When is a locally convex space Eberlein-Grothendieck? (Q2093073)

This article presents a detailed study of the locally convex spaces \(E\) which are Eberlein-Grothendieck and linearly Eberlein-Grothendieck for the weak topology \(\sigma(E,E')\). A locally convex space \(E\) satisfies that \((E,\sigma(E,E'))\) is Eberlein-Grothendieck if and only if its weak* dual \((E',\sigma(E',E))\) is a countable union of compact sets (that is, it is \(\sigma\)-compact). A locally convex space \(E\) satisfies that \((E,\sigma(E,E'))\) is linearly Eberlein-Grothendieck if and only if there is a \(\sigma(E,E')\)-compact subset \(K\) of \(E'\) such that the span of \(K\) coincides with \(E'\). The main result of the paper asserts that a barrelled locally convex space \(E\) satisfies that \((E,\sigma(E,E'))\) is Eberlein-Grothendieck (respectively linearly Eberlein-Grothendieck) if and only if \(E\) is metrizable (respectively normable). As an application, several results about spaces of continuous functions with the pointwise topology are presented. Several examples are given in the last section.