Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ii Paper 3 21G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
If and , then because is bounded and linear. Therefore , proving weak continuity of .
For a bounded sequence in , extract successive subsequences on which the first, second, and subsequent coordinates converge, then take a diagonal subsequence. Call the coordinate limits . Every finite partial sum satisfies , so and . For any , the pairing on its first coordinates converges, while the pairing on the tail is bounded uniformly by . First choose large, then take the subsequence limit. The Riesz representation theorem identifies these pairings with every continuous linear functional, proving the requested weak convergence.
For , norm convergence implies weak convergence immediately. Conversely, suppose but a subsequence has . Coordinate convergence to zero allows us to select indices and cutoffs such that the mass of before or at is below , and its mass after is below . Its mass on the intervening block is then at least . On that block set when nonzero and zero otherwise. These prescriptions define . The bounded linear functional has real part at least on every selected , contradicting weak convergence. Translating by the limit proves weak and norm convergence of sequences coincide in , the Schur property.
A compact operator sends bounded sets to relatively norm-compact sets. Every bounded sequence in has a weakly convergent subsequence by the argument above, after scaling into the unit ball. Its image under converges weakly and therefore in norm by the Schur property. Sequential compactness in a metric space gives relative compactness of the image of the unit ball. Every bounded linear operator from to is compact.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 326 3 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
In an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space, every bounded sequence has a weakly convergent subsequence, but it need not have a norm-convergent one. For example an orthonormal sequence has pairwise distance and therefore no strongly convergent subsequence, although by Bessel inequality.
More generally, weak sequential compactness of bounded sequences in a reflexive Banach space ensures a weakly convergent subsequence with its limit in that space. Conversely, this property for all bounded sequences characterizes reflexivity, using the Eberlein-Šmulian theorem and weak compactness of the closed unit ball. Thus reflexivity replaces finite-dimensional norm compactness by weak sequential compactness.
In a nonreflexive Banach space there is no such general weak-subsequence guarantee. The coordinate unit vectors in give an example: by the Schur property, weak convergence would imply norm convergence, impossible for their pairwise distance two. Banach-Alaoglu theorem supplies weak-star compactness of a dual unit ball, which gives convergent subnets, not automatically convergent subsequences. For a separable predual, the weak-star compact dual ball is metrizable and subsequences do suffice. For an arbitrary Banach space one can also regard a bounded sequence in its bidual and extract a weak-star convergent subnet there; the limit need not belong to the original space. These qualifications distinguish weak from weak-star compactness.
Schur property of l1 2026-10-03
The l-p sequence space has the Schur property. If a weakly null sequence stayed bounded below in norm, coordinatewise convergence and summability would select disjoint blocks containing almost all of successive terms. A sequence in matching their signs on those blocks would pair uniformly positively with a subsequence, contradicting weak convergence through the duality of l1 and l infinity.
Weakly null sine sequence in L1 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The functions converge weakly to zero in . Indeed, every also belongs to on this finite interval, and the Riemann-Lebesgue lemma gives . However,so does not have the Schur property.