Multi-smooth points of finite order (Q2565407)

Let \(X\) be a Banach space and let \(S(X)\) denote its unit sphere. \(x_0 \in S(X)\) is said to be a smooth point if there is a unique \(x^\ast \in S(X^\ast)\) such that \(x^\ast(x_0) = 1\). Specific descriptions of smooth points are known for classical function spaces and spaces of operators [see \textit{S. Heinrich}, Funkts. Anal. Prilozh. 9, 93--94 (1974; Zbl 0325.46051); \textit{W. Deeb} and \textit{R. Khalil}, J. Funct. Anal. 103, 217--228 (1992; Zbl 0807.47031)]. It is also known that certain Calkin algebras (quotient space of bounded operators by the space of compact operators) fail to have smooth points [see \textit{F. Kittaneh} and \textit{R. Younis}, Integral Equations Oper. Theory 13, 849--855 (1990; Zbl 0738.47042); \textit{W. Werner}, Integral Equations Oper. Theory 15, 496--502 (1992; Zbl 0808.46019) and also Section VI.5 of \textit{P. Harmand, D. Werner} and \textit{W. Werner}, ``\(M\)-ideals in Banach spaces and Banach algebras'', Lecture Notes in Math. 1547 (Springer, Berlin) (1993; Zbl 0789.46011)]. When \(x_0\) is not a smooth point, consider the state space \(S_{x_0} = \{x^\ast \in S(X^\ast) : x^\ast(x_0) =1\}\). An interesting question in analysis is to study points for which \(S_{x_0}\) is a `large set'. One such notion is that of a unitary. Analogous to the corresponding notion from the theory of \(C^\ast\) algebras, \(x_0\) is said to be a unitary if span\,\(S_{x_0} = X^\ast\). The reviewer and his collaborators have recently studied this notion in [\textit{P. Bandyopadhyay, K. Jarosz} and \textit{T. S. S. R. K. Rao}, Ill. J. Math. 48, 339--351 (2004; Zbl 1047.46010); \textit{G. Godefroy} and \textit{T. S. S. R. K. Rao}, Ill. J. Math. 48, 1021--1029 (2004; Zbl 1075.46014)]. In the present paper, the authors study another notion of largeness of \(S_{x_0}\) by defining \(x_0\) to be a multi-smooth point of order \(n\) if there exists a linearly independent set of cardinality \(n\) in \(S_{x_0}\). Descriptions of these points similar to those of smooth points are obtained. It is shown that the Calkin algebra on \(\ell^p\) for \(1<p<\infty\) fails to have multi-smooth points of order \(n\) for any \(n\). It should be noted that when \(x_0\) is a smooth point of order \(n = \dim(X)\), for a finite-dimensional space \(X\), it is a unitary in the above sense and hence is an extreme point of the unit ball (Theorem 4.1).