Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2014 / iii / Paper 6 / 2

The weak-star topology $\sigma (X^{\ast },X)$ is the topology of pointwise convergence on $X$. A basic neighborhood of $f_0$ has the formLet $J:X\to X^{\ast \ast }$ be the canonical embedding into the bidual, $Jx(f)=f(x)$. It is an isometry. The Goldstine theorem says thatHere both balls are closed unit balls. Thus approximation is by finitely many dual evaluations at a time; the theorem does not assert norm density in the bidual space.

Consider the restriction operatorIt is onto: otherwise its range, a vector subspace of the finite-dimensional vector space $E^{\ast }$, would have a nonzero annihilator in $E^{\ast \ast }=E$. That annihilator would be an $e\in E$ vanishing on all of $X$, so $e=0$, a contradiction. Moreover $T$ is open. To see this directly, choose preimages of a basis of $E^{\ast }$; they define a linear right inverse $S:E^{\ast }\to X$, continuous because its domain is finite-dimensional. Small changes of an image can then be lifted by small changes using $S$.

Put $r=1+\epsilon$ and $C=T(\{x:\Vert x\Vert <r\})$. It is open and convex in $E^{\ast }$. If $a\notin C$, the Hahn-Banach separation theorem gives a nonzero real linear functional on $E^{\ast }$, represented by some $e\in E$, such thatBut $a(e)=x^{\ast \ast }(e)\le \Vert e\Vert$, contradicting $r>1$. Therefore $a\in C$, and the finite-dimensional interpolation form of Goldstine's theorem yieldsIf $E=\{0\}$ one simply takes $x=0$.

To recover the Goldstine theorem, start with $x^{\ast \ast }\in B_{X^{\ast \ast }}$ and finitely many tests $e_1,\dots ,e_m\in X^{\ast }$. Apply the result to their span with a small parameter $\delta >0$. The resulting $x$ need not lie in $B_X$, but $v=x/(1+\delta )$ does. For every test,Choosing $\delta$ sufficiently small puts $Jv$ in any prescribed basic weak-star neighborhood. This proves the asserted weak-star density of the closed unit ball. The reverse inclusion follows because $B_{X^{\ast \ast }}$ is weak-star closed, being the intersection of the conditions $|x^{\ast \ast }(e)|\le \Vert e\Vert$ for $e\in X^{\ast }$.

Let $q:X^{\ast }\to X^{\ast }/Y$ be the quotient map. Since $Y$ is norm closed and has finite codimension, the quotient is a finite-dimensional normed space. Choose a basis of its continuous dual and compose its coordinate linear functionals with $q$. This gives ${\varphi }_1,\dots ,{\varphi }_n\in X^{\ast \ast }$ such thatIf $Jx\in F$, it vanishes on $Y$. Evaluation at $x$ is weak-star continuous, and $Y$ is weak-star dense, so it vanishes on all of $X^{\ast }$. The dual norm formula gives $x=0$. Hence $F\cap JX=\{0\}$.

Assume $X\ne \{0\}$; the zero space is trivially normed by any positive constant. We claim thatIf not, there would be $x_j\in S_X$ and ${\psi }_j\in F$ with $\Vert J{x}_j-{\psi }_j\Vert \to 0$. The sequence ${\psi }_j$ is bounded. Finite-dimensionality of $F$ gives a norm-convergent subsequence with limit $\psi \in F$. Then $J{x}_j\to \psi$, and $JX$ is norm closed because $X$ is Banach. Thus $\psi \in F\cap JX$ and $\Vert \psi \Vert =1$, a contradiction. This is positive distance between a unit sphere and a disjoint finite-dimensional subspace.

Fix $x\in S_X$, identifying it with $Jx$, and put $\delta =\mathrm{dist}(x,F)\ge d$. On $F+\mathbb{R}x$, define $h(\varphi +tx)=t\delta$. The distance definition givesThe Hahn-Banach theorem extends it to $\Psi \in X^{\ast \ast \ast }$ with $\Vert \Psi \Vert \le 1$, $\Psi {|}_F=0$ and $\Psi (x)=\delta$.

Apply part (ii) with the Banach space $X^{\ast }$, its finite-dimensional dual vector subspace $E=F+\mathbb{R}x\subseteq X^{\ast \ast }$, and the bidual space element $\Psi \in X^{\ast \ast \ast }$. For every $\eta >0$ it supplies $y_{\eta }\in X^{\ast }$ satisfyingThus $y_{\eta }\in Y$. Normalize by $1+\eta$ and let $\eta \downarrow 0$ to obtainHomogeneity gives, for all $x\in X$,Consequently a finite-codimensional weak-star dense dual subspace is norming, with $c=d$. Since $Y$ is a real linear vector subspace and its ball is symmetric, the same supremum is obtained if an absolute value is inserted. The argument uses near-unit interpolation and a limiting supremum, not an assertion that the supremum is attained.

Suppose the weak-star closure of $Z$ were a proper linear vector subspace of $X^{\ast }$. The Hahn-Banach separation theorem would give a nonzero weak-star continuous linear functional vanishing on it. A continuous dual of a weak-star topology consists precisely of evaluations at points of $X$: continuity bounds the linear functional by finitely many evaluations, so it factors through their finite-dimensional coordinate map and is a linear combination of them. Thus some $0\ne x\in X$ would satisfy $z(x)=0$ for all $z\in Z$. The norming inequality would imply $c\Vert x\Vert \le 0$, a contradiction. Every norming subspace of $X^{\ast }$ is weak-star dense.

For the infinite-codimension example, takeHere $X$ is the absolutely summable sequence space and $c_0$ is the space of sequences converging to zero, a norm-closed vector subspace of ${\ell }^{\infty }$. The dual identification is $y(x)={\sum }_n{x}_n{y}_n$: a bounded sequence defines a linear functional of norm $\Vert y{\Vert }_{\infty }$, and every linear functional on ${\ell }^1$ has this form by evaluating on the coordinate vectors and using density of finitely supported sequences.

For $x\in {\ell }^1$, use the finitely supported sequence $y^{(N)}$ whose first $N$ entries are $\mathrm{sgn}(x_n)$ and whose remaining entries vanish. It belongs to $c_0$, has norm at most one, andThe reverse inequality follows from $|y(x)|\le \Vert y{\Vert }_{\infty }\Vert x{\Vert }_1$. Hence $c_0$ is 1-norming for ${\ell }^1$, an instance of vanishing sequences norm the summable sequence space.

To prove infinite codimension, take disjoint infinite setsTheir indicator sequences have linearly independent classes in ${\ell }^{\infty }/c_0$. Indeed, a finite combination has the constant value $a_j$ on $A_j$; if it tends to zero, every $a_j$ must vanish. Thus the quotient is infinite-dimensional.