A remark on Defant-Floret-Lima-Oja's conjecture (Q2293220)

A Banach space \(X\) has the \(\lambda\)-bounded approximation property if and only if for every Banach space \(Y\), the trace mapping \(V : X \hat{\otimes}_\pi Y^* \to F(X,Y)^*\) satisfies \(\|u\|_\pi \le \lambda \|Vu\|\) for all \(u \in X \hat{\otimes}_\pi Y^*\). That is, the projective norm of a tensor is bounded by a constant times the norm of the tensor considered as a functional on the space of finite rank operators from \(X\) to \(Y\). A Banach space \(X\) has the weak \(\lambda\)-bounded approximation property if and only if this holds for every reflexive Banach space \(Y\). This property was introduced by \textit{Å. Lima} and \textit{E. Oja} [Math. Ann. 333, 471--484 (2005; Zbl 1097.46012)]. Using the language of trace mappings, \textit{A. Defant} and \textit{K. Floret} [Tensor norms and operator ideals. Amsterdam: North-Holland (1993; Zbl 0774.46018)] conjectured that these two approximation properties are not the same. The authors prove that the \(\lambda\)-bounded approximation property and the weak \(\lambda\)-bounded approximation property are equivalent for every Banach space if they are equivalent for every separable Banach space. The proofs use characterizations of the two approximation properties in terms of subspaces that are ideals (also known as locally complemented subspaces).