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245B,Notes11:Thestrongandweaktopologies
21February,2009in245BRealanalysis,math.FA,math.GN|Tags:BanachAlaoglutheorem,strongoperatortopology,strongtopology,
weakoperatortopology,weaktopology

Anormedvectorspace
automaticallygeneratesatopology,knownasthenormtopologyorstrong
topologyon ,generatedbytheopenballs
.Asequence insucha
spaceconvergesstrongly(orconvergesinnorm)toalimit ifandonlyif
as
.Thisis
thetopologywehaveimplicitlybeenusinginourpreviousdiscussionofnormedvectorspaces.
However,insomecasesitisusefultoworkintopologiesonvectorspacesthatareweakerthananorm
topology.Onereasonforthisisthatmanyimportantmodesofconvergence,suchaspointwiseconvergence,
convergenceinmeasure,smoothconvergence,orconvergenceoncompactsubsets,arenotcapturedbyanorm
topology,andsoitisusefultohaveamoregeneraltheoryoftopologicalvectorspacesthatcontainsthese
modes.Anotherreason(ofparticularimportanceinPDE)isthatthenormtopologyoninfinitedimensional
spacesissostrongthatveryfewsetsarecompactorprecompactinthesetopologies,makingitdifficultto
applycompactnessmethodsinthesetopologies.Instead,oneoftenfirstworksinaweakertopology,inwhich
compactnessiseasiertoestablish,andthensomehowupgradesanyweaklyconvergentsequencesobtainedvia
compactnesstostrongermodesofconvergence(oralternatively,oneabandonsstrongconvergenceandexploits
theweakconvergencedirectly).Twobasicweaktopologiesforthispurposearetheweaktopologyonanormed
vectorspace ,andtheweak*topologyonadualvectorspace .Compactnessinthelattertopologyis
usuallyobtainedfromtheBanachAlaoglutheorem(anditssequentialcounterpart),whichwillbeaquick
consequenceoftheTychonofftheorem(anditssequentialcounterpart)fromthepreviouslecture.
Thestrongandweaktopologiesonnormedvectorspacesalsohaveanaloguesforthespace
of
boundedlinearoperatorsfrom to ,thussupplementingtheoperatornormtopologyonthatspacewithtwo
weakertopologies,which(somewhatconfusingly)arenamedthestrongoperatortopologyandtheweak
operatortopology.
1.Topologicalvectorspaces
Webeginwiththedefinitionofatopologicalvectorspace,whichisaspacewithsuitablycompatible
topologicalandvectorspacestructuresonit.

Definition1Atopologicalvectorspace
isarealorcomplexvectorspace
,togetherwithatopology suchthattheadditionoperation
and
thescalarmultiplicationoperation
or
isjointly
continuousinbothvariables(thus,forinstance, iscontinuousfrom
with
theproducttopologyto ).
Itisaneasyconsequenceofthedefinitionsthatthetranslationmaps
for
andthedilation
maps
fornonzeroscalars arehomeomorphismson thusforinstancethetranslationordilation
ofanopenset(oraclosedset,acompactset,etc.)isopen(resp.closed,compact,etc.).Wealsohavetheusual
limitlaws:if
and
inatopologicalvectorspace,then
,andif
inthe
fieldofscalars,then
.(Notehowweneedjointcontinuityhereifweonlyhadcontinuityinthe
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individualvariables,wecouldonlyconcludethat
constant.)

(forinstance)ifoneof

or was

Wenowgivesomebasicexamplesoftopologicalvectorspaces.

Exercise1Showthateverynormedvectorspaceisatopologicalvectorspace,
usingtheballs
asthebaseforthetopology.Showthatthesamestatement
holdsifthevectorspaceisquasinormedratherthannormed.

Exercise2Everyseminormedvectorspaceisatopologicalvectorspace,again
usingtheballs
asabaseforthetopology.ThistopologyisHausdorffifand
onlyiftheseminormisanorm.

Example1Anylinearsubspaceofatopologicalvectorspaceisagainatopological
vectorspace(withtheinducedtopology).

Exercise3Let beavectorspace,andlet
bea(possiblyinfinite)familyof
topologieson ,eachofwhichturning intoatopologicalvectorspace.Let
bethetopologygeneratedby
(i.e.itistheweakesttopology
thatcontainsallofthe .Showthat
isalsoatopologicalvectorspace.Also
showthatasequence
convergestoalimit in ifandonlyif
in
forall
.(Thesamestatementalsoholdsifsequencesarereplacedbynets.)In
particular,byExercise2,wecantalkaboutthetopologicalvectorspace
generatedbyafamilyofseminorms
on .

Exercise4Let
bealinearmapbetweenvectorspaces.Supposethatwe
give thetopologyinducedbyafamilyofseminorms
,and the
topologyinducedbyafamilyofseminorms
.Showthat iscontinuousif
andonlyif,foreach
,thereexistsafinitesubset of andaconstant
suchthat
forall
.

Example2(Pointwiseconvergence)Let beaset,andlet bethespaceof

complexvaluedfunctions
thisisacomplexvectorspace.Eachpoint
givesrisetoaseminorm
.Thetopologygeneratedbyallofthese
seminormsisthetopologyofpointwiseconvergenceon (andisalsotheproduct
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topologyonthisspace)asequence
convergesto inthistopologyifand
onlyifitconvergespointwise.Notethatif hasmorethanonepoint,thennoneof
theseminormsindividuallygenerateaHausdorfftopology,butwhencombined
together,theydo.

Example3(Uniformconvergence)Let beatopologicalspace,andlet
be
thespaceofcomplexvaluedcontinuousfunctions
.If isnotcompact,
thenonedoesnotexpectfunctionsin
tobeboundedingeneral,andsothesup
normdoesnotnecessarilymake
intoanormedvectorspace.Nevertheless,one
canstilldefineballs
in
by

andverifythattheseformabaseforatopologicalstructureonthevectorspace,
althoughitisnotquiteatopologicalvectorspacestructurebecausemultiplicationis
nolongercontinuous.Asequence
convergesinthistopologytoalimit
ifandonlyif convergesuniformlyto ,thus
is
finiteforsufficientlylarge andconvergestozeroas
.

Example4(Uniformconvergenceoncompactsets)Let and
beasinthe
previousexample.Foreverycompactsubset of ,wecandefineaseminorm
on
by
.Thetopologygeneratedbyallofthese
seminorms(as rangesoverallcompactsubsetsof )iscalledthetopologyof
uniformconvergenceoncompactsetsitisstrongerthanthetopologyofpoitnwise
convergencebutweakerthanthetopologyofuniformconvergence.Indeed,a
sequence
convergesto
inthistopologyifandonlyif
convergesuniformlyto oneachcompactset.

