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The weak topology $\sigma (X,X^{\ast })$ is the coarsest topology on $X$ for which every bounded linear functional in $X^{\ast }$ is continuous. Thus every $f\in X^{\ast }$ is weakly continuous. Conversely, if a linear functional $f$ is weakly continuous at zero, some basic weak neighbourhood gives $f_1,\dots ,f_n\in X^{\ast }$ and $\epsilon >0$ such thatIt follows that ${\bigcap }_j\ker f_j\subseteq \ker f$, and elementary linear algebra then gives $f\in \mathrm{span}\{f_1,\dots ,f_n\}\subseteq X^{\ast }$.

To prove Mazur theorem, let $K$ be norm-closed and convex and let $x\notin K$. The Hahn-Banach separation theorem strictly separates $x$ from $K$ by some member of $X^{\ast }$. The corresponding open half-space is weakly open, contains $x$, and misses $K$. Thus $K$ is weakly closed.

If $X$ is reflexive, the Banach-Alaoglu theorem makes $B_{X^{\ast \ast }}$ weak-star compact, and the canonical identification transports this to weak compactness of $B_X$. Conversely, if $B_X$ is weakly compact, then $J(B_X)$ is weak-star compact and hence weak-star closed in $B_{X^{\ast \ast }}$. Goldstine theorem says it is weak-star dense there, so it equals $B_{X^{\ast \ast }}$ and $X$ is reflexive.

When $X$ is reflexive, weak and weak-star topologies coincide on $X^{\ast }$, so Banach–Alaoglu makes $B_{X^{\ast }}$ weakly compact and $X^{\ast }$ is reflexive. If $Y\subseteq X$ is closed, then $B_Y$ is a weakly closed subset of $B_X$, hence weakly compact. The quotient map sends a suitable weakly compact ball of $X$ onto the unit ball of $X/Y$, which is therefore weakly compact. Thus $Y$ and $X/Y$ are reflexive as well.

For each $n$, define $J{x}_n:X^{\ast }\to \mathbb{R}$ by $J{x}_n(f)=f(x_n)$. Weak convergence makes $(J{x}_n(f){)}_n$ bounded for every $f\in X^{\ast }$. The Uniform boundedness principle gives

Let $K$ be the closed convex hull of the $x_n$. Given a sequence in $K$, approximate its terms in norm by finite convex combinations of the $x_n$. A diagonal subsequence makes every coefficient converge. Any loss of total coefficient mass is assigned to zero, which belongs to $K$ by Mazur theorem because $x_n\rightharpoonup 0$. Since $f(x_n)\to 0$ for every $f\in X^{\ast }$, splitting each sum into a finite head and a uniformly small tail proves weak convergence of this subsequence to the corresponding convex combination. Hence $K$ is weakly sequentially compact and, by the stated theorem, weakly compact.

DefineIt is bounded because $(x_n)$ is norm bounded, and its values lie in $c_0$ because $x_n\rightharpoonup 0$. Its adjoint-on-preduals map isIf $K$ had nonempty norm interior, then $K-K$ would contain a ball about zero. The quantitative open-mapping argument applied to the convex combinations above would make $T_{\ast }$ surjective, and hence make $T$ bounded below. Its range $R$ would be a closed infinite-dimensional subspace of $c_0$ whose unit ball is compact for coordinatewise convergence, since it lies in the coordinatewise compact image of a weak-star compact ball of $X^{\ast }$.

By the stated structural theorem, $R$ contains a closed subspace isomorphic to $c_0$. The bounded partial sums of the image of the standard $c_0$ basis would then have a coordinatewise convergent subnet. Uniform boundedness turns coordinatewise convergence in $c_0$ into weak convergence, and norm-closed subspaces are weakly closed. Pulling the limit back would make the partial sums of the standard basis converge weakly in $c_0$, impossible because their coordinate values force the putative limit to be the constant-one sequence. This contradiction proves that $K$ has empty norm interior.

Mazur theorem says that the weak closure and norm closure of a convex subset of a real or complex normed space coincide. The norm closure is contained in the weak closure because every norm-continuous linear functional is norm-continuous. Conversely, if $x$ is outside the norm closure of a convex set $C$, the Hahn-Banach separation theorem gives $f\in X^{\ast }$ and a real number $\alpha$ such thatThis weakly open separation shows that $x$ is outside the weak closure.

By definition,For each $n$, regard $x_n$ as the bounded functional $J{x}_n:X^{\ast }\to \mathbb{F}$ given by $J{x}_n(f)=f(x_n)$. Pointwise convergence makes the family $(J{x}_n)$ pointwise bounded on the Banach space $X^{\ast }$. The Uniform boundedness principle gives

Suppose first that $x_n\rightharpoonup 0$. Every subsequence indexed by an infinite set $M$ also converges weakly to zero. Thus zero belongs to the weak closure of the convex hull of $\{x_n:n\in M\}$, and Mazur's theorem puts it in its norm closure. This gives the required finite convex combination of norm below any prescribed $\epsilon$.

Conversely, if weak convergence fails, some $f\in X^{\ast }$ and an infinite subsequence satisfy either $\mathrm{Re}f(x_n)\ge \epsilon$ throughout or $\mathrm{Re}f(x_n)\le -\epsilon$ throughout. Every convex combination from that subsequence then has norm at least $\epsilon /\Vert f\Vert$, contradicting the stated property.

Now let the $x_n\in {\ell }^p$, $1<p<\infty$, have pairwise disjoint supports and satisfy $\Vert x_n{\Vert }_p\le C$. For $N$ distinct terms,The convex-combination criterion therefore proves $x_n\rightharpoonup 0$. This is weak convergence of bounded disjointly supported sequences in lp.

The final implication for a commutative unital C*-algebra is true. By the Commutative Gelfand--Naimark theorem, $A\cong C(K)$ and its characters are the point evaluations. The hypotheses say that the uniformly bounded functions $a_n$ converge pointwise to zero. Every functional on $C(K)$ is integration against a finite regular measure by the Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem; the dominated convergence theorem givesHence $a_n\rightharpoonup 0$.

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.

Let $1<p<\infty$. Every norm-bounded sequence in ${\ell }^p$ whose terms have pairwise disjoint supports converges weakly to zero. Indeed, the average of $N$ distinct terms has norm $O(N^{1/p-1})$, so Mazur theorem gives weak convergence through its convex-combination criterion.