BV has the bounded approximation property (Q1781393)

Let \(BV(\mathbb R^n)\) denote the Banach space of real functions with bounded variation on \(\mathbb {R}^n\). It is proven that \(BV(\mathbb {R}^n)\) has the bounded approximation property. This means that there exists a constant \(C\) such that, for every \(\varepsilon>0\) and every compact subset \(K\) of \(BV(\mathbb {R}^n)\), one can find a finite-rank operator \(T\) on \(BV(\mathbb {R}^n)\) with \(\| T\| \leq C\) such that \(\| Tu-u\| \leq \varepsilon\) for all \(u\in K\). As the proof shows, the operators \(T\) are actually projections. Thus \(BV(\mathbb {R}^n)\) has the \(\pi\)-property, which is known to be a stronger property than the bounded approximation property. Moreover, the proof shows that, for every separable subspace \(X\) of \(BV(\mathbb R^n)\), there exists a sequence \((P_k)\) of mutually commuting finite-rank projections on \(BV(\mathbb R^n)\) with \(\| P_k\| \leq C\) such that \(\| P_k u-u\| \to 0\) for all \(u\in X\). The proof uses a version of the Poincaré inequality. It also uses the following implicit result from [\textit{G. Alberti}, Proc. R. Soc. Edinb., Sect. A 123, 239--274 (1993; Zbl 0791.26008)]. Let \((u_k)\) be a sequence in \(BV(\mathbb R^n)\). Then there exists \(\bar{u}\in BV(\mathbb R^n)\) such that the absolutely continuous part \(D_a\bar{u}=0\), and, for every \(k\), the singular part \(D_s u_k=f_k D\bar{u}\) for some scalar function \(f_k\in L^1(| D_s\bar{u}|)\).