Exercise5Showthatanarbitraryproductoftopologicalvectorspaces(endowed
withtheproducttopology)isagainatopologicalvectorspace.[Iamnotsureifthe
samestatementistruefortheboxtopologyIbelieveitisfalse.]

Exercise6ShowthatatopologicalvectorspaceisHausdorffifandonlyifthe
origin isclosed.(Hint:firstusethecontinuityofadditiontoprovethelemma
thatif isanopenneighbourhoodof ,thenthereexistsanotheropen
neighbourhood of suchthat
,i.e.
forall
.)
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Example5(Smoothconvergence)Let
bethespaceofsmoothfunctions
.Onecandefinethe normonthisspaceforanynonnegativeinteger
bytheformula

where

isthe derivativeof .Thetopologygeneratedbyallthe normsfor

isthesmoothtopology:asequence convergesinthistopologytoa
limit if convergesuniformlyto foreach
.

Exercise7(Convergenceinmeasure)Let
bethespaceofmeasurablefunctions

beameasurespace,andlet
.Showthatthesets

for
,
,
formthebaseforatopologythatturns
intoa
topologicalvectorspace,andthatasequence
convergestoalimit inthis
topologyifandonlyifitconvergesinmeasure.

Exercise8Let
begiventheusualLebesguemeasure.Showthatthevector
space
cannotbegivenatopologicalvectorspacestructureinwhicha
sequence
convergesto inthistopologyifandonlyifitconverges
almosteverywhere.(Hint:constructasequence in
whichdoesnot
convergepointwisea.e.tozero,butsuchthateverysubsequencehasafurther
subsequencethatconvergesa.e.tozero,anduseExercise7fromNotes8.)Thus
almosteverywhereconvergenceisnottopologisableingeneral.

Exercise9(Algebraictopology)Recallthatasubset ofarealvectorspace is
algebraicallyopenifthesets
areopenforall
.
(i)Showthatanysetwhichisopeninatopologicalvectorspace,isalso
algebraicallyopen.
(ii)Giveanexampleofasetin whichisalgebraicallyopen,butnotopeninthe
usualtopology.(Hint:alineintersectstheunitcircleinatmosttwopoints.)
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(iii)Showthatthecollectionofalgebraicallyopensetsin isatopology.
(iv)Showthatthecollectionofalgebraicallyopensetsin
structureofatopologicalvectorspace.

doesnotgive

the

Exercise10(Quotienttopology)Let beatopologicalvectorspace,andlet be
asubspaceof .Let
bethespaceofcosetsof thisisa
vectorspace.Let
bethecosetmap
.Showthatthe
collectionofsets
suchthat
isopengives
thestructureofa
topologicalvectorspace.If isHausdorff,showthat
isHausdorffifandonly
if isclosedin .
Some(butnotall)oftheconceptsthataredefinablefornormedvectorspaces,arealsodefinableforthemore
generalcategoryoftopologicalvectorspaces.Forinstance,eventhoughthereisnometricstructure,onecan
stilldefinethenotionofaCauchysequence
inatopologicalvectorspace:thisisasequencesuchthat
as
(ormoreprecisely,foranyopenneighbourhood of ,thereexists
such
that
forall
).Itisthenpossibletotalkaboutatopologicalvectorspacebeingcomplete
(i.e.everyCauchysequenceconverges).(Fromamoreabstractperspective,thereasonwecandefinenotions
suchascompletenessisbecauseatopologicalvectorspacehassomethingbetterthanatopologicalstructure,
namelyauniformstructure.)

Remark1Aswehaveseeninpreviouslectures,completenormedvectorspaces
(i.e.Banachspaces)enjoysomeveryniceproperties.Someoftheseproperties(e.g.
theuniformboundednessprincipleandtheopenmappingtheoremextendtoa
slightlylargerclassofcompletetopologicalvectorspaces,namelytheFrchet
spaces.AFrchetspaceisacompleteHausdorfftopologicalvectorspacewhose
topologyisgeneratedbyanatmostcountablefamilyofseminormsexamples
includethespace
fromExercise5ortheuniformconvergenceoncompact
setstopologyfromExercise4inthecasewhen is compact.Wewillhowever
notstudyFrchetspacessystematicallyhere.
Onecanalsoextendthenotionofadualspace fromnormedvectorspacestotopologicalvectorspacesin
theobviousmanner:thedualspace ofatopologicalspaceisthespaceofcontinuouslinearfunctionalsfrom
tothefieldofscalars(either or ,dependingonwhether isarealorcomplexvectorspace).Thisis
clearlyavectorspace.Unfortunately,intheabsenceofanormon ,onecannotdefinetheanalogueofthe
normtopologyon butasweshallseebelow,therearesomeweakertopologiesthatonecanstillplaceon
thisdualspace.
2.Compactnessinthestrongtopology
Wenowreturntonormedvectorspaces,andbrieflydiscusscompactnessinthestrong(ornorm)topologyon
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suchspaces.Infinitedimensions,theHeineBoreltheoremtellsusthatasetiscompactifandonlyifitis
closedandbounded.Ininfinitedimensions,thisisnotenough,fortworeasons.Firstly,compactsetsneedtobe
complete,soweareonlylikelytofindmanycompactsetswhentheambientnormedvectorspaceisalso
complete(i.e.itisaBanachspace).Secondly,compactsetsneedtobetotallybounded,ratherthanmerely
bounded,andthisisquiteastringentcondition.Indeeditforcescompactsetstobealmostfinitedimensional
inthefollowingsense:

Exercise11Let beasubsetofaBanachspace .Showthatthefollowingare

equivalent:
(i) iscompact.
(ii) issequentiallycompact.
(iii) isclosedandbounded,andforevery
, liesinthe neighbourhood
ofafinitedimensionalsubspace of .
Supposefurthermorethatthereisanestedsequence
offinite
dimensionalsubspacesof suchthat
isdense.Showthatthefollowing
statementisequivalenttothefirstthree:
(iv) isclosedandbounded,andforevery
inthe neighbourhoodof .

thereexistsan suchthat lies

Example6Let
.Inorderforaset
tobecompactinthestrong
topology,itneedstobeclosedandbounded,andalsouniformly power
integrableatspatialinfinityinthesensethatforevery
thereexists
such
that

forall
.Thus,forinstance,themovingbumpexample
,where
isthesequencewhichequals on andzeroelsewhere,isnotuniformly
powerintegrableandthusnotacompactsubsetof
,despitebeingclosedand
bounded.
Forcontinuous spaces,suchas
,uniformintegrabilityatspatialinfinityis
notsufficienttoforcecompactnessinthestrongtopologyonealsoneedssome
uniformintegrabilityatveryfinescales,whichcanbedescribedusingharmonic
analysistoolssuchastheFouriertransform.Wewillnotdiscussthistopichere.

