, as the coordinate vectors have mutual distance one.

The finite-dimensional Krein-Milman theorem says that a nonempty compact convex set $K$ is the convex hull of its extreme points. A point is extreme if a proper convex combination of two points of $K$ equals it only when both points equal it.

Prove the theorem by induction on the dimension of the affine hull. Dimension zero is immediate. In positive dimension work inside that affine hull, where $K$ has interior. Every boundary point $x$ lies on a supporting hyperplane. To see this, choose exterior points $y_j\to x$ and nearest points $p_j\in K$. Convexity and the minimum-distance condition give $(y_j-p_j)\cdot (z-p_j)\le 0$ for $z\in K$. A subsequence of the normalized nonzero vectors $y_j-p_j$ converges to a unit vector $v$, while $p_j\to x$, giving $v\cdot (z-x)\le 0$. The resulting face $F=\{z\in K:v\cdot (z-x)=0\}$ has smaller affine dimension. Its extreme points are extreme in $K$, since equality in the supporting inequality forces both endpoints of any decomposition to lie in $F$. Induction expresses $x$ as a convex combination of extreme points of $K$.

Every interior point is a convex combination of the two endpoints of a line segment through it maximal in $K$; compactness gives the endpoints, and both are boundary points. Combining their convex decompositions completes the proof. In the generalization requested, a nonempty weak-star compact convex subset $K$ of the dual unit ball of a separable Banach space satisfiesThe closure is now essential; separability makes this compact weak-star setting metrizable but the general Krein-Milman theorem holds more broadly in locally convex spaces.

First we prove the Krein-Milman theorem in the required setting. If $K$ is empty the conclusion is immediate, so assume it is nonempty. A face of a convex set is a convex subset $F$ with the property that an interior point of a segment in $K$ belongs to $F$ only if both endpoints do. Consider all nonempty weakly compact faces of $K$, ordered by reverse inclusion. A chain has a nonempty intersection by compactness and the finite intersection property; that intersection is again a compact face. The Zorn lemma gives a minimal compact face $F$.

If $F$ contained distinct points, a bounded linear functional separating them would be nonconstant on $F$. Its maximizer set is a nonempty proper compact face of $F$, hence a face of $K$, contradicting minimality. Therefore $F$ is a singleton and its member is an extreme point of $K$. The same reasoning applies to each nonempty compact face of $K$, so each such face contains an extreme point of $K$.

Let $H$ be the norm-closed convex hull of the extreme points of $K$. A weakly compact subset of a Banach space is weakly closed, hence norm closed, so $H\subseteq K$. If $x\in K\setminus H$, the Hahn-Banach separation theorem gives $\ell \in E^{\prime }$ with $\ell (x)>{\sup }_H\ell$. The maximizer face of $\ell$ on $K$ contains an extreme point $e$ of $K$. Then $\ell (e)\ge \ell (x)>{\sup }_H\ell$, contradicting $e\in H$. We concludeNorm and weak closed convex hulls coincide by the same separation theorem. The printed phrase “closed convex cover” is understood in this standard closed-convex-hull sense.

Now work in the real space of continuous functions on a compact space $C(C)$ on the Cantor set. The extreme points of a real continuous-function unit ball are exactly the continuous sign functions:If $|f(x_0)|<1$, continuity supplies a neighbourhood where $|f|\le 1-\epsilon$. The Cantor cylinder sets form a clopen base, so choose a nonempty cylinder $D$ inside that neighbourhood. Its indicator function is continuous, and $f\pm \epsilon 1_D$ are distinct members of $B$ with midpoint $f$. Hence $f$ is not extreme. Conversely, if $f$ is pointwise sign-valued and $f=(g+h)/2$ with $g,h\in B$, equality at the endpoint of the scalar interval $[-1,1]$ forces $g(x)=h(x)=f(x)$ at every point.

