Phelps' uniqueness property for \(K(X,Y)\) in \(L(X,Y)\) (Q2477912)

A subspace \(E\) of a Banach space \(F\) is said to have property \(U\) in \(F\) if every functional \(x^*\in E^*\) has a unique norm preserving extension to some \(y^*\in F^*\). Here the author studies the question of whether \(K(X,Y)\), the space of compact operators from \(X\) to \(Y\), has property \(U\) in \(L(X,Y)\), the space of bounded operators. Both his results and techniques are similar to the \(M\)-ideal case. In particular, hereditary properties and separable determinacy are proved. The latter result reads as follows: \(K(X)\) has property \(U\) in \(L(X)\) provided that \(X\) has the metric compact approximation property and \(K(E)\) has property \(U\) in \(L(E)\) for all separable subspaces \(E\subset X\) with the metric compact approximation property.