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Exercise12Let beanormedvectorspace.
If isafinitedimensionalsubspaceof ,and
,showthatthereexists
suchthat
forall
.Giveanexampletoshowthat isnot
necessarilyunique(incontrasttothesituationwithHilbertspaces).
If isafinitedimensionalpropersubspaceof ,showthatthereexists
suchthat
forall
.(cf.theRieszlemma.)
Showthattheclosedunitball
andonlyif isfinitedimensional.

with

iscompactinthestrongtopologyif

3.Theweakandweak*topologies
Let beatopologicalvectorspace.Then,asdiscussedabove,wehavethevectorspace ofcontinuous
linearfunctionalson .Wecanusethisdualspacetocreatetwousefultopologies,theweaktopologyon and
theweak*topologyon :

Definition2(Weakandweak*topologies)Let beatopologicalvectorspace,
andlet beitsdual.
Theweaktopologyon isthetopologygeneratedbytheseminorms
forall
.
Theweak*topologyon isthetopologygeneratedbytheseminorms
forall
.

Remark2Itispossiblefortwononisomorphictopologicalvectorspacestohave
isomorphicduals,butwithnonisomorphicweak*topologies.(Forinstance,
hasaverylargenumberofpreduals,whichcangenerateanumberofdifferent
weak*topologieson
.)So,technically,onecannottalkabouttheweak*
topologyonadualspace ,withoutspecifyingexactlywhatthepredualspace
is.However,inpractice,thepredualspaceisusuallyclearfromcontext.

Exercise13Showthattheweaktopologyon isatopologicalvectorspace
structureon thatisweakerthanthestrongtopologyon .Also,if (andhence
and
)arenormedvectorspaces,showthattheweak*topologyon isa
topologicalvectorspacestructureon thatisweakerthantheweaktopologyon
(whichisdefinedusingthedoubledual
.When isareflexivenormed
vectorspace,showthattheweakandweak*topologieson areequivalent.
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Fromthedefinition,weseethatasequence
convergesintheweaktopology,orconvergesweaklyfor
short,toalimit
ifandonlyif
forall
.Thisweakconvergenceisoftendenoted
,todistinguishitfromstrongconvergence
.Similarly,asequence
convergesinthe
weak*topologyto
if
forall
(thus ,viewedasafunctionon ,converges
pointwiseto ).

Remark3If isaHilbertspace,thenfromtheRieszrepresentationtheoremfor
Hilbertspacesweseethatasequence
convergesweakly(orintheweak*
sense)toalimit
ifandonlyif
forall
.

Exercise14Showthatif isanormedvectorspace,thentheweaktopologyon
andtheweak*topologyon arebothHausdorff.(Hint:YouwillneedtheHahn
Banachtheorem.)Inparticular,weconcludetheimportantfactthatweakand
weak*limits,whentheyexist,areunique.
Thefollowingexerciseshowsthatthestrong,weak,andweak*topologiescanalldifferfromeachother.

Exercise15Let
,thus
standardbasisofeither , ,or
Showthatthesequence
convergestronglyin .

and

.Let

bethe

convergesweaklyin tozero,butdoesnot

Showthatthesequence
convergesintheweak*sensein tozero,but
doesnotconvergeintheweakorstrongsensesin .
Showthatthesequence
for
convergesintheweak*topologyof
tozero,butdoesnotconvergeintheweakorstrongsenses.(Hint:usea
generalisedlimitfunctional).

Remark4RecallfromExercise11ofNotes9thatsequencesin
which
convergeintheweaktopology,alsoconvergeinthestrongtopology.Wecaution
howeverthatthetwotopologiesarenotquiteequivalentforinstance,theopenunit
ballin
isopeninthestrongtopology,butnotintheweak.

Exercise16Let beanormedvectorspace,andlet beasubsetof .Showthat

thefollowingareequivalent:
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isstronglybounded(i.e. iscontainedinaball).
isweaklybounded(i.e.

isboundedforall

).

(Hint:usetheHahnBanachtheoremandtheuniformboundednessprinciple.)
Similarly,if isasubsetof ,and isaBanachspace,showthat isstrongly
boundedifandonlyif isweak*bounded(i.e.
isboundedforeach
).)Concludeinparticularthatanysequencewhichisweaklyconvergentin
orweak*convergentin isnecessarilybounded.

Exercise17Let beaBanachspace,andlet
.Showthatthesequence isbounded,and

convergeweaklytoalimit

ObservefromExercise15thatstrictinequalitycanhold(cf.Fatouslemma).
Similarly,if
convergesintheweak*topologytoalimit
,showthat
thesequence isboundedandthat

Again,constructanexampletoshowthatstrictinequalitycanhold.Thuswesee
thatweakorweak*limitscanlosemassinthelimit,asopposedtostronglimits
(notefromthetriangleinequalitythatif convergesstronglyto ,then
convergesto
).

Exercise18Let beaHilbertspace,andlet
convergeweaklytoalimit
.Showthatthefollowingstatementsareequivalent:
convergesstronglyto .
convergesto

Exercise19Let beaseparableHilbertspace.Wesaythatasequence
convergesintheCsarosensetoalimit
if
convergesstronglyto
as
.
Showthatif convergesstronglyto ,thenitalsoconvergesintheCsarosenseto
.
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GiveexamplestoshowthatweakconvergencedoesnotimplyCsaroconvergence,
andviceversa.Ontheotherhand,ifasequence convergesbothweaklyandin
theCsarosense,showthattheweaklimitisnecessarilyequaltotheCsarolimit.
Showthatasequence convergesweaklyto ifandonlyifeverysubsequencehas
afurthersubsequencethatconvergesintheCsarosenseto .

Exercise20Let beaBanachspace.Showthattheclosedunitballin isalso

closedintheweaktopology,andtheclosedunitballin isclosedintheweak*
topology.

