Tingley's problem for spaces of trace class operators (Q2361564): Difference between revisions

In [\textit{D. Tingley}, Geom. Dedicata 22, 371--378 (1987; Zbl 0615.51005)] a study was presented on surjective isometries between the unit spheres of two finite-dimensional Banach spaces, showing that any such mapping preserves antipodal points. A deep and difficult geometric problem has been named after that paper. Namely, let \(f:S(X) \to S(Y)\) be a surjective isometry between the unit spheres of two Banach spaces \(X\) and \(Y\). Is \(f\) the restriction of a (unique) isometric real linear surjection \(T: X \to Y\)? This problem remains unsolved even if we assume that \(X\) and \(Y\) are 2-dimensional spaces. Despite Tingley's problem still being open for general Banach spaces, positive solutions have been found for specific cases. The main aim of the paper under review is to provide a positive solution to Tingley's problem in a new class of operator algebras. More precisely, it is proved that every surjective isometry between the unit spheres of two trace class spaces admits a unique extension to a surjective complex linear or conjugate linear isometry between the spaces.