A N N A L E S S O C IE T A T IS M A T H E M A T IC A E PO LO N A E

Series I : C O M M E N TA TIO N E S M A T H E M A T IC A E X X I I I (1983)

R O C Z N IK I P O L S K IE G O T O W A R Z Y S T W A M A TEM A TY C ZN EG O
Sé ria I : P R A C E M A T EM A T Y C Z N E X X I I I (1983)

M arek W ôjtowicz (Poznan)

On the James space J ( X ) for a Banach space X

Abstract. For X an arbitrary Banach space, we consider the natural analogue

J (X) of the famous James space J — J (В ). Our main result is that J (X)** is isomor­
phic to J(X **)@ X **. In particular, if X is reflexive, then J (X)**/J(X) is isomorphic
to X .

The Banach space constructed by В . C. James [3] in 1950, now com­

monly denoted by J , was the first example of a quasi-reflexive space
(i.e. of finite codimension in its bidual) of order 1 : dim = 1 . In
1971, J . Lindenstrauss [4] (see also [5], Theorem l.d.3) modified James,
construction so as to prove that for every separable Banach space X there
exists a Banach space Z such that Z**\Z is isomorphic to X . The same holds
for weakly compactly generated spaces X , as shown by Davis, Figiel,
Johnson and Felczynski [1 ] in 1974; this class contains all separable and
all quasi-reflexive Banach spaces. It seems to be an open question whether
any restrictions on X are necessary at all. Our result thus shows that for
X a reflexive Banach space we may take Z = J (X) to have Z**/Z isomor­
phic to X.
Our terminology and notation are mostly standard (e.g., as in [5]).
We write X ^ Y or X Y if the Banach spaces X and Г are isometric
or isomorphic, respectively. Let Y — (Y, ||-||) be a Banach space, Г a finite
set and l < p < oo. Then 1р (Г, Y) denotes the Banach space consisting
of all families у — (уу)уеГ with yY e T, under the norm ||-||р defined by the
formula

\\y\\p = { V*r
if p — oo.

We have

under a natural isometry (cf. [2 ], Chap. П, §2 , (11)).

184 M. W ô j t o w i c z

Let X = (X , ||*||) be a Banach space. Then the Banach space J (X )

= (J(X ), 111*111) is defined as follows:

J ( X ) = {x = (х{) e X N: |||æ|j| = sup<rp(®) < oo},

where & is the set of all strictly increasing sequences p = (^(1 ), ...
...,р ( 2 Ь + 1 )) in N , k e N u { 0 }, and
к
Gp{pC) ( ll*^p(2f) Xp{2i—l ) l l 2 “b 11^(2*4-1)11 j *
t’ = l

I t is easily seen that for each x = (x{) e J (X) the limit x0 = lim ^ exists
г->оо
in X. The James space J (X) = (J (X)] |||*|||) is the closed subspace of J (X)
consisting of those x e J (X) for which lim xi = 0. I t is clear that the sub-
i-*rO
O
space X of all constant sequences is isometric in a natural manner to X
and is the range of the norm 1 projection Q in J (X) defined by Q{x)
= (x0, x0, ...). Moreover, Q~1(0 ) = J (X). Hence

(1) J(X)=X@J(X).

Consider the space X x J (X) equipped with the norm Ц-lb defined by

IK^oj ®)lli = ЩН-HI N11»

and define T: X x J ( X ) - > J { X ) by
T(xQ, x) — (х0) #?i , x2y...).
Then T 'is an algebraic isomorphism between X x J ( X ) and J ( X ) , and
||(a?0, a?)||x < 2 111T(x0, ж)|||. Hence T~l is continuous, and so is P b y theBanach
isomorphism theorem (this can also be checked directly). Thus T is a topo­
logical isomorphism between X x J ( X ) and J ( X) , whence
X xJ(X )^J{X ).
Hence and from (1) we have
(2 ) J(X )^J(X).
For each n e N the map P n: x ь-> (0, . . . , 0, xn, 0, ...) is a projection in
CO

J (X) of norm 1 . Moreover, P nP m — 0 if n Ф m, and x = 2 -P»®* Y x e J { X ) .

71—1
This means that the sub spaces P n( j (X)), n = 1, 2, ..., form a Schauder
decomposition of J (X), with P 1? P 2, ... as the associated sequence of
projections. Write

= -P1 +-P 2+ •••

J n(X) = Sn(J(X)) = {CO = ( x J e J i X ) : x{ = 0 V i > » },
 Ja m es space J ( X ) fo r a B a n a ch space X 185

and observe that 8 n is a projection in J (X) and

\\ SJ =1 (neN).
Similarly as in the case of the usual James space J — J (JR) (cf. [3]),
it can be shown that the just described decompo sition of J (X) is shrinking,
i.e., for every f e J ( X ) * ,
* OO

(3) / — J ? P * f = lim 8 * f (norm convergence),

n~=\ oo
so that thé sequence of subspaces P * ( J (X)*), n = 1 , 2 , ..., forms a Schau-
der decomposition of J (X)*, with P *, P *, ... as the associated sequence
of projections.
Since X and P n[ J (X)) are isometric via the natural injection, for every
/ e J (X)* there is a unique f n e X* such that
( Kf)(x) = VæeJ(X).
We may thus identify every / e J (X)* with the corresponding sequence
(/») c X *; thus
' OO

f(x) = ^fn(X n), V x e J ( X ) .

n~l
Similarly, for every F e J ( X ) * * there is a unique sequence F = (Fn)
in X ** such that for all n e N and / = (fn) e J (X )*,
OO

