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TheoremStatement: AI-adaptedProof: AI-adaptedPipeline-generatedjudge pass (gpt-5.6-terra)audited 2026-09-22
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Schauder compact adjoint theorem

Statement

Assume the Axiom of Choice (The Axiom of Choice). Let X and Y be Banach spaces over the same scalar field and let T:X→Y be a bounded linear operator (A bounded linear operator between normed spaces), with transpose T∗:Y∗→X∗ (The transpose of a bounded operator, The dual space X^* of a normed space and its dual norm). Then T is compact (Compact linear operator) if and only if T∗ is compact.

Facts & Assumptions

[A1]

S is compact exactly when S(B‾X)‾ is compact (Compact linear operator); the transpose is the bounded linear map (S∗h)(x)=h(Sx) with ∥S∗∥=∥S∥ (The transpose of a bounded operator, The transpose is bounded with the same norm, The operator norm as the least bound and as the unit-sphere or unit-ball supremum).

[A4]

A compact metric space has a finite subcover of every open cover; the balls centred at points of a nonempty compact set cover it, and choosing one index per member of a finite subcover is choice-free (Open cover, subcover, compact metric space, and compact subset of a metric space, Open ball, closed ball and sphere in a metric space, Every natural-number-indexed list of nonempty sets has a choice function on its family of values). An at most countable union of finite sets is at most countable under ACω (Countable unions of at most countable sets, assuming ACω).

[A6]

The canonical maps JX:X→X∗∗ are linear isometries (The canonical bidual map is an isometry) with S∗∗JX=JYS for bounded S (The canonical map is natural); an isometric image of a Banach space is a closed subspace (Closed subspaces of complete metric spaces are complete; the converse under countable choice).

[A7]

If S is compact and C is bounded linear, then CS and SC are compact (Compositions with a compact operator are compact).

Proof

technique · direct

Given: AC, Banach spaces X,Y over one scalar field, a bounded linear S:X→Y, the transpose S∗:Y∗→X∗, the closed unit balls B‾X,B‾Y∗, and Θ:=S(B‾X)‾.

1.1A5

Every bounded sequence in K has a convergent subsequence.

1.2A1A4A5

If S is compact then Θ is compact by [A1], so for every real δ>0 there are finitely many points x0,…,xm∈B‾X with Θ⊆⋃i≤mB(Sxi,δ): the balls Θ∩B(Sx,δ), x∈B‾X, cover Θ by [A5], compactness gives a finite subcover, and one index per member of that finite subcover may be chosen by [A4].

1.3A2

The dual X∗ is Banach by [A2], so the set C:=S∗(B‾Y∗)‾⊆X∗ is a complete metric space by [A2].

1.4A1

If K is a compact operator and M is a closed subspace of its target containing K(X), then the corestriction K0:X→M is compact: for bounded E⊆X the closure of K0(E) in M equals K(E)‾∩M, a closed subset of the compact set K(E)‾.

1.5A6

The space JY(Y) is a closed subspace of Y∗∗ and the inverse of JY:Y→JY(Y) is a bounded isometry, by [A6].

2.1step 1.2A3A4

Under the hypothesis of [step 1.2], the union D of the finite (1/(k+1))-nets of Θ obtained from [step 1.2] for k∈N is at most countable and dense in Θ, the nets being chosen together by ACω and their union counted by [A4]; hence there is a surjection N→D listing D as (dj).

2.2step 1.1A3

If (gn) is a sequence in B‾Y∗ and D=(dj) is a countable subset of Y, then there are a strictly increasing index map n:N→N and scalars to which gnj(dk) converges for all j,k: for each fixed dk the scalar sequence gn(dk) is bounded by ∥dk∥ and has a convergent subsequence by [step 1.1], and the standard diagonal selection of nested subsequences is licensed by DC.

3.1step 2.1step 2.2A1A4

Assume S compact and let (gn) be a sequence in B‾Y∗. With D as in [step 2.1], [step 2.2] gives a subsequence (gnj) with gnj(d) convergent for every d∈D. Given a real ε>0, choose k with 1/(k+1)<ε/4 and let Fk⊆B‾X be the finite net of [step 1.2] for δ=1/(k+1); convergence on the finite set Fk gives J with ∣(gnj−gnl)(Sxi)∣<ε/2 for all j,l≥J and all i≤m, and for x∈B‾X one has ∥Sx−Sxi∥<ε/4 for some i, so ∣(S∗gnj−S∗gnl)(x)∣≤∣(gnj−gnl)(Sxi)∣+∥gnj−gnl∥ ∥Sx−Sxi∥<ε/2+2ε/4=ε; hence (S∗gnj) is Cauchy in X∗.

4.1step 1.3step 3.1

Under the hypothesis of [step 3.1] the Cauchy sequence (S∗gnj) converges in the complete space X∗ by [step 1.3], and its limit lies in C because every S∗gnj∈S∗(B‾Y∗)⊆C and C is closed; so every sequence in S∗(B‾Y∗) has a subsequence converging in C.

5.1step 4.1A3A5

Under the hypothesis of [step 3.1], every sequence (yn) in C has a subsequence converging in C: choosing gn∈B‾Y∗ with ∥yn−S∗gn∥<1/(n+1) for every n is a countable selection licensed by [A3], and applying [step 4.1] to (gn) yields a subsequence with S∗gnj→y∈C, whence ynj→y.

6.1step 5.1A1A3

Under the hypothesis of [step 3.1] the space C is sequentially compact by [step 5.1], hence compact by [A3], and then S∗ is compact by [A1].

7.1step 1.4step 1.5step 6.1A2A6A7

Suppose now that T∗:Y∗→X∗ is compact. Both X∗ and Y∗ are Banach by [A2], so [step 6.1] applied to the bounded linear operator T∗ between Banach spaces gives that (T∗)∗=T∗∗ is compact; with [step 1.5] and [A6], T∗∗JX=JYT, so T∗∗JX is compact by [A7], and T=JY−1∘(T∗∗JX) is the composite of the corestriction of T∗∗JX to the closed subspace JY(Y) — compact by [step 1.4] — with the bounded operator JY−1, hence compact by [A7].

8.1step 6.1step 7.1∎

Conversely, if T is compact then T∗ is compact by [step 6.1]; and if T∗ is compact then T is compact by [step 7.1]; this is the asserted equivalence.

Depends on

Dependency tree · 2 levels

Sources