Past exam of the functional analysis I course of the University of Oxford / 2023 / 3 / b

For a continuous function $g$ on $[0,1]$, the L-infinity norm of its restriction to $(0,1)$ equals its supremum norm on $[0,1]$. Indeed, values arbitrarily close to a maximum occur on an interval of positive Lebesgue measure, even if the maximum lies at an endpoint. Also, continuous functions equal almost everywhere on $(0,1)$ are equal everywhere on $[0,1]$. Thus restriction embeds $C([0,1])$ isometrically as a linear subspace of $X$.

The point evaluation functional $E_{x_0}(g)=g(x_0)$ is complex-linear and satisfies $|E_{x_0}(g)|\le \Vert g{\Vert }_{\infty }$. The constant function one attains equality, so $\Vert E_{x_0}\Vert =1$. The complex Hahn-Banach theorem extends this bounded linear functional from that linear subspace to $X$, preserving its operator norm. Therefore

Write $\psi ={\psi }_{x_0}$; its value at $x_0$, if that point is in $(0,1)$, may be assigned arbitrarily because Lp spaces identify functions equal almost everywhere. Its L-infinity norm is one.

The supplied estimate shows that $\psi$ cannot agree almost everywhere with any continuous function $q$: choosing $g=-q$ would give $0\ge |q(x_0)|+1$. Henceis a direct sum, so every element has a unique expression $g+c\psi$.

For any complex $a$ with $|a|\le 1$, define the linear functionalIf $c\ne 0$, the supplied estimate, applied to $g/c$, and absolute homogeneity of a norm giveFor $c=0$, the same bound follows from point evaluation. Thus $\Vert L_a\Vert \le 1$, and $L_a(1)=1$ makes its operator norm exactly one. The complex Hahn-Banach theorem extends $L_a$ to a norm-one linear functional on all of $X$, with value $a$ at $\psi$.

Conversely every norm-one extension satisfies $|{\ell }_{x_0}(\psi )|\le \Vert \psi {\Vert }_{\infty }=1$. We have therefore determined all possible values:In particular, taking $a=0$ and $a=1$ proves nonuniqueness of norm-preserving point evaluation extensions.