Daugavet property and separability in Banach spaces (Q1697702)

A Banach space \(X\) has the Daugavet property if \(\|I + T\| = 1 + \|T\|\) for every bounded linear operator \(T: X \to X\) of rank 1. The author demonstrates that a separable space \(X\) enjoys the Daugavet property if and only if, for every nonempty relatively weakly-star open subset \(W\) of \(B_{X^{**}}\), there exists \(u \in S_{X^{**}} \cap W\) such that \(\|x + u\| = 1 + \|x\|\) holds for every \(x \in X\). A Banach space \(X\) is said to be \(L\)-embedded if there is a subspace \(Z \subset X^{**}\) such that \(X^{**} = X \oplus_1 Z\). It is demonstrated that a separable \(L\)-embedded space \(X\) possesses the Daugavet property if and only if the unit ball \(B_Z\) of the corresponding subspace \(Z\) is weak-star dense in \(B_{X^{**}}\). The main result of the paper says that, if \(X\) is a separable \(L\)-embedded Banach space with the Daugavet property, \(Y\) is a nonzero Banach space, and either \(X^{**}\) or \(Y\) has the metric approximation property, then the projective tensor product of \(X\) and \(Y\) has the Daugavet property.