To prove the closed-hull assertion without assuming weak compactness, take $f\in B$ and $\epsilon >0$. A sufficiently fine finite partition of $C$ into Cantor cylinders has oscillation of $f$ less than $\epsilon$ on each cell, by uniform continuity. Choose a value $a_j\in [-1,1]$ on each cell and let $h$ be the corresponding continuous step function. Then $\Vert f-h{\Vert }_{\infty }<\epsilon$. For each sign vector $s\in \{-1,1{\}}^m$, let $e_s$ take value $s_j$ on cell $j$, and assign the weightThese weights are nonnegative, sum to one, and satisfy ${\sum }_s{w}_s{s}_j=a_j$. Thus $h={\sum }_s{w}_s{e}_s$ is a convex combination of extreme points. This is clopen sign approximation in the real Cantor unit ball, provingNevertheless $B$ is not weakly compact. The suggested functions $f_n(x)=\min (3^{n}x,1)$ lie in $B$ and converge pointwise to the function equal to zero at $0$ and one at every other point of $C$. It is discontinuous at zero, since $2\cdot 3^{-j}\in C$ tends to zero. If $B$ were weakly compact, the sequence, viewed as a net, would have a weakly convergent subnet with limit in $C(C)$. Point evaluations are bounded linear functionals, so that subnet would have the same pointwise limit; its indices are cofinal in the original sequence. The limit would therefore be the discontinuous function just described, a contradiction. This discontinuous pointwise limit obstruction to weak compactness gives the required failure of weak compactness, despite the closed-hull equality.

The Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem says that a positive linear functional on $C(K)$ has the form $f\mapsto {\int }_{K}fd\nu$ for a unique finite positive regular Borel measure $\nu$, with norm $\nu (K)$. Its complex form says that every bounded complex linear functional is represented by a unique finite regular complex measure $\mu$, andThe extension from positive to arbitrary linear functionals follows by positive/negative decomposition of real linear functionals and then real/imaginary decomposition. The last quantity is the total variation norm of a measure, so this identifies the dual isometrically.

An extreme point $e$ of a convex set $C$ cannot be written as $e=ta+(1-t)b$ with $0<t<1$ and distinct $a,b\in C$. The Krein-Milman theorem, applied with the underlying real locally convex weak-star topology, states

We next prove Milman's converse to the Krein-Milman theorem. Suppose an extreme point $e$ were outside the weak-star closure of $S$. A basic weak-star neighborhood of $e$ disjoint from $S$ uses finitely many real coordinates: real and imaginary parts of evaluations at elements of $X$. Its complement is the union of finitely many closed half-spacesIntersect these with $C$, discard empty intersections, and call the resulting compact convex sets $C_1,\dots ,C_m$. They cover $S$, and none contains $e$.

The convex hull of their union is compact. Every point in it can be written ${\sum }_{i=1}^m{t}_i{c}_i$ with $(t_i)$ in the finite simplex and $c_i\in C_i$, by combining terms from the same convex set. The map from the simplex times ${\prod }_i{C}_i$ to that sum is weak-star continuous, so its image is compact and closed. It therefore contains ${\overline{\mathrm{conv}S}}^{w^{\ast }}=C$, in particular $e$. But extremality forces every $c_i$ having a positive coefficient in a representation of $e$ to equal $e$, contradicting $e\notin C_i$. Hence

Assume $K\ne \varnothing$. We claim that the extreme points of the dual unit ball of C(K) areA measure of norm less than one is not extreme, since it admits a small nonzero perturbation $\pm \eta {\delta }_t$ within the ball. For a measure $\mu$ of norm one, suppose $|\mu |$ is not a point mass. There is a Borel set $E$ with $0<a=|\mu |(E)<1$: if the measure support has two points, choose disjoint neighborhoods of positive mass; a regular probability measure supported at just one point is the corresponding point mass. Thenis a convex combination of distinct norm-one measures. Thus an extreme measure must have variation concentrated at one point, and must be $\alpha {\delta }_t$ with $|\alpha |=1$.

Conversely, if $\alpha {\delta }_t=(\nu +\eta )/2$ with $\Vert \nu \Vert ,\Vert \eta \Vert \le 1$, thenEquality throughout forces both measures to have all their variation at $t$, and forces their phases to be $\alpha$. Hence $\nu =\eta =\alpha {\delta }_t$, proving extremality. If $K=\varnothing$, the dual ball is $\{0\}$ and its sole extreme point is $0$.

