Hilbert space structure and positive operators (Q1773312)

Extending results of Lin and others, the authors prove that a real Banach space is either isomorphic to a Hilbert space or contains a complemented subspace of infinite codimension with this property if there exists a positive, symmetric, non-strictly singular isomorphism from the space into its dual (where the notions of positivity and symmetry of an operator on a Banach space are the direct analogues of those for a Hilbert space). It is also shown that the condition of symmetry can be omitted if one strengthens the requirement that the operator be positive to what is called here an accretive operator.