Questions tagged [banach-spaces]

A Banach space is a complete normed vector space: A vector space equipped with a norm such that every Cauchy sequence converges.

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78 votes
3 answers
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Norms of commutators

If an $n$ by $n$ complex matrix $A$ has trace zero, then it is a commutator, which means that there are $n$ by $n$ matrices $B$ and $C$ so that $A= BC-CB$. What is the order of the best constant $\...
Bill Johnson's user avatar
76 votes
0 answers
4k views

2, 3, and 4 (a possible fixed point result ?)

The question below is related to the classical Browder-Goehde-Kirk fixed point theorem. Let $K$ be the closed unit ball of $\ell^{2}$, and let $T:K\rightarrow K$ be a mapping such that $$\Vert Tx-Ty\...
Ady's user avatar
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47 votes
3 answers
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Absolute value inequality for complex numbers

I asked this question on stackexchange, but despite much effort on my part have been unsuccesful in finding a solution. Does the inequality $$2(|a|+|b|+|c|) \leq |a+b+c|+|a+b-c|+|a+c-b|+|b+c-a|$$ ...
Rene Schipperus's user avatar
45 votes
1 answer
4k views

Example of a compact set that isn't the spectrum of an operator

This question is somewhat ill-posed (due to the word easy) and is triggered by idle curiosity: Is there an easy example of a (separable, infinite-dimensional) Banach space $X$ and a nonempty ...
Theo Buehler's user avatar
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42 votes
1 answer
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Can $L^p(\mathbb{R})$ and $ L^q(\mathbb{R})$ be isomorphic?

Let $p,q \in (1,\infty)$ with $p\neq q$. Are the Banach spaces $L^p(\mathbb{R})$, $L^q(\mathbb{R})$ isomorphic?
Lost's user avatar
  • 549
34 votes
8 answers
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When is a Banach space a Hilbert space?

Let $\mathcal{X}$ be a real or complex Banach space. It is a well known fact that $\mathcal{X}$ is a Hilbert space (i.e. the norm comes from an inner product) if the parallelogram identity holds. ...
Teiko Heinosaari's user avatar
34 votes
1 answer
3k views

tr(ab)=tr(ba), part 2.

This is a Banach space version of Andre Henriques' question Trace Question for Hilbert spaces. Let $a:X\to Y$ and $b:Y\to X$ be bounded linear operators between Banach spaces s.t. $ba$ and $ab$ ...
Bill Johnson's user avatar
33 votes
1 answer
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Is $L^2(\mathbb R)$ homeomorphic to $L^1(\mathbb R)$?

Is $L^2(\mathbb R)$ homeomorphic to $L^1(\mathbb R)$? More generally, are there instances of surprising homeomorphisms between non-isomorphic Banach spaces?
André Henriques's user avatar
32 votes
2 answers
4k views

Are there non-reflexive vector spaces isomorphic to their bi-dual?

Let $V$ be an infinite dimensional topological vector space and consider the natural application $\iota\colon V\to V^{**}$. The space $V$ is said to be reflexive if $\iota$ is an isomorphism. Are ...
diverietti's user avatar
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32 votes
0 answers
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Isometric embeddings of finite subsets of $\ell_2$ into infinite-dimensional Banach spaces

Question: Does there exist a finite subset $F$ of $\ell_2$ and an infinite-dimensional Banach space $X$ such that $F$ does not admit an isometric embedding into $X$? There are some results of the ...
Mikhail Ostrovskii's user avatar
31 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is a normed space which is homeomorphic to a Banach space complete?

I have a normed space $(E,||\cdot||)$ which is homeomorphic (as a topological space) to a Banach space $F$. Does this imply that $(E,||\cdot||)$ is also a Banach space? I think I read something ...
Neslihan's user avatar
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31 votes
0 answers
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Do there exist infinite-dimensional Banach spaces in which every bounded linear operator attains its norm?

