Phase-isometries on real normed spaces (Q2310497)

Let \(X\) and \(Y\) be real normed spaces. Then a map \(f\colon X\to Y\) is said to be a phase-isometry if for all \(x,y\in X\) one has that \[ \{\|f(x)+f(y)\|,\|f(x)-f(y)\|\} = \{\|x+y\|,\|x-y\| \}. \] Two maps \(f,g \colon X\to Y\) are called phase-equivalent if there exists a phase function \(\varepsilon\colon X\to \{-1,1\}\) such that \(g=\varepsilon\cdot f\). Observe that any function that is phase-equivalent to a linear isometry is a phase isometry. Therefore, it is interesting to see whether the converse also holds for real normed spaces. Motivated by the Mazur-Ulam theorem, the authors raise the following natural problem: Problem 1. Let \(X\) and \(Y\) be real normed spaces, and let \(f\colon X\to Y\) be a surjective phase isometry. Is it true that \(f\) is phase-equivalent to a linear isometry? A normed space $X$ is said to have the Wigner property if Problem 1 has an affirmative answer to for an arbitrary target space \(Y\). The main results of this paper show that all smooth normed spaces, spaces between $c_0(\Gamma)$ and \(\ell_{\infty}(\Gamma)\) (called $\mathcal{L}_\infty(\Gamma)$-type spaces here) and \(\ell_1(\Gamma)\)-spaces enjoy the Wigner property.