Every finite Borel measure on $[0,1]$ is regular, so the given $\mu$ belongs to the dual unit ball of $C[0,1]$. Apply Banach-Alaoglu theorem and Krein-Milman theorem to that ball. It is the weak-star closed convex hull of these phased point masses. The unit ball of the finite-dimensional vector subspace $F$ is norm compact. Choose a finite $\epsilon /4$-net $f_1,\dots ,f_m$ in it. There is a convex combinationwhose integrals differ from those of $\mu$ by less than $\epsilon /2$ on every $f_j$. Put $t_i=a_i{\alpha }_i$. Then ${\sum }_i|t_i|=1$ and $\Vert \nu \Vert \le 1$. For any $f$ in the unit ball of $F$, choose $f_j$ with $\Vert f-f_j\Vert <\epsilon /4$. The linear functional $L_{\mu }-L_{\nu }$ has norm at most two, soScaling yields the requested estimate for every $f\in F$. This is atomic approximation on finite-dimensional spaces of continuous functions. Repeated nodes are allowed: keeping their individual terms preserves the exact sum of coefficient magnitudes even if their phases cancel. If $F=\{0\}$, one point with coefficient one suffices.

All vector spaces in this solution are complex, while convex combinations use real coefficients. An extreme point $x$ of a convex set $C$ is one for which $x=ty+(1-t)z$, $y,z\in C$ and $0<t<1$, forces $y=z=x$. Equivalently, $x$ is not the midpoint of two distinct points of $C$.

The Krein-Milman theorem says that every nonempty compact convex set $K$ 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 $F\subseteq K$ is a convex set such that whenever an interior point of a segment in $K$ belongs to $F$, both endpoints belong to $F$. 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 $F$.

If $F$ contains distinct $x,y$, a continuous real linear functional $\ell$ 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 $\ell$ on $F$ form a nonempty proper compact face of $F$. A face of a face is a face of $K$, contradicting minimality. Therefore $F$ is a singleton, yielding an extreme point. The same argument inside any nonempty compact face of $K$ supplies an extreme point of $K$ lying in that face.

Let $D$ be the closed convex hull of the extreme points of $K$. It is a nonempty closed subset of compact $K$, hence compact. If $x_0\in K\setminus D$, the Hahn-Banach separation theorem provides a continuous real linear functional $\ell$ with $\ell (x_0)>{\sup }_D\ell$. Its maximizer set on $K$ is a nonempty compact face, which contains an extreme point $e$ of $K$. But $e\in D$ and $\ell (e)\ge \ell (x_0)>{\sup }_D\ell$, a contradiction. Thus $\boxed{K=\overline{\mathrm{co}}(\mathrm{ext}K)}$, proving Krein-Milman theorem.

For a nonempty compact Hausdorff space $K$, the extreme points of the dual unit ball of C(K) areThis is the permitted description without proof, with $C(K)$ denoting the complex space of continuous functions on a compact space equipped with the supremum norm. If $K$ is empty, $C(K)=\{0\}$ and the closed unit ball of its continuous dual space has the single extreme point $0$ instead.

The complex Banach–Stone theorem states that a surjective complex-linear isometric isomorphism of normed spaces $T:C(K)\to C(L)$ has the formwhere $u\in C(L)$ and $\phi :L\to K$ 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 $K,L$ are nonempty. The Banach-space adjoint $T^{\ast }$ 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 $1$, and then using that continuous functions separate points of a compact Hausdorff space. Evaluation gives the required formula for $Tf$, and $u=T1$ is continuous. Surjectivity of $T^{\ast }$ on extreme points proves surjectivity of $\phi$: the preimage of any ${\delta }_x$ is $\alpha {\delta }_y$ for some $y$. If $\phi (y_1)=\phi (y_2)$, every function in the range of $T$ has equal values at these two points after division by $u$; surjectivity of $T$ and separation of points force $y_1=y_2$. Thus $\phi$ is bijective.