Let $X$ be a Banach space, $L(X)$ the space of all bounded linear operators on $X$. We say that $A ∈ L(X)$ attains its norm if there exists $x ∈ X$ such that $\|x\| = 1$ and $\|Ax\| = \|A\|$. The ...
Mikhail Ostrovskii's user avatar
30 votes
3 answers
3k views

Surjectivity of operators on $\ell^\infty$

Can anyone give me an example of an bounded and linear operator $T:\ell^\infty\to \ell^\infty$ (the space of bounded sequences with the usual sup-norm), such that T has dense range, but is not ...
Amir's user avatar
  • 301
30 votes
1 answer
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Functional-analytic proof of the existence of non-symmetric random variables with vanishing odd moments

It is known that a random variable $X$ which is symmetric about $0$ (i.e $X$ and $-X$ have the same distribution) must have all its odd moments (when they exist!) equal to zero. The converse is a ...
dohmatob's user avatar
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29 votes
6 answers
8k views

Nonseparable Hilbert spaces

Being nonseparable Banach space is in fact nothing special: one meets the first examples in the standard functional analysis course, when one learns about $\ell^p$ or $L^p[0,1]$ spaces-these spaces ...
truebaran's user avatar
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29 votes
2 answers
2k views

What theorem constructs an initial object for this category? (Formerly "Integrability by abstract nonsense")

Tom Leinster has a note here about how you can realize L^1[0,1] as the initial object of a certain category. You should really read his note because it is only 2.5 pages and is much more charming than ...
Steven Gubkin's user avatar
28 votes
3 answers
4k views

A separable Banach space and a non-separable Banach space having the same dual space?

I asked myself the following question when I was student just for curiosity. I asked a bit around (my professor, some researchers that I know), but nobody was able to give me an answer. So maybe it is ...
Valerio Capraro's user avatar
28 votes
2 answers
1k views

What is the Banach-Mazur distance between $\ell_\infty$ and $L_\infty$?

Given Banach spaces $X$ and $Y$, the Banach-Mazur distance between $X$ and $Y$ is defined as $$ d(X,Y) = \inf\{ \|\varphi\|\|\varphi^{-1}\| : \varphi\colon X\to Y \text{ isomorphism} \}. $$ We ...
Hannes Thiel's user avatar
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27 votes
1 answer
2k views

Decomposable Banach Spaces

An infinite dimensional Banach space $X$ is decomposable provided $X$ is the direct sum of two closed infinite dimensional subspaces; equivalently, if there is a bounded linear idempotent operator on $...
Bill Johnson's user avatar
24 votes
2 answers
2k views

Unique predual of a Banach space

Suppose $E$ is a dual Banach space whose predual is unique, and $E_0$ is a codimension 1 weak* closed subspace of $E$. Is the predual of $E_0$ necessarily unique? Okay, I will reveal the motivation. ...
Nik Weaver's user avatar
23 votes
9 answers
2k views

Nonseparable counterexamples in analysis

When asking for uncountable counterexamples in algebra I noted that in functional analysis there are many examples of things that “go wrong” in the nonseparable setting. But most of the examples I'm ...
22 votes
3 answers
7k views

Subspace of $L^2$ that lies in $L^\infty$

Let $E$ be a closed subspace of $L^2[0,1]$. Suppose that $E\subset{}L^\infty[0,1]$. Is it true that $E$ is finite dimensional? PS. This is actually a question from the real analysis qualifier. I came ...
Rostyslav Kravchenko's user avatar
22 votes
1 answer
2k views

Who proved that $l^1$ and $L^1[0,1]$ are not isomorphic?

$l^1$ has the Schur property (every weakly convergent sequence is norm convergent) and $L^1[0,1]$ does not, so the two spaces cannot be isomorphic. Is this folklore, or is it credited to someone? (...
Nik Weaver's user avatar
22 votes
2 answers
1k views

Meager subspaces of a Banach space and weak-* convergence

I previously asked a version of this question on Math.SE, but didn't receive an answer. (But there is a bounty there if you want to claim it!) Let $X$ be a Banach space. (If it helps, feel free to ...
Nate Eldredge's user avatar
21 votes
5 answers
3k views

Isomorphisms of Banach Spaces

Suppose $X$ and $Y$ are Banach spaces whose dual spaces are isometrically isomorphic. It is certainly true that $X$ and $Y$ need not be isometrically isomorphic, but must it be true that there is a ...
Mike Hartglass's user avatar
21 votes
3 answers
3k views

Can you tell whether a space is Banach from the unit ball?

