Automatic continuity of Lipschitz algebras (Q1908151)

If \(\{A_\alpha\}\) is a parametrized family of Banach algebras, for which \(0<\alpha<\beta\) implies that \(A_\alpha \supseteq A_\beta\) then a homomorphism \(\nu: A_\alpha\to B\), \(B\) a Banach algebra, is said to be eventually continuous if there is a \(\beta\geq\alpha\) for which \(\nu\mid A_\beta\) is continuous (with respect to the norm on \(A_\beta\)). This concept makes sense for the Lipschitz algebras \(\text{Lip}_\alpha (K,d)\) and \(\text{lip}_\alpha (K,d)\), where \((K,d)\) denotes a compact metric space. By the closed graph theorem, the discontinuity of the homomorphism \(\nu\) is measured by the separating ideal \({\mathcal S}:= \{b\in B\mid\) for a null sequence \(\{a_n\}\), \(\nu(a_n)\to b\}\). This paper establishes that, in Lipschitz algebras \(A_\alpha\) where \(0<\alpha<1/2\), eventual continuity is equivalent to nilpotency of \({\mathcal S}\). From this it follows that eventually continuous homomorphisms will necessarily be continuous on \(A_{2\alpha+\gamma}\) for all \(0<\gamma< 1-2\alpha\). Moreover, via a result establishing that the primes in one of these algebras which contain a given prime ideal form a chain, it is shown that for \(0<\alpha< 1/2\) every epimorphism from \(A_\alpha\) is eventually continuous. This paper thus contains results analogous to those for algebras of differentiable functions.