On tree characterizations of \(G_{\delta}\)-embeddings and some Banach spaces (Q1001398)

Following [\textit{J.\,Bourgain} and \textit{H.\,P.\thinspace Rosenthal}, J.~Funct.\ Anal.\ 52, 149--188 (1983; Zbl 0541.46020)], a bounded linear one-to-one operator \(T\) from a Banach space \(E\) into a Banach space \(Y\) is said to be a \(G_{\delta}\)-embedding if the image \(T(D)\) of every norm closed bounded and separable subset \(D \subset E\) is a \(G_{\delta}\)-set in \(Y\). One of the main results of the paper under review states that a one-to-one bounded linear operator \(T\) from a separable Banach space \(E\) to a Banach space \(X\) is a \(G_{\delta}\)-embedding if and only if every \(T\)-null tree in the unit sphere of \(E\) has a branch which is a boundedly complete basic sequence. Then, the authors consider the notions of regulators and skipped blocking decompositions of Banach spaces and show, in a fairly general set-up, that the existence of a regulator is equivalent to that of a special skipped blocking decomposition. As applications, the following results are obtained. {\parindent=7mm \begin{itemize}\item[(a)] A separable Banach space \(E\) has separable dual if and only if every \(\omega^{*}\)-null tree in the unit sphere of \(E^{*}\) has a branch which is a boundedly complete basic sequence. \item[(b)] A Banach space \(E\) with separable dual has the point of continuity property if and only if every \(\omega\)-null tree in the unit sphere of \(E\) has a branch which is a boundedly complete basic sequence. \end{itemize}} Recall that a Banach space \(E\) has the point of continuity property if for every weakly closed bounded set \(A \subset E\), the identity map from \((A, \omega)\) to \((A, \|. \|)\) has a point of continuity. The authors also give examples to show that the tree hypothesis in both cases above cannot be replaced in general with the assumption that every normalized \(\omega^{*}\)-null (\(\omega\)-null in (b)) sequence has a boundedly complete basic subsequence.