The complemented subspace problem for \(C(K)\)-spaces: a counterexample (Q6103493): Difference between revisions

A \(C\)-space is a Banach space that is isomorphic to \(C(K)\), the space of all continuous functions on a Hausdorff compact space \(K\). A longstanding question, originally attributable to \textit{J.~Lindenstrauss} and \textit{D.~E. Wulbert} [J. Funct. Anal. 4, 332--349 (1969; Zbl 0184.15102)], asks whether the class of \(C\)-spaces is closed under taking complemented subspaces. The centerpiece of the paper is the construction of a counterexample to the above problem. More specifically, the authors show that there are two separable (yet non-metrisable) scattered compacta \(K\) and \(L\) with the third Cantor-Bendixson derivative empty, a continuous surjection \(\theta\colon L \to K\) and a closed subspace \(X\) of \(C(L)\) such that \begin{itemize} \item[(1)] \(C(L) \simeq \theta^\circ[C(K)] \oplus X\); \item[(2)] the spaces \( \theta^\circ[C(K)]\) and \(X\) are both \(1\)-complemented in \(C(L)\), where \(\theta^\circ\) is the induced algebra homomorphism; \item[(3)] the space \(X\) is not a \(C\)-space. \end{itemize} From this, the authors derive the existence of a non-\(C\) space \(W\), a compact space \(L\), and a short-exact sequence \[ 0 \to c_0 \to C(L) \to W \to 0. \]