On the duality of the symmetric strong diameter 2 property in Lipschitz spaces (Q1979348)

Recall that a dual Banach space \(X^*\) is said to have the \textit{\(w^*\)-symmetric strong diameter two property (\(w^*\)-SSD2P)} if, given finitely many \(w^*\)-slices \(S_1,\dots, S_n\) and \(\varepsilon>0\), there exist \(f_i\in S_i\) for \(1\leq i\leq n\) and \(g\in B_{X^*}\) such that \(\Vert f_i\pm g\Vert\leq 1\) and \(\Vert g\Vert>1-\varepsilon\). This notion, defined in [\textit{R. Haller} et al., Mediterr. J. Math. 16, No. 2, Paper No. 35, 17 p. (2019; Zbl 1419.46009)], is a property stronger than the \textit{weak-star strong diameter two property (\(w^*\)-SD2P}, defined as the fact that every convex combination of weak-star slices has diameter two). It has recently been proved that the \(w^*\)-SD2P admits a dual characterisation. Namely, given a Banach space \(X\), then \(X^*\) has the \(w^*\)-SD2P if, and only if, the norm of \(X\) is octahedral, i.e., given any finite dimensional subspace \(Y\) of \(X\) and any \(\varepsilon>0\), there exists \(x\in S_X\) so that \(\Vert y+\lambda x\Vert\geq (1-\varepsilon)(\Vert y\Vert+\vert\lambda\vert)\) holds for every \(y\in Y\) and every \(\lambda\in\mathbb R\) (see [\textit{J. Becerra Guerrero} et al., J. Funct. Anal. 266, No. 4, 2424--2435 (2014; Zbl 1297.46011)]). The main aim of the paper under review is to examine whether a similar characterisation can be established for the \(w^*\)-SSD2P. To this end, the author introduces a candidate to characterise the \(w^*\)-SSD2P: A Banach space \(X\) is said to be \textit{decomposably octahedral (DOH)} if, given any finite subset \(E\) of \(S_X\) and any \(\varepsilon>0\), there exists \(y\in S_X\) satisfying the following property: for every \(y_1,\dots, y_n\in X\) so that \(\sum_{i=1}^n y_i=y\), every \(x_1,\dots, x_n\in E\) and every choice of positive numbers \(a_1,\dots, a_n, b_1,\dots, b_n\geq 0\), the following inequality holds: \[\sum_{i=1}^n \left(\Vert a_i x_i+y_i\Vert+\Vert b_i x_i-y_i\Vert \right)\geq (1-\varepsilon)\left(\sum_{i=1}^n (a_i+b_i)+2 \right).\] In Proposition~2.1 it is proved that if \(X^*\) has the \(w^*\)-SSD2P, then \(X\) is DOH. The converse, in its complete generality, is left as an open question. However, based on a previous work [\textit{A.~Ostrak}, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 483, No. 2, Article ID 123630, 10 p. (2020; Zbl 1441.46010)], the author provides the complete characterisation in the interesting class of the Lipschitz-free Banach spaces in Theorem 2.3. From this theorem it is derived that DOH is strictly stronger than OH. This interesting paper ends with a complete description of how DOH is inherited by absolute sums of Banach spaces and with proving that a \(C(K)\)-space never enjoys DOH.