Exercise21Let beaBanachspace.Showthattheweak*topologyon is
complete.

Exercise22Let beanormedvectorspace,let beasubspaceof whichis

closedinthestrongtopologyof .
Showthat isclosedintheweaktopologyof .
If
isasequenceand
,showthat convergesto intheweak
topologyof ifandonlyifitconvergesto intheweaktopologyof .(Because
ofthisfact,wecanoftenrefertotheweaktopologywithoutspecifyingthe
ambientspaceprecisely.)

Exercise23Let
space with

withtheuniform(i.e. )norm,andidentifythedual
intheusualmanner.

Showthatasequence
the areboundedin

convergesweaklytoalimit
andconvergepointwiseto .

ifandonlyif

Showthatasequence
convergesintheweak*topologytoalimit
ifandonlyifthe areboundedin
andconvergepointwiseto .
Showthattheweaktopologyin

isnotcomplete.

(Moregenerally,itmayhelptothinkoftheweakandweak*topologiesasbeing
analogoustopointwiseconvergencetopologies.)
Oneofthemainreasonswhyweusetheweakandweak*topologiesinthefirstplaceisthattheyhavemuch
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bettercompactnesspropertiesthanthestrongtopology,thankstotheBanachAlaoglutheorem:

Theorem3(BanachAlaoglutheorem)Let beanormedvectorspace.Thenthe
closedunitballof iscompactintheweak*topology.
ThisresultshouldbecontrastedwithExercise12.
Proof:Letssay isacomplexvectorspace(thecaseofrealvectorspacesisofcourseanalogous).Let be
theclosedunitballof ,thenanylinearfunctional
mapstheclosedunitball of intothedisk
.Thusonecanidentify withasubsetof ,thespaceoffunctionsfrom to .
Oneeasilyverifiesthattheweak*topologyon isnothingmorethantheproducttopologyof restrictedto
.Also,oneeasilyshowsthat isclosedin .ButbyTychonoffstheorem, iscompact,andso is
compactalso.
OneshouldcautionthattheBanachAlaoglutheoremdoesnotimplythatthespace islocallycompactinthe
weak*topology,becausethenormballin hasemptyinteriorintheweak*topologyunless isfinite
dimensional.Infact,wehavethefollowingresultofRiesz:

Exercise24Let bealocallycompactHausdorfftopologicalvectorspace.Show
that isfinitedimensional.(Hint:If islocallycompact,thenthereexistsanopen
neighbourhood oftheoriginwhoseclosureiscompact.Showthat
for
somefinitedimensionalsubspace ,where
.
Iteratethistoconcludethat
forany
.Ontheotherhand,usethe
compactnessof toshowthatforanypoint
thereexists
suchthat
isdisjointfrom .Concludethat
andthencethat
.)
ThesequentialversionoftheBanachAlaoglutheoremisalsoofimportance(particularlyinPDE):

Theorem4(SequentialBanachAlaoglutheorem)Let beaseparablenormed
vectorspace.Thentheclosedunitballof issequentiallycompactintheweak*
topology.
Proof:Thefunctionalsin areuniformlyboundedanduniformlyequicontinuouson ,whichbyhypothesis
hasacountabledensesubset .BythesequentialTychonofftheorem,anysequencein thenhasa
subsequencewhichconvergespointwiseon ,andthusconvergespointwiseon byExercise28ofNotes10,
andthusconvergesintheweak*topology.Butas isclosedinthistopology,weconcludethat is
sequentiallycompactasrequired.

Remark5OnecanalsodeducethesequentialBanachAlaoglutheoremfromthe
generalBanachAlaoglutheorembyobservingthattheweak*topologyonthedual
ofaseparablespaceismetrisable.ThesequentialBanachAlaoglutheoremcan
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breakdownfornonseparablespaces.Forinstance,theclosedunitballin
is
notsequentiallycompactintheweak*topology,basicallybecausethespace of
ultrafiltersisnotsequentiallycompact(seeExercise12oftheselecturenotes).
If isreflexive,thentheweaktopologyon isidenticaltotheweak*topologyon

.Wethushave

Corollary5If isareflexivenormedvectorspace,thentheclosedunitballin is
weaklycompact,and(if isseparable)isalsosequentiallyweaklycompact.

Remark6If isanormedvectorspacethatisnotseparable,thenonecanshow
that isnotseparableeither.Indeed,usingtransfiniteinductiononfirst
uncountableordinal,onecanconstructanuncountableproperwellorderedchainof
closedseparablesubspacesoftheinseparablespace ,whichbytheHahnBanach
theoreminducesanuncountableproperwellorderedchainofclosedsubspaceson
,whichisnotcompatiblewithseparability.Asaconsequence,areflexivespace
isseparableifandonlyifitsdualisseparable.[Ontheotherhand,separablespaces
canhavenonseparabledualsconsider
,forinstance.]
Inparticular,anyboundedsequenceinareflexiveseparablenormedvectorspacehasaweaklyconvergent
subsequence.ThisfactleadstotheveryusefulweakcompactnessmethodinPDEandcalculusofvariations,in
whichasolutiontoaPDEorvariationalproblemisconstructedbyfirstconstructingaboundedsequenceof
nearsolutionsornearextremiserstothePDEorvariationalproblem,andthenextractingaweaklimit.
However,itisimportanttocautionthatweakcompactnesscanfailfornonreflexivespacesindeed,forsuch
spacestheclosedunitballin maynotevenbeweaklycomplete,letaloneweaklycompact,asalreadyseenin
Exercise23.Thus,oneshouldbecautiouswhenapplyingtheweakcompactnessmethodtoanonreflexive
spacesuchas or .(Ontheotherhand,weak*compactnessdoesnotneedreflexivity,andisthussaferto
useinsuchcases.)
Inlaternoteswewillseethatthe(sequential)BanachAlaoglutheoremwillcombineverynicelywiththeRiesz
representationtheoremformeasures,leadinginparticulartoProkhorovstheorem.
4.Thestrongandweakoperatortopologies
Nowweturnourattentionfromfunctionspacestospacesofoperators.Recallthatif and arenormed
vectorspaces,then
isthespaceofboundedlineartransformationsfrom to .Thisisanormed
vectorspacewiththeoperatornorm

Thisnorminducestheoperatornormtopologyon
isdifficultforasequenceofoperators
twoweakertopologies.