Let $V$ be a real vector space. It is well known that a subset $B\subset V$ is the unit ball for some norm on $V$ if and only if $B$ satisfies the following conditions: $B$ is convex, i.e. if $v,w\...
Jim Belk's user avatar
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21 votes
1 answer
1k views

Banach spaces with few linear operators ?

Sometimes, dealing with the concrete and familiar Banach spaces of everyday life in maths, I happen nevertheless to ask myself about the generality of certain constructions. But, as I try to abstract ...
Pietro Majer's user avatar
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20 votes
8 answers
12k views

Can a self-adjoint operator have a continuous set of eigenvalues?

This should be a trivial question for mathematicians but not for typical physicists. I know that the spectrum of a linear operator on a Banach space splits into the so-called "point," "continuous" ...
Mahdiyar's user avatar
  • 355
20 votes
2 answers
3k views

Non-differentiable Lipschitz functions

As far as I understand, there are Lipschitz functions $f:\mathbb{R}\to\ell^\infty$ that are nowhere differentiable in the Frechet sense. Where can I find such an example?
Piotr Hajlasz's user avatar
19 votes
6 answers
8k views

Unbounded operator bounded in a dense subset

Let $X, Y$ be normed vector spaces, where $X$ is infinite dimensional. Does there exist a linear map $T : X \rightarrow Y$ and a subset $D$ of $X$ such that $D$ is dense in $X$, $T$ is bounded in $D$ (...
Nicolò's user avatar
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19 votes
3 answers
1k views

What standard Banach space is isomorphic to the completion of this different normed structure on $\ell^1$?

A colleague asked me the following question: "What can one do with the following norm on $\ell^1$: $|x|=\int_1^2 |x|_pdp$ where $| \;\; |_p$ is the standard norm on $\ell_p$?" This ...
Ali Taghavi's user avatar
19 votes
1 answer
3k views

Infinite convex combinations in a Banach space

Let's say that a subset $C$ of a Banach space $X$ is $\sigma$-convex if the following property holds: For any sequence $(x_k)_{k\ge0}$ in $C$, and for any sequence of non-negative real numbers $(\...
Pietro Majer's user avatar
  • 56.3k
18 votes
3 answers
5k views

What are the matrices preserving the $\ell^1$-norm?

So I am inspired by unitary matrices which preserve the $\ell^2$-norm of all vectors, so in particular the unit norm vectors. But then I saw that the $\ell^1$-norm of probability vectors is preserved ...
D. Rusin's user avatar
  • 381
18 votes
3 answers
2k views

What are the right categories of finite-dimensional Banach spaces?

This is inspired partly by this question, especially Tom Leinster's answer. Let me start with some background. I apologize that this will be rather long, since I'm hoping for input from people who ...
Mark Meckes's user avatar
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18 votes
6 answers
10k views

Subspaces of finite codimension in Banach spaces

Is every finite codimensional subspace of a Banach space closed? Is it also complemented? I know how to answer the same questions for finite dimensional subspaces, but couldn't figure out the finite ...
Kestutis Cesnavicius's user avatar
18 votes
1 answer
551 views

Is the space of Hankel operators complemented in B(H)?

Let $H$ be $\ell^2({\mathbb N})$ and let $S:H\to H$ be the unilateral forward shift, so that $S^*S=I\neq SS^*$. Then a bounded operator $T:H\to H$ is Hankel if and only if it satisfies $TS=S^*T$. Let ...
Yemon Choi's user avatar
  • 25.5k
17 votes
5 answers
4k views

Brownian motion and spheres

Consider a Brownian motion on $[0;1]$. A (finite) discrete approximation of this Brownian motion consists of $N$ iid Gaussian random variables $\Delta W_i$ of variance $\frac{1}{N}$: $$ W\left(\frac{k}...
Alekk's user avatar
  • 2,133
17 votes
1 answer
2k views

Are "most" operators on an infinite-dimensional complex Banach space "diagonalizable"?

