Two properties of Müntz spaces (Q1674024)

Let \(C[0,1]\) be the space of real-valued continuous functions on \([0,1]\) endowed with the supremum norm. Let \(\Lambda = (\lambda_k)_{k=0}^\infty\) be a strictly increasing sequence of non-negative real numbers and set \(M(\Lambda) = \overline{\text{span}}\{t \mapsto t^{\lambda_k}: k \in \mathbb N_0\} \subset C[0,1]\). We call \(M(\Lambda)\) a Müntz space if \(\sum_{k=1} ^\infty 1/ \lambda_k < \infty\). The authors show that Müntz spaces contain asymptotically isometric copies of \(c_0\) and that their dual spaces are octahedral. Let us recall the definitions of these two concepts. A Banach space \(X\) is said to contain an asymptotically isometric copy of \(c_0\) if there exist a sequence \((x_k)_{k=1}^\infty\) in \(X\) and constants \( 0 < m < M <\infty \) such that, for all sequences \((t_k)_{k=1}^\infty\) with finitely many non-zero terms, \[ m \sup_{k\in \mathbb N} \left | t_k \right | \leq \left \| \sum_{k=1}^\infty t_k x_k \right \| \leq M \sup_{k\in \mathbb N} \left | t_k \right | \] and \[ \lim_{k\rightarrow \infty} \left \| x_k \right \| = M. \] A Banach space \(X\) is said to be octahedral if, for any finite-dimensional subspace \(F\) of \(X\) and every \(\varepsilon > 0\), there exists \(y \in \{ x \in X: \| x \| = 1 \}\) with \[ \| x + y \| \geq (1 + \varepsilon) (\| x \| + 1) \quad \text{for all \(x \in F\)}. \] It is well known that \(C[0,1]\) contains isometric copies of \(c_0\) and that its dual space is isometric to an \(L_1(\mu)\) space for some measure \(\mu\) and therefore octahedral. Thus the results of the authors show that Müntz spaces inherit quite a bit of structure from \(C[0,1]\).