A linear map between Fréchet spaces is continuous if its graph of a linear operator is closed in . The closed graph is itself a Fréchet space. Its first-coordinate projection is a continuous linear bijection onto , so the open mapping theorem for Fréchet spaces makes the inverse continuous. Compose that inverse with the second-coordinate projection to obtain . Completeness of both original spaces is part of the theorem.
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 intersections
Replacing by makes the family increasing. One compatible translation-invariant metric is
Completeness 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 are
Equivalently, 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 , then
By 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 . Thus
Equality 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.