On the property (C) of Corson and other sequential properties of Banach spaces (Q6112495)

This paper deals with several properties of Banach spaces whose definition involves the analysis of their convex subsets. A Banach space is said to have \textit{Corson's property (C)} if for every family of closed convex subsets with empty intersection, there exists a countable subfamily that already has empty intersection. The authors consider (at least) two more properties, analogous to the topological characterization of closed sets and points in the closure by means of convergent sequences, but involving convex subsets. A space has \textit{property \(\mathcal E\)} if for convex subsets one can characterize belonging to the weak\(^*\)-closure by means of being the weak\(^*\)-limit of a sequence in the set; on the other hand, a space has \textit{property \(\mathcal E'\)} if weak\(^*\)-sequentially closed convex subsets of the dual ball are weak\(^*\)-closed (thus it is not hard to see that property \(\mathcal E'\) is a weakening of property \(\mathcal E\)). After the introduction (the first section), the second section of the present paper contains the proof that property \(\mathcal E'\) implies Corson's property (C); this section also features a proof of a result (Theorem~3 in the paper), stemming from the PhD thesis of the first author, that property \(\mathcal E'\) implies that the dual ball is weak\(^*\)-block compact. Finally, the third section contains one of the core results of the paper, namely that under \(\mathsf{PFA}\) Corson's property (C) implies that the unit ball of the dual, equipped with the weak\(^*\) topology, has countable tightness. It remains open whether such an implication holds in \(\mathsf{ZFC}\) alone. At the end of the paper, putting all of the results therein together with a result of \textit{Z.~Balogh} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 105, No.~3, 755--764 (1989; Zbl 0687.54006)], the conclusion is that four conditions are equivalent under \(\mathsf{PFA}\): Corson's property (C), property \(\mathcal E\), the unit ball of the dual having countable tightness under the weak\(^*\) topology, and having a weak\(^*\) sequential dual ball. It is worth noting that this combines with a result of \textit{C.~Brech} [Construções genéricas de espaços de Asplund \(C(K)\). Universidade de São Paulo and Université Paris VII (PhD Thesis) (2008)], claiming the consistency that property (C) does not imply property \(\mathcal E\) -- but establishing, in fact, that property (C) does not imply property \(\mathcal E'\). Therefore one may conclude that the statement that property (C) implies property \(\mathcal E'\) is independent of \(\mathsf{ZFC}\).