Past exam of the functional analysis II course of the University of Oxford / 2023 / 1 / a / ii / Solution

Define the continuous linear functionals $f_n(z)=⟨x_n,z⟩$. For each fixed $z\in X$, weak convergence makes $f_n(z)$ a convergent, hence bounded, scalar sequence. The Uniform boundedness principle states that a pointwise bounded family of bounded linear operators from a Banach space to a normed space has uniformly bounded operator norms. Since a Hilbert space is a Banach space, it applies to $(f_n)$.

The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality gives $\Vert f_n\Vert \le \Vert x_n\Vert$, and evaluation at $z=x_n/\Vert x_n\Vert$ gives equality when $x_n\ne 0$; equality also holds at zero. Consequently