.Unfortunately,thistopologyissostrongthatit
toconvergetoalimitforthisreason,weintroduce

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Definition6(Strongandweakoperatortopologies)Let
benormedvector
spaces.Thestrongoperatortopologyon
isthetopologyinducedbythe
seminorms
forall
.Theweakoperatortopologyon
is
thetopologyinducedbytheseminorms
forall
and
.
Notethatasequence
convergesinthestrongoperatortopologytoalimit
if
andonlyif
stronglyin forall
,and convergesintheweakoperatortopology.(In
contrast, convergesto intheoperatornormtopologyifandonlyif
convergesto uniformlyon
boundedsets.)Oneeasilyseesthattheweakoperatortopologyisweakerthanthestrongoperatortopology,
whichinturnis(somewhatconfusingly)weakerthantheoperatornormtopology.

Example7When isthescalarfield,then
iscanonicallyisomorphicto
.Inthiscase,theoperatornormandstrongoperatortopologycoincidewiththe
strongtopologyon ,andtheweakoperatornormtopologycoincideswiththe
weaktopologyon .Meanwhile,
coincideswith ,andtheoperator
normtopologycoincideswiththestrongtopologyon ,whilethestrongandweak
operatortopologiescorrespondwiththeweak*topologyon .
Wecanrephrasetheuniformboundednessprincipleforconvergence(Corollary1fromNotes9)asfollows:

Proposition7(Uniformboundednessprinciple)Let
bea
sequenceofboundedlinearoperatorsfromaBanachspace toanormedvector
space ,let
beanotherboundedlinearoperator,andlet beadense
subspaceof .Thenthefollowingareequivalent:
convergesinthestrongoperatortopologyof

to .

isboundedintheoperatornorm(i.e.
isbounded),andtherestrictionof
to convergesinthestrongoperatortopologyof
totherestrictionof
to .

Exercise25LetthehypothesesbeasinProposition7,butnowassumethat is
alsoaBanachspace.ShowthattheconclusionofProposition7continuestoholdif
strongoperatortopologyisreplacedbyweakoperatortopology.

Exercise26Showthattheoperatornormtopology,strongoperatortopology,and
weakoperatortopology,areallHausdorff.Asthesetopologiesarenested,wethus
concludethatitisnotpossibleforasequenceofoperatorstoconvergetoonelimit
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245B,Notes11:Thestrongandweaktopologies|What'snew

inoneofthesetopologiesandtoconvergetoadifferentlimitinanother.

Example8Let
,andforeach
,let
bethetranslation
operatorby :
.If iscontinuousandcompactlysupported,then
(e.g.fromdominatedconvergence)weseethat
in as
.Sincethe
spaceofcontinuousandcompactlysupportedfunctionsisdensein
,this
implies(fromtheaboveproposition,withsomeobviousmodificationstodealwith
thecontinuousparameter insteadofthediscreteparameter )that convergesin
thestrongoperatortopology(andhenceweakoperatortopology)totheidentity.On
theotherhand, doesnotconvergetotheidentityintheoperatornormtopology.
Indeed,observeforany
that
,andthus
.
Inasimilarvein, doesnotconvergetoanythinginthestrongoperatortopology
(andhencedoesnotconvergeintheoperatornormtopologyeither)inthelimit
,since
(say)doesnotconvergestronglyin .However,oneeasily
verifiesthat
as
foranycompactlysupported
,and
henceforall
bytheusuallimitingargument,andhence convergesin
theweakoperatortopologytozero.
Thefollowingexercisemayhelpclarifytherelationshipbetweentheoperatornorm,strongoperator,andweak
operatortopologies.

Exercise27Let beaHilbertspace,andlet Follow

beasequenceof
boundedlinearoperators.
F O L LO W
WH AT 'S NEW
Showthat
intheoperatornormtopologyifandonlyif
forany
boundedsequences
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to your Inbox.
Showthat
inthestrongoperatortopologyifandonlyif
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convergentsequence
andanyboundedsequence
.
Enteryouremailaddress
Showthat
intheweakoperatortopologyifandonlyif
convergentsequences
.

forany
forany

Signmeup

Showthat
intheoperatornorm(resp.weakoperator)topologyifandonlyif
intheoperatornorm(resp.weakoperator)topology.Giveanexampleto
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showthatthecorrespondingclaimforthestrongoperatortopologyisfalse.
ThereisacounterpartoftheBanachAlaoglutheorem(anditssequentialanalogue),atleastinthecaseof
Hilbertspaces:
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Exercise28Let
beHilbertspaces.Showthattheclosedunitball(inthe
operatornorm)in
iscompactintheweakoperatortopology.If and
areseparable,showthat
issequentiallycompactintheweakoperator
topology.
Thebehaviourofconvergenceinvarioustopologieswithrespecttocompositionissomewhatcomplicated,as
thefollowingexerciseshows.

Exercise29Let beaHilbertspace,let
operators,andlet
beanotheroperator.

besequencesof

If
intheoperatornorm(resp.strongoperatororweakoperator)topology,
showthat
and
intheoperatornorm(resp.strongoperatororweak
operator)topology.
If
intheoperatornormtopology,and isboundedintheoperatornorm
topology,showthat
and
intheoperatornormtopology.
If
inthestrongoperatortopology,and isboundedintheoperatornorm
topology,showthat
inthestrongoperatornormtopology.
Giveanexamplewhere
inthestrongoperatortopology,and
inthe
weakoperatortopology,but
doesnotconvergetozeroevenintheweak
operatortopology.

Exercise30Let beaHilbertspace.Anoperator
issaidtobefinite
rankifitsimage
isfinitedimensional. issaidtobecompactiftheimageof
theunitballisprecompact.Let
denotethespaceofcompactoperators
on .
Showthat
iscompactifandonlyifitisthelimitoffiniterank
operatorsintheoperatornormtopology.Concludeinparticularthat
isa
closedsubsetof
intheoperatornormtopology.
Showthatanoperator

iscompactifandonlyif iscompact.

If isseparable,showthatevery
inthestrongoperatortopology.

isthelimitoffiniterankoperators

If
,showthat mapsweaklyconvergentsequencestostrongly
convergentsequences.(Thispropertyisknownascompletecontinuity.)
Showthat
isasubspaceof
leftandrightmultiplicationbyelementsof
https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/245bnotes11thestrongandweaktopologies/

,whichisclosedwithrespectto
.(Inotherwords,thespaceof
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compactoperatorsisantwoidealinthealgebraofboundedoperators.)
Theweakoperatortopologyplaysaparticularlyimportantroleonthetheoryofvon
Neumannalgebras,whichwewillnotdiscusshere.Wewillreturntothestudyof
compactoperatorsnextquarter,whenwediscussthespectraltheorem.
[Update,Feb23:Corrections,anotherexerciseandremarkadded(note
renumbering).]