( P T F ) ( f ) - F n(fn) and F(f) =

n—1
We shall now prove our main result.
T h e o r e m . The map Fi->F = (F n) is an isometry between J(X )* *
and J(X **).
Proof. For each p = (p( 1), p(2k + l)) e & consider the operator
Bp : J(X )-> lz(X ) defined by
Bp (%>) = (%p{2) •••? ®р(2к) ^р(2к—1)? ^p(2k-\-lp •*•)•
Then *
H-BpMII = ap (x) <|||®|||,
and hence |]Бр|| = 1 . It is easily seen that B** : J ( X )* * - * l2(X)** = l2(X**)
is given by
B p *(F ) = (Fp(2)—Fp(i)i •••/Fp(2k)~Fp(2k-i)i —F P(2k+i)i h, •••)•
Hence
\\b ;*(F )\ \ = op (é ),
186 M. W ô j t o w i c z

and since ||J8j*|| = ||2?p|| = 1 , we have

, ■/ ap (F)^\\F\\.

I t follows that
(4 ) l! | # | i| < m , V F e J ( X Г .

The proof of the converse inequality requires some preparations.

For each n e N let 3?n be the set of those p e g ? whose last term is < n - f 1 .
Define

^ n — ^oo { ^ n l ^2 ( - ^ ) )

and note that

(under a natural isometry). I t is clear that the map An: J n(X)-~+3Fn defined
by
A n (æ ) = (B p iæ ))^

is am isometric embedding. This and the Hahn-Banach theorem imply

that for every y> e J n (X)* there is g = {gp)pe£?n e 3C*n such that

Ml = Ml = 2 IM
P&n
and y> = A*g, i.e.,

v “ (BP\jn(x )f (gP) •
P^n

In particular, if / e J(X )* and y = (S*f)\Jn{X), then ||y|| = \\S*J\\ and so

we have

(5) . iis :/n - 2 " w and s«f = 2 Biop-

pe& n pe& n

F ix F e J (X )** and le t/ e J (X)*. Then F ( f ) = lim F ( 8 * f ) by (3), and hence

n-yoo

(6) \F(f)\ < sup \F(8*f)\.

П
Using (6 ), we get

•p(«:/) = Z F (Ku,>) = S ( K * F )(sP),

p eP n P e&n
 Jâ m es space J (X ) fo r a Banach space X 187

and hence

|.F(Slft|<max||£;*F||- У Ifell = max ||В**Л|•| Ю

Pe^n
< sup ||B” B||-Ii/I| = infill •ll/il.
p e#

In view of (6 ) we have thus shown that

Ж infill.
Combined with (4) this proves
{7) ' 111*111 = P 4 I < oo, V F e J ( X ) * * .
Now suppose Ф = (Fn) e J (X**), i.e., |||Ф|Ц < oo. For each n e N
let Фп = ( F1, . . . , F n, 0 , ...) and define F n e J ( X ) * * by
П
F ( f ) = ^ F A f i ) , У/ = (/<) 6 J ( I ) |
t=l
elearly, F 11 = Фп, and so \\Fn\\ = |||ФП|||< Ц|Ф||| by (7). Moreover, F n(f)
— F n(8*f), and if m < n, then
n

I 2 w t)I = i^ ‘(«„*/)--p“( O i <

г=т+1

< 11|Ф|1НЙ/-£т/1К0 as m ,n-+oo by (3).

Therefore the formula
OO
F ( } ) = lim *"*(/) = f = (/«) e J ( X f ,
n-*0О t-= l

defines a linear functional F on J (X)*, which is continuous, because

|J?(/)K sup|i"(/)|< 111ФЦ1- 11Я -

П
Clearly Ф — F , and this completes the proof of the theorem.
Using (1 ) and (2 ) for X** instead of X , we now have
COEOLLAEY 1. J ( X f * 9* J(X **) = J(X **)@ X ** J(X **).
Coeollaey 2. I f X is reflexive, then
J(X )** g * J { X ) &J(X);
hence
J(X)**/J(X) ъ X.
E e m a r k s. (1) If X Ф {0}, then the natural decomposition of J ( X )
is not boundedly complete (by an argument similar to that used for J , cf.
188 M. W o j t o w i c z

[3]), and hence J (X) is not reflexive. This conclusion is based on the result
of Sanders [6 ] stating that a Banach space Z with a Schauder decomposi­
tion (Zn) is reflexive iff the decomposition is shrinking and boundcdly
complete and all Zn are reflexive.
(2) Corollary 2 for more general James-Orliez spaces has been recently
announced by P.Y. Semenov [7]. (The results of the present paper were
obtained independently.)
The author wishes to thank Professor L. Drewnowski for his valuable
assistance and helpful suggestions.

References

[1 ] W. J . D a v is, T. F ig ie l, W. B. Jo h n s o n and A. P e lc z y h s k i, Factoring weakly

compact operators, J . Funct. Anal. 17 (1974), 311-327.
[2] M. M. D ay , Normed linear spaces, 3rd ed., Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-
New York 1973.
[3] R. C. J a m e s , Bases and reflexivity of Banach spaces, Ann. of Math. 52 (1950)*
518-527.
[4] J . L in d e n s tr a u s s , On James' paper “Separable conjugate spaces”, Israel J . Math.
9 (1971), 279-284.
[5] J . L in d e n s tr a u s s and L. T z a f r ir i, Classical Banach spaces I , Springer-Verlag,
Berlin-Heidelberg-New York 1977.
[ 6] B. L . S a n d e rs, Decompositions and reflexivity in Banach spaces, Math. Annalen
153 (1964), 199-209.
[7] P. V. S em en o v , James-Orlicz spaces, Uspehi Mat. Nauk 34 (4) (1974), 209-211
(in Russian).

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