Convex combinations of weak\(^*\)-convergent sequences and the Mackey topology (Q346998)

A Banach space \(X\) has property (K) if every \(w^*\)-convergent sequence in \(X^*\) admits a convex block subsequence that is \(\mu(X^*,X)\)-convergent. Here, \(\mu(X^*,X)\) denotes the Mackey-star topology on \(X^*\), i.e., the topology on \(X^*\) of uniform convergence on the family of all \(w\)-compact subsets of \(X\), and a convex block subsequence of a sequence \(\{x_n\}\) is a sequence \(\{y_k\}\) such that \(y_k=\sum_{n\in I_k}a_nx_n\), where \(\{I_k\}\) is a sequence of finite subsets of \(\mathbb{N}\) such that \(\max I_k<\min I_{k+1}\) for all \(k\), \(a_n\geq 0\) for all \(n\), and \(\sum_{n\in I_k}a_n=1\) for all \(k\). Property (K) was introduced by Kwapień. Spaces with this property are, for example, the Schur spaces, the Grothendieck spaces, and the strongly weakly compactly generated spaces (SWCG), a class of Banach spaces introduced by \textit{G. Schlüchtermann} and \textit{R. F. Wheeler} [Math. Z. 199, No. 3, 387--398 (1988; Zbl 0637.46011)]. The present paper discusses some features of property (K). For example, it is proven (Theorem 2.1) that for spaces without a copy of \(\ell_1\), to have property (K) is equivalent to reflexivity. Property (K) does not pass to subspaces (it does -- Proposition~2.2 -- if the subspace \(Y\) of \(X\) is \(w^*\)-extensible, i.e., \(w^*\)-null sequences in \(Y^*\) have subsequences that can be extended to \(w^*\)-null sequences in \(X^*\)). Some other statements regarding subspaces and quotients are discussed; it is raised as Problem 2.16 whether the (K) property is a three-space-property. Theorem 2.7 (proved in two different ways) extends the aforementioned result that SWCG spaces have property (K) to spaces strongly generated by less than \(\mathfrak {p}\) weakly compact sets. Here, \(\aleph_1\leq \mathfrak {p}\leq \mathfrak {b}\leq \mathfrak {c}\) for some cardinals \(\mathfrak {p}\) and \(\mathfrak {b}\) defined in terms of different set-theoretical models. The cardinal \(\mathfrak {p}\) also appears in the statement of Theorem 2.14, ensuring that \((\bigoplus_{i\in I}X_i)_{\ell^1}\) has property (K) if each \(X_i\) does, provided that \(|I|<\mathfrak {p}\) (this result extends one of \textit{R. Frankiewicz} and \textit{G. Plebanek} [Bull. Pol. Acad. Sci., Math. 45, No. 3, 221--225 (1997; Zbl 0904.46013)]). The same result holds for the \(\ell^p\)-sum (\(1<p<\infty\)) without restriction on \(|I|\) (Theorem 2.15). Finally, several open problems (we have already mentioned one) are raised.