S HA R E THI S :

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R ELA TED

Locallycompacttopologicalvector
spaces
In"expository"

245B,Notes10:Compactnessin
topologicalspaces
In"245BRealanalysis"

245A,Notes4:Modesof
convergence
In"245ARealanalysis"

56comments

Commentsfeedforthisarticle

22February,2009at12:31amExercise15:Ithoughtinl^1asequenceconvergesiffitconvergesweakly?The

Anonymous
0 0
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firststatementistruefor1<p<oo.
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22February,2009at8:48amTheanswertotheQuestionafterCorollary5isyes.Moregenerally,thepredualof

Eric

any(norm)separableBanachspaceisseparable.Indeed,ifVisnotseparable,then
byinductionwecanconstructawellorderedstrictlyincreasingsequenceofclosed
subspacesofordertype .ByHahnBanach,theorthogonalcomplementsofthesespacesareastrictly
decreasingsequenceofclosedsubspacesofV*.Butthisisimpossibleinasecondcountablespace,sothis
impliesthatV*cannotbenormseparable.
2 0
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22February,2009at12:13pmThanksforthecorrectionandanswertothequestion!

TerenceTao

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245B,Notes11:Thestrongandweaktopologies|What'snew

23February,2009at12:16pmHowdoesBanachAlaoglunotcontradictF.RieszsTheoremthataTVSis

anon
1 0
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locallycompactifandonlyifitisfinitedimensional?
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23February,2009at12:26pmReanon:BanachAlaoglusaysthatthenormunitballinadualspaceisweak*

Eric

2 0
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compact.Thisdoesnotsaythatthespaceislocallycompactintheweak*
topologybecausetheunitballhasemptyinteriorintheweak*topology.
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23February,2009at1:52pmForRemark2,consider

,whichhasmany,manypreduals.Indeed,let beany
countablecompactspace,andconsider
.Thedualis
.As$K$is
countable,andasanymeasureiscountablyadditive,
inthecanonical
way.Thenif
isasequencein with
say,then
intheweak*topologyin
,where
isthepointmassat
.Sobychoosingnonhomeomorphic and ,wehavefoundpredualsfor
whichinducedistinctweak*topologies.
MattDaws

Indeed,predualsof canbeveryweirdindeed.TheArgyrosHaydonspaceisanexample!
2 0
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23February,2009at2:53pmThanksfortheexampleandthecomments!

TerenceTao

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23February,2009at6:20pmInexample5,issummationindexfrom0tokor0toinfinity?

lessthanepsilon

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Reply
23February,2009at6:35pmBetweenexc13andremark3:aseq

lessthanepsilon

inVconvergesintheweakstar

topology

shoulditbeaseq inVstar.?
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23February,2009at8:51pmThanksforthecorrections!

TerenceTao

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28February,2009at1:20amThisisinrelationtoexercise23,part2.Inclass,weshowedthatpointwise

Anonymous

convergenceimpliesbytheUBPthatthe

https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/245bnotes11thestrongandweaktopologies/

arebounded,andimmediately
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245B,Notes11:Thestrongandweaktopologies|What'snew

concludedthatwegetweakconvergence.Isntastepthroughexercise17needed,toshowthat
sothat isin
?Thanks.
0 0
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isfinite

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28February,2009at9:17amWell,intheexercise

isassumedtobein
already.Butyes,onecoulduse
Exercise17(whichisprovenusingtheUBPinanycase)also,fromFatous
lemma,thepointwiselimitofsequencesboundedin
isautomaticallyin

TerenceTao

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28February,2009at2:15pmIntheproofofTheorem3(BanachAlaoglutheorem),isitnecessarytotakethe

YasserTaima

unitball closed?Toidentify withasubsetof ,IbelieveifItakethemap

definedas
,thenbylinearityof ,
implies
,hencein .Thisseemstoworkforthe closedoropen.

Also,thereferencetoexercise27inNotes10,intheproofofthesequentialBanachAlaoglutheoremmight
wellbetoexercise28instead.Thanks.
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28February,2009at2:42pmDearYasser:Thanksforthecorrection!ItistruethatonecantakeBtobeeither

TerenceTao
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closedoropenfortheproof.(Itisessential,though,that

beclosed.)

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2March,2009at12:48amInexercise22:Showthat{W}isclosedintheweaktopologyof{W}.

etale

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Shouldclosedbereplacedbysomeotherconceptslikecomplete?Aspaceis
triviallyclosedinanytopologyonitbydefinition.
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2March,2009at8:17am
245B,Notes12:ContinuousfunctionsonlocallycompactHausdorffspacesWhatsnew
[]andcompact.AsisequivalenttothedualoftheBanachspace,itacquiresaweak*topology(seeNotes11),knownasthevague
topology.AsequenceofRadonmeasuresthenconvergesvaguelytoalimitif[]

0 0
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2March,2009at9:09amDearEtale:Oops,theexerciseismeanttostatethatWisclosedintheweaktopology

TerenceTao
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ofV.Itscorrectednow.
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6March,2009at2:35amDearProf.Tao,

SebastianScholtes
IhaveaquestionregardingExercise8,ifthestatementwastruethefollowingargument
wouldbevalid(ifImnotmistaken):
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245B,Notes11:Thestrongandweaktopologies|What'snew

Let
in ,everysubsequence alsoconvergesin ,suchthatthereisasubsubsequencewhich
convergespointwisealmosteverywhere.Withasubsubsequenceconvergenceprinciple(sometimescalled
Urysohnsprinciple)fortopologicalspacesoneconcludesforthewholesequence
almosteverywhere,
whichweknowisfalse,i.e.[CounterexamplesinAnalysis,Gelbaum,Olmsted,Example40,p.111(iii) (i)].
Iwouldbeverygratefulifyoucouldclarifywhateveriswrongwithmyreasoningortheexercise,sinceIdont
needanothersleeplessnight(.
Bestregards
SebastianScholtes
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6March,2009at7:28amDearSebastian,

TerenceTao
Hmm,youreright.Iwastryingtogluetogetherthevariousnotionsofuniform
convergenceoutsideofsmallsetsasgivenbyEgoroffstheorem,butIdidntgetthequantifiersrightand
indeedthisdoesnotgenerateatopology,byyourUrysohnprincipleargument.SoIvereplacedtheexercise
withitsnegation.:)
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28March,2009at10:13pmDearProfessorTao:

liuxiaochuan
Thelastbracketofexercise16,itshouldbe

,insteadof

[Corrected,thanks

T]
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23April,2009at7:44amDearProf.Tao,

PDEbeginner
Iguessinexample2

shouldbe

[Corrected,thanksT]
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29May,2010at12:12amDearProf.Tao

Anonymous

Ihaveaquestionaboutthecompactnessoftheclosedunitballofadualspace.Iwant
toknowwheatherornotitscompactinthestrongoperatortopology.whatsthereason?

