Skip to main content
1 of 2
erz
  • 5.5k
  • 1
  • 19
  • 25

Is there a topology that makes every basic sequence null?

Let $E$ be a Banach space. Let $F$ be the collection of all $f\in E^*$ such that $\left<f,e_n\right>\to 0$, for every normalized basic sequence $\{e_n\}$. It is easy to see that $F$ is a closed subspace of $E^*$.

Does $F$ separate points of $E$?

Note that if $E$ is reflexive, then $F=E^*$, since every basic sequence is shrinking (which seems too strong).

In general this is not the case: if $E=l_{\infty}$, then $F$ contains no positive elements of $l_1$. Let $f=(f_1,f_2,...)\in l_1$ be positive, and take the Rademacher sequence $r_1=(1,-1,1,-1,...)$, $r_2=(1,1,-1,-1,1,1,...)$, $r_3=(1,1,1,1,-1,-1,-1,-1,...)$ and so on, which is a basic sequence. Let $n$ be such that $f_1+...+f_n>\frac{2}{3} \|f\|_1$. Then, for any $m$ such that $2^m\ge n$, $\left<f,e_n\right>=f_1+...+f_n\pm f_{n+1}\pm f_{n+2}...>\frac{1}{3} \|f\|_1\not\to 0$.

If $E=C[0,1]$, taking variations of Schauder's basis shows that $F$ does not contain neither discrete measures, nor the Lebesgue measure. At the moment I am not even sure that $F$ is non-trivial.

erz
  • 5.5k
  • 1
  • 19
  • 25