This is true for finite-dimensional spaces: the diagonal operators on a finite dimensional complex vector space form contain a dense open set and the nondiagonalizable operators have measure 0. To be ...
Tim Campion's user avatar
  • 60.5k
17 votes
4 answers
2k views

Banach-Mazur applied to a Hilbert space

The Banach-Mazur theorem says that every separable Banach space is isometric to a subspace of $C^0([0;1],R)$, the space of continuous real valued functions on the interval $[0;1]$, with the sup norm. ...
Laurent Berger's user avatar
17 votes
1 answer
902 views

$(1+\epsilon)$-injective Banach spaces, complex scalars

It is well known that a real Banach space which is $(1+\epsilon)$-injective for every $\epsilon >0$ is already 1-injective (Lindenstrauss Memoirs AMS, 1964, download here). Using common ...
Fred Dashiell's user avatar
17 votes
2 answers
506 views

On a special type of normed linear spaces

Let $(V,\|.\|)$ be a normed linear space such that for every group $(G,*)$, every function $f:G \to V$ satisfying $$ \|f(x*y)\|\ge \|f(x)+f(y)\|,\qquad\forall x,y\in G,\tag{Z} $$ is a group ...
user521337's user avatar
  • 1,189
17 votes
0 answers
474 views

Large almost equilateral sets in finite-dimensional Banach spaces

Question: Does there exist a function $C:~(0,1)\to (0,\infty)$ such that for each $\varepsilon\in(0,1)$ every Banach space $X$ of dimension $\ge C(\varepsilon)\log n$ contains an $n$-point set $\{x_i\...
Mikhail Ostrovskii's user avatar
17 votes
0 answers
1k views

Finite Rank Commutators

My former student Detelin Dosev and I are interested in classifying the commutators in $L(X)$, the bounded linear operators on the Banach space $X$ (see our joint paper on my home page or the ArXiv ...
Bill Johnson's user avatar
16 votes
3 answers
1k views

Ultraproducts of Banach spaces versus model theoretic ultraproduct

Reading about ultraproducts in model theory and in Banach spaces leads to two distinct definitions. E.g., for an ultrapower given by an ultrafilter $\mu$ on $\mathbb{N}$, both notions of ultrapower ...
Anthony D'Arienzo's user avatar
16 votes
3 answers
1k views

A natural center of a convex weakly compact set in Banach space

Question: Let $S$ be a convex weakly compact set in Banach space $H$. Propose a natural way to define the unique center $O \in S$. Motivation: A lot! For example, in game theory $S$ can be a set of ...
Bogdan's user avatar
  • 161
16 votes
6 answers
2k views

Finding closed subspaces whose sum isn't closed

Let $V_0$ be a closed infinite-dimensional subspace of a Banach space $V$ such that the quotient $V/V_0$ is also infinite-dimensional. Is it always possible to find a closed subspace of $V$ whose sum ...
Nik Weaver's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
673 views

Ultraweak topology on B(X): Is the map X\otimes X* -> B(X)* isometric?

Let $X$ be a Banach space. Consider the map $$ \alpha\colon X\hat{\otimes} X^* \to B(X)^*, $$ defined one simple tensors as $$ \alpha(\xi\otimes\eta)(a) = \eta(a(\xi)).\quad (\xi\in X, \eta\in X^*, a\...
Hannes Thiel's user avatar
  • 3,305
16 votes
1 answer
945 views

Generalizing the Mazur-Ulam theorem to convex sets with empty interior in Banach spaces

The Mazur-Ulam theorem (1932) states that any isometry of a normed linear space is affine. See Nica (Expo. Math. 30 (2012), 397-398; arXiv:1306.2380) for a very elegant proof. Question: Let $M$ be a ...
Mikhail Ostrovskii's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
2k views

What (classes of) Banach spaces are known to have Schauder basis?

Motivation: I am trying to see for what class of Banach spaces the following result is true: There exists an increasing sequence of finite dimensional subspace {$V_n$} of a Banach space X (with ...
Clark Chong's user avatar
16 votes
0 answers
533 views

$C^*$-algebra generated by those operators that are bounded on every $\ell_p$

Suppose $T: c_{00} \to c_{00}$ is a linear map such that, when regarded as an infinite matrix, there is a uniform bound on the $\ell_1$-norms of its columns, and a uniform bound on the $\ell_1$-norms ...
Yemon Choi's user avatar
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