Bestregards
Jafarsoltanifarsani
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16September,2010at8:51amHeyprof.Tao

DanielMckenzie
https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/245bnotes11thestrongandweaktopologies/

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245B,Notes11:Thestrongandweaktopologies|What'snew

Notthatitmakesmuchdifference,butshouldntthestatementtheweak$latex*$
topologyonthedualofaseparablespaceismetrisablereadtheweak$latex*$topologyonthedualofa
separablespaceismetrisableonnormboundedsubsetsof ?
[Corrected,thanksT.]
regards
Daniel
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26October,2010at5:14pm
245A,Notes4:ModesofconvergenceWhatsnew
[]notattempttoexhaustivelyenumeratethesemodeshere(butseethisWikipediapage,andseealsothese245Bnotesonstrongandweak
convergence).Wewill,however,discusssomeofthemodesofconvergencethatarisefrommeasuretheory,when[]

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2November,2010at3:34amDoestheweak*convergencein{L^\infty}impliestheconvergencealmost

Jean
0 1
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everywhere(uptoasubsequenceifnecessary)?
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2November,2010at7:25amNo.Forinstance,onthetorus

,theexponentialfunctions
convergein
theweak*sensetozero(theRiemannLebesguelemma),butclearlydonot
convergealmosteverywheretozero,evenaftertakingsubsequences.Thepointisthat
weak*convergenceallowsforanescapetofrequencyinfinitythatisnotconvergentunderanyconvergence
methodbasedontheabsolutevalueratherthanonthephase.
TerenceTao

3 1
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9November,2010at9:01am
245A,Notes3:Integrationonabstractmeasurespaces,andtheconvergencetheoremsWhatsnew
[]Theclaimthenfollowsbyanotherappealtothedefinitionofliminf.Remark12Informally,Fatouslemmatellsusthatwhentaking
thepointwiselimitofunsignedfunctions,thatmasscanbedestroyedinthelimit(aswasthecaseinthethreekeymovingbumpexamples),
butitcannotbecreatedinthelimit.Ofcoursetheunsignedhypothesisisnecessaryhere(considerforinstancemultiplyinganyofthemoving
bumpexamplesby).Whilethislemmawasstatedonlyforpointwiselimits,thesamegeneralprinciple(thatmasscanbedestroyed,butnot
created,bytheprocessoftakinglimits)tendstoholdforotherweaknotionsofconvergence.Wewillseesomeinstancesofthisin245B.
[]

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13December,2010at12:51pmDearProf.Tao,

Anonymous

ImgreatlyconfusedaboutExample3,inparticularaboutcontinuityof
multiplicationwithrespecttosuchtopology.If
and
,itseems
tomethatforarbitrary
,
foranyr.Doesntitimplythanmultiplicationisnotcontinuous,
since
hasnoneighbourhoodwhichismappedinto
?Itsprobablyjustmymisunderstanding,
butIwouldreallyappreciatepointingoutmymistake.
Bestregards,
Marcino
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1 1
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245B,Notes11:Thestrongandweaktopologies|What'snew

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13December,2010at7:51pmAck,youreright.Iverewrittentheexampleaccordingly.

TerenceTao

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24December,2010at2:29amDearProf.Tao,

Anonymous

Thankyoufortakingtimetoreply.Ibelievetheremightbeaproblemwithex.
19,3rddot.Ifwetakeanyunitvector ,thesequence
isCsaroconvergentto0
(sincenormofapartialsumisboundedby1),butsurelythereisnosubsequenceweaklyconvergentto0.Sorry
ifitsjustsomestupidmisunderstanding.Ifitsnot,isitstillpossibletoprovethe4thdot?
MerryChristmas,
Marcino
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24December,2010at9:55amOops,youreright,thethirditemisnotcorrectandshouldbedeleted.Thefourth

TerenceTao

itemstillseemscorrecttomethough(themaintrickinprovingtheonlyif
directionbeingtonormalisextozeroandthentouseweakconvergencechoosea
subsequencewherethevectorsareapproximatelyorthogonaltoeachother).
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13March,2011at1:02pmImconfusedbytheconceptshere.Itseemsthatthestrongclosureofeachsetis

Anonymous

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includedinitsweakclosure.Soonecansayweaklyclosedsetsarestronglyclosed
orstronglyclosedsetsareweaklyclosed?
RateThis

13March,2011at1:11pmYes,andyoushouldbeabletoworkoutwhichwaytheinclusiongoes.(Hint:

TerenceTao
1 0
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agoodexampletosettleonesintuitionhereistheunitspherein,say,

.)

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13March,2011at1:52pmHmm,maybethestandardorthonormalbasis

Anonymous

0 0
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in
isenough?So
isweaklyclosedandalsostronglyclosed,but isonlystronglyclosednot
weaklyclosed?

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13March,2011at3:11pmYes:),Ithinkso.

Anonymous

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245B,Notes11:Thestrongandweaktopologies|What'snew

4May,2011at11:53amDearProf.Tao,

Anonymous
Ithinkthatthedualspace
wecanapproximatetheelementsin
by
AlaogluThmto
.

of
isnotcompleteundertheweak topology(since
underthistopology),andthatwecanapplytheBanach

ButyoumentionedthatoneshouldhavecompletetopologyifhewantstoapplyBanachAlaogluThm.Forthis
reason,IamalittlebitdoubtedifIamright.
Thanksalot!
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4May,2011at12:07pmCompletenessisanotionthatonlymakessenseformetricspaces,notfortopological

TerenceTao

spaces.Theweak*topologyisnotmetrisable,andsothereisnomeaningfulwayto
discusscompleteness(unlessoneusesthenotionofcompletenessforuniformspacesor
something,butthisdoesnotseemtobeyourintentionhere).
Notealsothattheweak*topologyon
isdistinctfromtheweak*topologyon
,because
convergenceintheformerrequiresconvergencewhenevaluatedatallmembersof
,whereasconvergence
inthelatteronlyrequiresconvergencewhenevaluatedatallmembersofthesmallerspace
.
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4May,2011at12:48pmDearProf.Tao,

Anonymous
Manythanksforyourpromptreply!Igotsomepoint!
IamstillalittleconfusedonExercise21,theweak*topologyofthedual

ofBanachspace iscomplete.

