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Kernel of identity minus compact is finite dimensional

Statement

Let X be a normed space over R or C and let K:X→X be a compact operator (Compact linear operator). Then the kernel

ker⁡(I−K)={x∈X:Kx=x}

is a finite-dimensional subspace of X: it admits an ordered basis of finite length (Basis of a vector space: a linearly independent spanning subset; and ordered basis: an injective finite list whose image is a basis).

Facts & Assumptions

[A1]

K is a bounded linear operator, and a bounded linear operator is continuous (A bounded linear operator between normed spaces, For a linear operator, boundedness, continuity at 0, continuity, and Lipschitz continuity are equivalent); K is compact, that is, K(B‾X)‾ is compact (Compact linear operator).

[A3]

If the closed unit ball of a normed space is compact, then that space admits an ordered basis of finite length (The closed unit ball is compact if and only if the normed space is finite-dimensional); a closed subset of a compact metric space is a compact metric subspace (A closed subset of a compact metric space is compact). Relative openness is the trace of ambient openness, and compactness is the compactness of the restricted metric (A subset of a metric space is open in the subspace metric exactly when it is the trace of an open set of the ambient space, and it is compact as a metric space in its own right exactly when every family of open subsets of the ambient space covering it, indexed or not, has finitely many members covering it).

Proof

technique · direct

Given: A normed space X over R or C, a compact operator K:X→X, and N:=ker⁡(I−K)={x∈X:Kx=x}.

1.1A1A2

The set N is a linear subspace of X, since I−K is linear. It is closed without using a sequential-closure criterion: take a bound C≥0 for K. If x∉N, put a=∥x−Kx∥>0. For ∥y−x∥<a/(2(1+C)), the triangle inequality gives ∥y−Ky∥≥a−∥(I−K)(y−x)∥≥a−(1+C)∥y−x∥>a/2>0. Thus a ball around every x∉N lies outside N, proving its complement open.

2.1step 1.1A2

Every x in the closed unit ball N∩B‾X of N satisfies x=Kx and ∥x∥≤1, hence x∈K(B‾X); therefore N∩B‾X⊆K(B‾X)⊆K(B‾X)‾, and N∩B‾X is a closed subset of X by [step 1.1] and [A2].

3.1step 2.1A1A3

The set K(B‾X)‾ is compact by [A1], so by [step 2.1] and [A3] the set N∩B‾X is compact with its metric restricted from X: it is relatively closed in the compact metric subspace K(B‾X)‾. Restricting that same metric via N gives exactly the same distance on N∩B‾X, so it is also the compact closed unit ball of the normed space N, so N admits an ordered basis of finite length by [A3].

4.1step 3.1∎

Hence ker⁡(I−K) is finite dimensional, as claimed.

Depends on

Dependency tree · 2 levels

Sources