Continuity of bilinear maps on direct sums of topological vector spaces (Q765916)

The main purpose of this article is to prove a criterion for continuity of bilinear maps defined on countable direct sums of topological vector spaces. As an application the author obtains a new proof of the fact, established by \textit{T. Hirai, H. Shimomura, N. Tatsuuma} and \textit{E. Hirai} [J. Math. Kyoto Univ. 41, No. 3, 475--505 (2001; Zbl 1006.54051)] that the convolution \(\mathcal{D}(\mathbb{R}^n) \times \mathcal{D}(\mathbb{R}^n) \rightarrow \mathcal{D}(\mathbb{R}^n), \;(f,g) \rightarrow f \ast g, \) is continuous. An example shows that the criterion is sufficient, but not necessary for continuity of the bilinear map. As another application a problem of K.-H. Neeb is solved: If \(E\) is a locally convex space, the tensor algebra \(T(E)\), that is the locally convex sum of projective tensor powers of \(E\), is a topological algebra if and only if \(E\) satisfies the so-called countable neighbourhood property. This terminology was introduced by Floret in 1980. This property, which is shared by all (DF)-spaces in the sense of Grothendieck, was studied by S. Dierolf, Floret, the reviewer and others. For example, it was known that a metrizable locally convex space has the countable neighbourhood property if and only if it is normable. Tensor products of topological vector spaces and topological vector spaces that are the inductive limit in the category of topological spaces of a sequence of compact subsets (for example (DFS)-spaces) are also investigated in connection with the questions discussed in the paper. The present research is continued by the author in his preprint [``Upper bounds for continuous seminorms and special properties of bilinear maps'', \url{arXiv:1112.1824}].