Measures of weak non-compactness in spaces of nuclear operators (Q2633144)

There are several ways of measuring weak noncompactness of subsets of Banach spaces. Let $X$ be a Banach space and $A, B \subset X$ two nonempty sets. Define \[ \hat{d}(A,B) = \sup\{ \mathrm{dist}(a,B) : a \in A\}. \] The Hausdorff measure of noncompactness of a bounded set $A \subset X$ is given by \[ \chi(A) = \inf\{ \hat{d}(A,K) : K \subset X \ \text{compact}\}. \] A natural generalization to weak noncompactness is De Blasi's measure of weak noncompactness \[ \omega(A) = \inf\{ \hat{d}(A,K) : K \subset X \text{ weakly compact}\}. \] Another measure of weak noncompactness is the following, which is inspired by the Banach-Alaoğlu theorem, \[ \mathrm{wk}_X(A) = \hat{d}(\overline{A}^{w^*},X). \] Here, we consider $X$ canonically embedded in its bidual and take the weak$^*$-closure also in the bidual. There is yet another measure of weak noncompactness inspired by the Eberlein-Šmulyan theorem considered in the paper and it is equivalent to $\mathrm{wk}_X(\cdot)$. The quantities $\mathrm{wk}_X(\cdot)$ and $\omega(\cdot)$ are, in general, not equivalent, but for many classical Banach spaces they coincide, e.g., if $X = L_1(\mu)$ or $X = c_0(\Gamma)$. Problem 1 of this paper asks if there is a classical Banach space $X$ in which the measures $\mathrm{wk}_X(\cdot)$ and $\omega(\cdot)$ are not equivalent. The authors show that, if $\Lambda$ and $J$ are infinite sets and $p,q \in (1,\infty)$, then $\mathrm{wk}_X(A) = \omega(A)$ for all bounded sets $A \subset X := N(\ell_q(\Lambda),\ell_p(J))$ (the space of nuclear operators). It is also shown that, if $M$ is an atomic von Neumann algebra, then $\mathrm{wk}_X(\cdot)$ and $\omega(\cdot)$ coincide on bounded subsets of the predual of $M$.