Functional Hilbertian sums (Q1057451)

A real Banach space is called a Functional Hilbertian Sum (FHS) if it is isometric to the direct sum of Hilbert spaces of dimension at least two via a one-uncoditional basis. Various isometric permanence properties of Functional Hilbertian Sums are proved. Many of these results are the real analogues of (and also imply) known theorems concerning complex Banach spaces with one-unconditional (or ''hyperorthogonal'') bases. For example, it is proved that a space is FHS if and only if it equals the closed linear span of the ranges of its rank-two skew-Hermitian operators. The complex analogue due to \textit{N. J. Kalton} and \textit{G. N. Wood} [Math. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 79, 493-510 (1976; Zbl 0327.46002)] is as follows: a complex Banach space has a one-unconditional basis provided it equals the closed linear span of the ranges of its rank-one skew-Hermitian operators. The isometries and skew-Hermitian operators on FHS spaces are completely determined and FHS spaces are isometrically classified. Skew- Hermitian operators on general real spaces with a one-unconditional basis are also completely determined, using FHS spaces in an essential manner. Various complementation results are established, insuring that under certain circumstances, one-complemented subspaces of spaces with one- unconditional bases are FHS spaces. One of these yields the real analogue (and also implies) the theorem of Kalton and Wood that the family of complex Banach spaces with one-unconditional bases is closed under contractive projections. In previous work, it was observed that a bounded linear operator on a general Banach space B is skew-Hermitian if and only if it belongs to the Lie algebra of the group of isometries of B. The present paper completes some of this previous work in characterizing Euclidean and non-Euclidean rotation spaces (of finite-dimension) by the dimension of their Lie algebras, and in presenting the Lie classification of Banach spaces up to dimension four. For example, it is shown that a four-dimensional real Banach space B is isometric to a non-Euclidean complex two-dimensional Banach space with a one-unconditional basis if and only if the dimension of the Lie algebra of B is equal to two. In the course of this investigation, several isometric invariants for real Banach spaces are introduced. Many of these are natural analogues of known invariants for complex spaces and include orthogonal projections, well-embedded spaces, Hilbert components and B. Lie algebras. It is proved that distinct Hilbert components of an arbitrary real Banach space are orthogonal provided one of them is at least two-dimensional. This result is of fundamental importance in obtaining many of the discoveries discussed above.