The version for compact operators of Lindenstrauss properties A and B (Q259777)

This survey article deals with the question of denseness of norm attaining compact operators in the space of compact operators, covering some recent work by the author and his collaborators. Let \(X, Z\) be real Banach spaces, let \(NA^k(X,Z)\) be the set of norm attaining compact operators. An interesting question, analogous to some classical results of J. Lindenstrauss, is to consider the denseness of this set in the space of compact operators, \(K(X,Z)\), for all spaces \(Z\) (an analogous question is to interchange the role of the domain and range). The author established in a recent paper [J. Funct. Anal. 267, No. 5, 1585--1592 (2014; Zbl 1307.46005)] the existence of Banach spaces where compact operators cannot be approximated by norm attaining compact operators. On the positive side, any separable Banach space admits a renorming where the first formulation above can always be achieved. An interesting open question is whether all preduals of an \(L^1(\mu)\)-space have this property (this is so for \(\ell^1\)); it is also unclear whether, if \(L^1(\mu)\) has one predual with this property, then the same holds for all other preduals. There are more encouraging positive results for the range space question, in particular any Banach space can be renormed to have this property. Any polyhedral Banach space with the approximation property has this property.