On the Chebyshev center and the nonemptiness of the intersection of nested sets (Q2133830)

For a set \(A\) in a Banach space \(X\), the deviation of \(A\) from being a ball is quantified by the parameter \(\chi(A) =\mathrm{sup}\{r'(A,x)/r(A,x): x \in A\}\) where \(r(A,x)=\mathrm{sup}\{\|x-y\|: y \in A\}\) and \(r'(A,x) =\mathrm{inf}\{\|x-y\|: x \in X \setminus A\}\). An admissible sequence in \(X\) is a sequence of nested bounded closed subsets of \(X\). It has been proved in [\textit{N. N. Vakhaniya} and \textit{I. N. Kartsivadze}, Math. Notes 3, 106--109 (1968; Zbl 0172.16104)] that, for any admissible sequence \(\{A_n\}_{n \in \mathbb N}\) with \(\overline{\lim}\,\chi (A_n) > 1/2\), it is true that \(\bigcap A_n \neq \emptyset\). In the present paper, the authors prove that \(\bigcap A_n \neq \emptyset\) holds true also for any admissible sequence \(\{A_n\}\) with \(\overline{\lim}\,\chi (A_n) = 1/2\) whenever \(X\) is a Banach space in which every bounded set has a Chebyshev center or is a dual space enjoying the Opial property with respect to the \(\mathrm{weak}^*\) topology. In this last case, a partial answer is provided to a question raised in [\textit{G. Z. Chelidze} and \textit{P. L. Papini}, Math. Notes 80, No. 3, 428--434 (2006; Zbl 1122.46005); translation from Mat. Zametki 80, No. 3, 449--455 (2006)].