Couldyougivesomeexplanationforthis?Itseemsthecompletenessofthefunctionalspaceplaysanimportant
role.Thanks!
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8September,2011at2:11pm
254A,Notes2:BuildingLiestructurefromrepresentationsandmetricsWhatsnew
[]normonthevectorspace.However,noteverytopologicalvectorspaceisgeneratedbyanorm.Seethesenotesforsomefurther[]

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17February,2012at1:29pmDoesthealgebraictopologyofExercise9actuallyariseinsomenaturalcontext

Rex
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(ifso,where?),orisitsomethingcookedupsolelytoserveasacounterexample?
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17February,2012at2:39pmThenotionofalgebraicopennessisnaturalwhenconsideringgeometricversionsofthe
https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/245bnotes11thestrongandweaktopologies/

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245B,Notes11:Thestrongandweaktopologies|What'snew

TerenceTao
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HahnBanachtheorem(seeTheorem4ofNotes6).Butoutsideofthat,Idont
knowofanyothermajorapplicationofthistopology.
RateThis

17February,2012at4:25pmIncidentally,itmightbeworthwhiletomentiontheZariskitopology,whichisalso

Rex

0 0
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anothertopology(thesimplestandmostnaturalIcanthinkof)on
doesnotmakeitintoatopologicalvectorspace.

or

that

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10July,2012at12:19pminRemark1,online3frombottom,compactashouldbecompact.

Anonymous
[Corrected,thanks.T]
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12July,2012at7:59amIdonotunderstandthelastpartofExercise13:Showthattheweak*topologyonthe

anon

dualisweakerthantheweaktopologyonthedual(whichisdefinedusingthedouble
dual).

Buthowdowedefinethedoubledual(V*)*ifthedualV*doesnothaveatopologyyet?
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12July,2012at9:46amSorry,inthelasttwopartsofthatquestionVshouldalsobeassumedtobeanormed

TerenceTao
1 0
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vectorspacethequestionhasbeenupdatedaccordingly.
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13July,2012at1:11pmOk,thanksforthereply!

anon

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3December,2013at6:03pm
[]andwesaythatasequenceinconvergestoinweak
LinearellipticequationswithmeasuredataI|PartialDifferentialAustraliansifforall.FurtherdetailscanbefoundinTerryTaos
notesonthesubject.[]

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12May,2014at7:43amDearprofessor,

AndrCaldas
InExercise12,item1,ifyouconsider thespacespawnedby and ,thentheproblem
isreducedtothefinitedimensionalnormedspace ,right?Itseemstomethattheconclusioniswrong.In
special,becauseofyourcomment:incontrasttothesituationwithHilbertspaces.But isaHilbertspace,
right?
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4/28/2015

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245B,Notes11:Thestrongandweaktopologies|What'snew

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12May,2014at10:03amUniquenesscanfailforsomenormedspacesV(includingsomefinitedimensional

TerenceTao

spaces),butcanholdforotherspaces(suchasHilbertspaces).Uniquenessis
necessarilytrueifVisaHilbertspace,butisnotnecessarilytrueifoneonlyassumesthat
Visanormedvectorspaces.
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12May,2014at10:24amSorry!Ifellfortheallnormsareequivalentcavet!Verysillyofmetheexample

AndrCaldas

isveryeasytoconstructindimensiontwoandthesupremumnorm.

Thankyouverymuchforyourtime.
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21November,2014at10:29amSomepeopledefinetheweaktopologyon

withrespectto astheweakest
topologyon sothatallthelinearfunctional
remaincontinuousinthis
newtopology.IsthisdefinitionequivalenttotheoneinDefinition2?

Anonymous

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21November,2014at4:21pmYesIrecommendverifyingthisasanexercise.

TerenceTao

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4March,2015at8:12pmIntheproofofTheorem3(Alaoglu):

Anonymous

onecanidentify

withasubsetof

,thespaceoffunctionsfrom to .

Foridentify,doyoumeanahomeomorphism(topologicalisomorphism)orjustabijection(set
isomorphism)?
Ifonedefines

by

.Then

Oneeasilyverifiesthattheweak*topologyon
.

isbijective.

isnothingmorethantheproducttopologyof

restrictedto

Let betheweak*topologyon and betheproducttopologyof restrictedto

.Onecanshow
thatanet
convergestoa in
ifandonlyif
convergesto
in
.
Doesitsuggestthatthesetwotopologiesarethesame?(ByExercise13inNote8,thisonlysuggestthat is
continous.)AsIveseenfromNote8,netsareintheoptionalsection.Doyousuggestthatthereisan
alternativewaytoshowthat and arethesame?
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5March,2015at8:17amInitially,theidentificationisonlyonthelevelofsets(i.e.asabijection),butonceone

TerenceTao

verifiesthatthetopologiesarecompatible(inyournotation)thentheidentificationis
attheleveloftopologicalspaces(i.e.asahomeomorphism).

Exercise13(combinedwiththefactthatonehasanifandonlyifratherthanjustanonlyifintherelation
betweenconvergenceofnets)showsthatfanditsinversearebothcontinuous,i.e.thatfisahomeomorphism.
Onecanalsodemonstratethehomeomorphismpropertybyconsideringtheinverseimageorforwardimageof
subbasicsets.
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5March,2015at1:16pmForsubbasicsets,doyoumeansetsinasubbasisofatopologicalspace?(People

Anonymous

usedifferentspellingsuchassubbase,subbase,etc.Imusuallyconfusedabout
whichoneisgrammaticallycorrect.)

Ifweuse
andconsider
insteadof ,Iguesswecouldavoidworkingback
andforthbetween and since isasubset(theelementsofwhichhavethelinearproperty)of
.
Stillneedtocheckthetopologythough,itmightbeslightlyfaster.
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31March,2015at2:49pmniceandsystematicexplanationoftopologicalvectorspacesandweaknorms.Was

Sina

0 0
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veryusefulasalltheseconceptswerekindofblurryinmyhead.Itismuchmore
neaterinmyheadnow,thanks.
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