We show that any mapping between two real $p$ -normed spaces, which preserves the unit distance and the midpoint of segments with distance $2^{p}$ , is an isometry. Making use of it, we provide an alternative proof of some known results on the Aleksandrov question in normed spaces and also generalise these known results to $p$ -normed spaces.

Motivated by the local theory of Banach spaces, we introduce a notion of finite representability for metric spaces. This allows us to develop a new technique for comparing the generalised roundness of metric spaces. We illustrate this technique by applying it to Banach spaces and metric trees. In the realm of Banach spaces we obtain results such as the following: (1) if ${\mathcal{U}}$ is any ultrafilter and $X$ is any Banach space, then the second dual $X^{\ast \ast }$ and the ultrapower $(X)_{{\mathcal{U}}}$ have the same generalised roundness as $X$ , and (2) no Banach space of positive generalised roundness is uniformly homeomorphic to $c_{0}$ or $\ell _{p}$ , $2<p<\infty$ . For metric trees, we give the first examples of metric trees of generalised roundness one that have finite diameter. In addition, we show that metric trees of generalised roundness one possess special Euclidean embedding properties that distinguish them from all other metric trees.

We say that a Banach space $X$ is ‘nice’ if every extreme operator from any Banach space into $X$ is a nice operator (that is, its adjoint preserves extreme points). We prove that if $X$ is a nice almost $CL$ -space, then $X$ is isometrically isomorphic to $c_{0}(I)$ for some set $I$ . We also show that if $X$ is a nice Banach space whose closed unit ball has the Krein–Milman property, then $X$ is $l_{\infty }^{n}$ for some $n\in \mathbb{N}$ . The proof of our results relies on the structure topology.

In this paper we provide an elementary proof of James’ characterisation of weak compactness for Banach spaces whose dual ball is weak∗ sequentially compact.

We introduce some new refinements of numerical radius inequalities for Hilbert space invertible operators. More precisely, we prove that if $T\in {\mathcal{B}}({\mathcal{H}})$ is an invertible operator, then $\Vert T\Vert \leq \sqrt{2}\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}(T)$ .

There are two main aims of the paper. The first is to extend the criterion for the precompactness of sets in Banach function spaces to the setting of quasi-Banach function spaces. The second is to extend the criterion for the precompactness of sets in the Lebesgue spaces Lp (ℝn ), 1 ⩽ p < ∞, to the so-called power quasi-Banach function spaces. These criteria are applied to establish compact embeddings of abstract Besov spaces into quasi-Banach function spaces. The results are illustrated on embeddings of Besov spaces , into Lorentz-type spaces.

We prove that an operator system is (min, ess)-nuclear if its $C^{\ast }$ -envelope is nuclear. This allows us to deduce that an operator system associated to a generating set of a countable discrete group by Farenick et al. [‘Operator systems from discrete groups’, Comm. Math. Phys.329(1) (2014), 207–238] is (min, ess)-nuclear if and only if the group is amenable. We also make a detailed comparison between ess and other operator system tensor products and show that an operator system associated to a minimal generating set of a finitely generated discrete group (respectively, a finite graph) is (min, max)-nuclear if and only if the group is of order less than or equal to three (respectively, every component of the graph is complete).

We give an alternative proof of the theorem of Alikakos and Fusco concerning existence of heteroclinic solutions U : ℝ → ℝN to the system

Here a± are local minima of a potential W ∈ C2(ℝN) with W(a±) = 0. This system arises in the theory of phase transitions. Our method is variational but differs from the original artificial constraint method of Alikakos and Fusco and establishes existence by analysing the loss of compactness in minimizing sequences of the action in the appropriate functional space. Our assumptions are slightly different from those considered previously and also imply a priori estimates for the solution.

For every $p\in (0,\infty )$ we associate to every metric space $(X,d_{X})$ a numerical invariant $\mathfrak{X}_{p}(X)\in [0,\infty ]$ such that if $\mathfrak{X}_{p}(X)<\infty$ and a metric space $(Y,d_{Y})$ admits a bi-Lipschitz embedding into $X$ then also $\mathfrak{X}_{p}(Y)<\infty$ . We prove that if $p,q\in (2,\infty )$ satisfy $q<p$ then $\mathfrak{X}_{p}(L_{p})<\infty$ yet $\mathfrak{X}_{p}(L_{q})=\infty$ . Thus, our new bi-Lipschitz invariant certifies that $L_{q}$ does not admit a bi-Lipschitz embedding into $L_{p}$ when $2<q<p<\infty$ . This completes the long-standing search for bi-Lipschitz invariants that serve as an obstruction to the embeddability of $L_{p}$ spaces into each other, the previously understood cases of which were metric notions of type and cotype, which however fail to certify the nonembeddability of $L_{q}$ into $L_{p}$ when $2<q<p<\infty$ . Among the consequences of our results are new quantitative restrictions on the bi-Lipschitz embeddability into $L_{p}$ of snowflakes of $L_{q}$ and integer grids in $\ell _{q}^{n}$ , for $2<q<p<\infty$ . As a byproduct of our investigations, we also obtain results on the geometry of the Schatten $p$ trace class $S_{p}$ that are new even in the linear setting.

