The Lidskii trace property and the nest approximation property in Banach spaces (Q290589)

Let \(\mathcal N\) be any nest of closed subspaces of a complex Banach space \(X\), and denote by \(\mathrm{Alg} (X,\mathcal N)\) the algebra of all operators on \(X\) that leave invariant every subspace in \(\mathcal N\). The authors say that \(X\) has the \(\mathcal N\)-approximation property if, for every compact subset \(K\) of \(X\), there exists a finite rank operator \(F \in \mathrm{Alg}(X,\mathcal N)\) such that \(\| x-F x\| \leq 1\) whenever \(x \in K\). Assume that all nuclear operators \(T\) on \(X\) have a well-defined trace \(\mathrm{tr} (T)\), which means that \(X\) has the usual approximation property. Among many other interesting results, it is shown that, for any maximal nest \(\mathcal N\), the following are equivalent: \(X\) has the \(\mathcal N\)-approximation property; \(\mathrm{tr} (T) = 0\) for every quasi-nilpotent nuclear operator \(T\in \mathrm{Alg} (X,\mathcal N)\); \(\mathrm{tr} (T) = \sum_k \lambda_k \) for every nuclear operator \(T \in \mathrm{Alg} (X,\mathcal N)\) provided that the sequence of eigenvalues satisfies \(\sum_k |\lambda_k|< \infty\). Requiring a good behavior of the eigenvalues is the crux, since there are nuclear operators, for example on \(C[0,1]\), such that \(\sum_k |\lambda_k|^p = \infty\) if \(0 < p < 2\). Banach spaces that have the \(\mathcal N\)-approximation property for all (maximal) nests are very close to a Hilbert space. Because of this restriction, it is advisable to look at specific nests: Consider \(L_p[0,1]\) with \(1 \leq p < \infty\). Then the subspaces \(N_t\) consisting of all functions that vanish on \([t,1]\) form the Volterra nest \(\mathcal V =\{ N_t\}_{0\leq t \leq 1}\), and \(L_p[0,1]\) has the (metric) \(\mathcal V\)-approximation property. For additional results in the same spirit see [\textit{W. B.~Johnson} and \textit{A.~Szankowski}, Isr. J. Math. 203, 389--404 (2014; Zbl 1314.46015)].