For every $f\in C(K)$, $f\circ \phi =(Tf)/u$ is continuous. The evaluation map $K\to {\mathbb{C}}^{C(K)}$, $x\mapsto (f(x){)}_f$, is a continuous injection of a compact Hausdorff space into a Hausdorff product topology, hence a homeomorphism onto its image. Continuity of every coordinate $f\circ \phi$ proves continuity of $\phi$. 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 $c_0$ nor $L^1[0,1]$ 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 $c_0$ has no extreme points. Given $x\in c_0$ with $\Vert x{\Vert }_{\infty }\le 1$, choose $n$ with $|x_n|<1$ and $0<\epsilon <1-|x_n|$. The two distinct elements $x\pm \epsilon e_n$ remain in that closed unit ball and have midpoint $x$.

The closed unit ball of the complex Lp space $L^1[0,1]$ 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 $\Vert f{\Vert }_1=1$, the non-atomic measure $|f(t)|dt$ admits a measurable set $A$ of mass $1/2$; for example the continuous function $s\mapsto {\int }_0^s|f(t)|dt$ attains $1/2$. Put $h=f(1_A-1_{A^c})$. For $0<\epsilon <1$, the distinct functions $f\pm \epsilon h$ both have Lp normwith the two coefficients interchanged for the minus sign. Their midpoint is $f$. Thus neither proposed space is isometrically a Banach dual.

Finally, $[0,1]$ is a connected space, whereas $[0,1]\cup [2,3]$ is disconnected. They cannot be homeomorphic. By Banach–Stone theorem, $C[0,1]$ and $C([0,1]\cup [2,3])$ are not isometrically isomorphic as complex Banach spaces.

Suppose first that $X$ is separable, and choose a norm-dense sequence $(x_n)$ in its unit ball. On the dual unit ball defineUniform boundedness on the unit ball and density of the $x_n$ show that this metric induces the weak-star topology. Conversely, if $B_{X^{\ast }}$ is weak-star metrizable, the Banach-Alaoglu theorem makes it a compact metric space. Hence $C(B_{X^{\ast }})$ is separable. The evaluation mapis an isometry by the Hahn-Banach theorem. A subspace of a separable metric space is separable, so $X$ is separable. This proves the weak-star metrizability criterion for a dual ball.

If $X$ has a countable weakly dense subset $D$, the rational linear span of $D$ is weakly dense. Its norm closure is a convex set, so Mazur theorem says that its weak and norm closures agree. Thus $X$ is norm separable. The weak-star compact metric ball $B_{X^{\ast }}$ consequently has a countable weak-star dense subset, and the union of its integer dilates is weak-star dense in $X^{\ast }$. Therefore $X^{\ast }$ is weak-star separable.

It need not be weakly separable. Take $X={\ell }^1$, whose dual is ${\ell }^{\infty }$. A weakly separable normed space is norm separable by the preceding convex-closure argument, whereas ${\ell }^{\infty }$ is not norm separable.

If the Banach space $X$ is reflexive, its closed unit ball identifies with the weak-star compact ball of $X^{\ast \ast }$, hence is weakly compact. Conversely, if $B_X$ is weakly compact, its canonical image $J(B_X)$ is weak-star compact and therefore weak-star closed in $X^{\ast \ast }$. Goldstine theorem says it is weak-star dense in $B_{X^{\ast \ast }}$, soScaling proves that $J$ is surjective and $X$ is reflexive. This is the weak compactness characterization of reflexivity.

The Krein-Milman theorem says that a nonempty compact convex subset of a locally convex space is the closed convex hull of its extreme points. For reflexive $X$, the ball $B_X$ is weakly compact, sowhere weak and norm closure agree for the convex hull by Mazur's theorem.

