Past exam of the functional analysis II course of the University of Oxford / 2023 / 1 / b

First suppose the convex set $K$ is closed in the norm topology, and $x_n\in K$ satisfies $x_n\rightharpoonup x$. Apply the weak Banach–Saks theorem in a Hilbert space to the weakly null sequence $x_n-x$. Along the resulting subsequence,in norm. Each $z_m$ is a convex combination of points in $K$, so $z_m\in K$. Since $K$ is a closed set in the norm topology, $x\in K$.

Conversely, suppose $K$ is a sequentially weakly closed set. If $x\in \overline{K}$ in the norm topology, choose $x_n\in K$ with $\Vert x_n-x\Vert <1/n$. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality gives $|⟨x_n-x,z⟩|\le \Vert x_n-x\Vert \Vert z\Vert \to 0$ for every $z$, hence weak convergence to $x$. The assumed closure property gives $x\in K$. The empty set satisfies both properties too. Thus

The orthogonal complement $x^{\perp }$ is infinite-dimensional: otherwise $X=\mathrm{span}\{x\}\oplus x^{\perp }$ would be finite-dimensional. Inductively choose an orthonormal sequence $(e_n)$ in $x^{\perp }$, each new vector being orthogonal to the preceding finite linear span. The Bessel inequality gives ${\sum }_n|⟨e_n,z⟩{|}^2\le \Vert z{\Vert }^2$ for every $z\in X$, so $⟨e_n,z⟩\to 0$. Thus $(e_n)$ is a weakly null orthonormal sequence.

SetBy orthogonality, $\Vert x_n{\Vert }^2=\Vert x{\Vert }^2+(1-\Vert x{\Vert }^2)=1$, while $⟨x_n-x,z⟩\to 0$ for every $z$. Hence $x_n\rightharpoonup x$. When $\Vert x\Vert =1$, this formula simply gives the constant sequence $x_n=x$. In particular, the weak closure of the unit sphere contains the whole closed unit ball.