Talagrand's \(K_{\sigma \delta}\) problem (Q946597)

A subset \(A\) of a topological space \(X\) is called \(\mathcal{K}_{\sigma\delta}\) if it can be written as \(A=\bigcap_{n=1}^{\infty}\bigcup_{m=1}^{\infty}K_{nm}\), where \(K_{nm}\subset X\) are compact. A topological space is \(\mathcal{K}\)-analytic if it is a continuous image of a \(\mathcal{K}_{\sigma\delta}\) subset of some compact space. A Banach space is a \(\mathcal{K}_{\sigma\delta}\) space (weakly \(\mathcal{K}\)-analytic) if it is a \(\mathcal{K}_{\sigma\delta}\) subset of its second dual endowed with the weak*-topology (\(\mathcal{K}\)-analytic in its weak topology). A compact space \(K\) is said to be Talagrand compact if \(C(K)\) is weakly \(\mathcal{K}\)-analytic, and a compact subset \(K\) of \(\mathbb{R}^{\Gamma}\) is said to be adequate if for every \(A\subset \Gamma\) and every \(x\in K\) the pointwise product \(x\cdot\chi_A\) also belongs to \(K\) and, moreover, for every \(\gamma\in\Gamma\), there exists \(x\in K\) such that \(x(\gamma)\neq 0\). The starting point of the present paper is \textit{M.~Talagrand}'s [Ann. Math. (2) 110, 407--438 (1979; Zbl 0393.46019)] problem: Is every weakly \(\mathcal{K}\)-analytic Banach space a \(\mathcal{K}_{\sigma\delta}\) space? The authors prove that, for an adequate Talagrand compact, the space \(C(K)\) is a \(\mathcal{K}_{\sigma\delta}\). As corollaries, they obtain that every weakly \(\mathcal{K}\)-analytic Banach space with an unconditional basis is a \(\mathcal{K}_{\sigma\delta}\) and that every weakly \(\mathcal{K}\)-analytic Banach space is a quotient of a \(\mathcal{K}_{\sigma\delta}\) space. Answering Talagrand's question, the authors construct a Talagrand compact space, denoted as \(R[T]\), for which \(C(R[T])\) is not \(\mathcal{K}_{\sigma\delta}\). The space \(R[T]\) is the result of an amalgamation of the only two known examples of Talagrand compacta: of Talagrand's example \(T\) and of an (unpublished) construction due to Rezničenko \(R\). The authors promise to publish other papers which use the Rezničenko method for the construction of new interesting examples of Talagrand, Gul'ko and Corson compacta.