We show that, in an inner product space $H$, the inequality

$$\begin{eqnarray}{\textstyle \frac{1}{2}}[\Vert x\Vert \,\Vert y\Vert +|\langle x,y\rangle |]\geq |\langle Px,y\rangle |\end{eqnarray}$$

$x,y$

$P:H\rightarrow H$

We study ultrasymmetric spaces in the case in which the fundamental function belongs to a limiting class of quasiconcave functions. In the process, we study limiting cases of $J$ interpolation spaces and establish new $J$ – $K$ identities as well as a reiteration theorem for these limiting interpolation methods.

Based on a construction method introduced by Bourgain and Delbaen, we give a general definition of a Bourgain–Delbaen space and prove that every infinite-dimensional separable ${\mathcal{L}}_{\infty }$ -space is isomorphic to such a space. Furthermore, we provide an example of a ${\mathcal{L}}_{\infty }$ and asymptotic $c_{0}$ space not containing $c_{0}$ .

Let $X,Y$ be two Banach spaces and $B_{X}$ the closed unit ball of $X$. We prove that if there is an isometry $f:B_{X}\rightarrow Y$ with $f(0)=0$, then there exists an isometry $F:X\rightarrow Y^{\ast \ast }$. If, in addition, $Y$ is weakly nearly strictly convex, then there is an isometry $F:X\rightarrow Y$. Making use of these results, we show that if $Y$ is weakly nearly strictly convex and there is an isometry $f:B_{X}\rightarrow Y$ with $f(0)=0$, then there exists a linear isometry $S:X\rightarrow Y$.

In this article, we study the Mazur–Ulam property of the sum of two strictly convex Banach spaces. We give an equivalent form of the isometric extension problem and two equivalent conditions to decide whether all strictly convex Banach spaces admit the Mazur–Ulam property. We also find necessary and sufficient conditions under which the $\ell ^{1}$-sum and the $\ell ^{\infty }$-sum of two strictly convex Banach spaces admit the Mazur–Ulam property.

Given a closed set $C$ in a Banach space $(X,\Vert \cdot \Vert )$, a point $x\in X$ is said to have a nearest point in $C$ if there exists $z\in C$ such that $d_{C}(x)=\Vert x-z\Vert$, where $d_{C}$ is the distance of $x$ from $C$. We survey the problem of studying the size of the set of points in $X$ which have nearest points in $C$. We then turn to the topic of delta convex functions and indicate how it is related to finding nearest points.

The Bishop property (♗), introduced recently by K. P. Hart, T. Kochanek and the first-named author, was motivated by Pełczyński’s classical work on weakly compact operators on $C(K)$-spaces. This property asserts that certain chains of functions in said spaces, with respect to a particular partial ordering, must be countable. There are two versions of (♗): one applies to linear operators on $C(K)$-spaces and the other to the compact Hausdorff spaces themselves. We answer two questions that arose after (♗) was first introduced. We show that if $\mathscr{D}$ is a class of compact spaces that is preserved when taking closed subspaces and Hausdorff quotients, and which contains no nonmetrizable linearly ordered space, then every member of $\mathscr{D}$ has (♗). Examples of such classes include all $K$ for which $C(K)$ is Lindelöf in the topology of pointwise convergence (for instance, all Corson compact spaces) and the class of Gruenhage compact spaces. We also show that the set of operators on a $C(K)$-space satisfying (♗) does not form a right ideal in $\mathscr{B}(C(K))$. Some results regarding local connectedness are also presented.

An investigation is made of the continuity, the compactness and the spectrum of the Cesàro operator $\mathsf{C}$ when acting on the weighted Banach sequence spaces $\ell _{p}(w)$, $1<p<\infty$, for a positive decreasing weight $w$, thereby extending known results for $\mathsf{C}$ when acting on the classical spaces $\ell _{p}$. New features arise in the weighted setting (for example, existence of eigenvalues, compactness) which are not present in $\ell _{p}$.

From the viewpoint of $C^{\ast }$-dynamical systems, we define a weak version of the Haagerup property for the group action on a $C^{\ast }$-algebra. We prove that this group action preserves the Haagerup property of $C^{\ast }$-algebras in the sense of Dong [‘Haagerup property for $C^{\ast }$-algebras’, J. Math. Anal. Appl.377 (2011), 631–644], that is, the reduced crossed product $C^{\ast }$-algebra $A\rtimes _{{\it\alpha},\text{r}}{\rm\Gamma}$ has the Haagerup property with respect to the induced faithful tracial state $\widetilde{{\it\tau}}$ if $A$ has the Haagerup property with respect to ${\it\tau}$.

A nonreflexive Banach space may have a weakly uniformly rotund dual. The aim of this paper is to determine alternative characterisations and study further implications of this property in higher duals.

We use the best constants in the Khintchine inequality to generalise a theorem of Kato [‘Similarity for sequences of projections’, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.73(6) (1967), 904–905] on similarity for sequences of projections in Hilbert spaces to the case of unconditional Schauder decompositions in $\ell _{p}$ spaces. We also sharpen a stability theorem of Vizitei [‘On the stability of bases of subspaces in a Banach space’, in: Studies on Algebra and Mathematical Analysis, Moldova Academy of Sciences (Kartja Moldovenjaska, Chişinău, 1965), 32–44; (in Russian)] in the case of unconditional Schauder decompositions in any Banach space.