On the norm attainment set of a bounded linear operator (Q2405359)

Denote by \(L(X,Y)\) the set of all bounded linear operators between Banach spaces \(X\) and \(Y\) and by \(M_T\) the set of norm one vectors in \(X\) at which \(T\) attains its norm. Recall that an element \(x\in X\) is said to be orthogonal to \(y\in X\) in the sense of Birkhoff-James (denoted by \(x\perp_B y\)) if \(\|x\|\leq \|x+\lambda y\|\) for every \(\lambda\in \mathbb{R}\). Let \(x,y\in X\) and define that \(y\in x^+\) if \(\|x\|\leq \|x+\lambda y\|\) for every \(\lambda\geq0\) and \(y\in x^-\) if \(\|x\|\leq \|x+\lambda y\|\) for every \(\lambda\leq0\). Also, denote by \(x^{\perp}\) the set of all the elements of \(X\) that are orthogonal to \(x\). The following necessary condition for the norm attainment of a non-zero operator is the main result of the paper under review: if \(T\in L(X,Y)\) and \(x\in M_T\), then \(T(x^+\setminus x^\perp)\subset (Tx)^+\setminus (Tx)^\perp\) and \(T(x^-\setminus x^\perp)\subset (Tx)^-\setminus (Tx)^\perp\). Several corollaries of this theorem are spelled out. Additionally, the author obtains a characterization of smooth Banach spaces. Particularly, a Banach space \(X\) is smooth if and only if, for every \(T\in L(X,X)\) and for every \(x\in M_T\), we have \(T(x^\perp)\subset (Tx)^\perp\). The paper ends by pointing out a couple of open questions.