For the final claim, let $\mathcal{H}$ be the set of functions ${\mathbb{Z}}^2\to [0,1]$ with the mean-value property. It is a compact convex subset of the product $[0,1{]}^{{\mathbb{Z}}^2}$. If $f$ is extreme, its four unit translates also lie in $\mathcal{H}$, and the mean-value identity writes $f$ as their average. Extremality forces every translate to equal $f$, so $f$ is constant. Every extreme point is therefore constant. Krein--Milman now makes every member of $\mathcal{H}$ a limit of convex combinations of constant functions, and hence constant. This is the bounded harmonic function theorem on the integer lattice.

In a unital C-star algebra $A$, an element is Hermitian when $x=x^{\ast }$, unitary when $x^{\ast }x=x{x}^{\ast }=1$, and normal when $x^{\ast }x=x{x}^{\ast }$. It is a Positive element of a C-star algebra when $x=y^{\ast }y$ for some $y$, equivalently when it is Hermitian and its spectrum lies in $[0,\infty )$.

Suppose first that $\Vert \tau \Vert =\tau (1)$, and normalize so that both equal one. If $x=x^{\ast }$, the C-star identity givesWriting $\tau (x)=a+ib$, we obtainfor every real $t$, which forces $b=0$. Decomposing an arbitrary $x$ into its Hermitian real and imaginary parts now gives

Let $x=x^{\ast }$. Every character of an algebra on the commutative unital Banach algebra generated by $x$ has norm and value at one equal to one, so the preceding argument makes its value on $x$ real. The character description of the spectrum of an element therefore gives $\sigma (x)\subset \mathbb{R}$. Iterating the C-star identity,so $\Vert x\Vert =r(x)$. If $c=\Vert x\Vert$, then $x+c1$ has nonnegative spectrum and is positive, as is $c1$; henceis a difference of positive elements.

If $0\le x$ and $\Vert x\Vert \le 1$, then spectral translation givesThus $1-x$ is positive and, by the norm--spectral-radius equality for Hermitian elements, $\Vert 1-x\Vert \le 1$.

Return to a norm-one $\tau$ with $\tau (1)=1$. For $0\le x\le 1$, the preceding paragraph and reality on Hermitian elements giveScaling proves that $\tau$ is a positive functional on a C-star algebra. Every character has norm and value at one equal to one, so every character is positive. On $C[0,1]$, the functionalis positive but is not multiplicative, and hence is not a character.

Conversely, let $\tau$ be positive. Writing a Hermitian element as a difference of positive elements shows that $\tau$ is real on Hermitian elements. Positivity offor every $\lambda \in \mathbb{C}$ says that the associated quadratic polynomial is nonnegative. Minimizing it in $\lambda$ gives the Cauchy--Schwarz inequalityTaking $y=1$ yields $|\tau (x){|}^2\le \tau (x^{\ast }x)\tau (1)$. Since $0\le x^{\ast }x\le \Vert x{\Vert }^{2}1$, positivity givesTogether with $\tau (1)\le \Vert \tau \Vert$, this proves $\Vert \tau \Vert =\tau (1)$.

Convex combinations preserve positivity and value one at the identity, so the state space $S(A)$ is convex. If $x$ is normal, the unital C-star subalgebra $C^{\ast }(1,x)$ is commutative and its Gelfand transform identifies it with $C(\sigma (x))$. Choose $\lambda \in \sigma (x)$ with $|\lambda |=\Vert x\Vert$. Evaluation at $\lambda$ is a state taking $x$ to $\lambda$. Its norm-preserving Hahn--Banach extension to $A$ still takes $1$ to one, so the norm criterion makes the extension a state $\tau$ satisfying $|\tau (x)|=\Vert x\Vert$.

The state space is nonempty, convex, and weak-star compact by the Banach-Alaoglu theorem. The Krein-Milman theorem gives an extreme point, so a pure state on a C-star algebra exists. For positive $x$, the preceding norm-attainment result makesa nonempty weak-star compact convex set. It is a face: if a convex combination has the maximal possible value on $x$, each summand does. An extreme point of $F$ exists by Krein--Milman and, because $F$ is a face, is extreme in $S(A)$. It is the required pure state.

A pure state is an extreme point of the state space. The Krein-Milman theorem guarantees pure states, and every positive element attains its norm at some pure state.