A problem of Banach asks whether every infinite-dimensional Banach space which is isomorphic to all its infinite-dimensional subspaces must be isomorphic to a separable Hilbert space. In this paper we prove a result of a Ramsey-theoretic nature which implies an interesting dichotomy for subspaces of Banach spaces. Combined with a result of Komorowski and Tomczak-Jaegermann, this gives a positive answer to Banach's problem. We then generalize the Ramsey-theoretic result and deduce a further dichotomy for Banach spaces with an unconditional basis.
A system of uniform families on an infinite subset $M$ of $\nn$ is a collection $(\cca_ξ)_{ξ<ω_1}$ of families of finite subsets of $\nn$ (where, $\cca_k$ consists of all $k$--element subset of $M$, for $k\in \nn$) with the properties that each $\cca_ξ$ is thin (i.e. it does not contain proper initial segments of any of its element) and the Cantor--Bendixson index, defined for $\cca_ξ$, is equal to $ξ+1$ and stable when we restrict ourselves to any subset of $M$. We indicate how to extend the generalized Schreier families to a system of uniform families. Using that notion we establish the corr…
We analyse several examples of separable Banach spaces, some of them new, and relate them to several dichotomies obtained in the previous paper Banach spaces without minimal subspaces, by classifying them according to which side of the dichotomies they fall. This paper may be seen as a more empirical continuation of Banach spaces without minimal subspaces, in which our stress is on the study of examples for the new classes of Banach spaces considered in that work.
We prove a local version of Gowers' Ramsey-type theorem [Ann. Math. 156 (2002)], as well as local versions both of the Banach space first dichotomy (the "unconditional/HI" dichotomy) of Gowers [Ann. Math. 156 (2002)] and of the third dichotomy (the "minimal/tight" dichotomy) due to Ferenczi-Rosendal [J. Funct. Anal. 257 (2009)]. This means that we obtain versions of these dichotomies restricted to certain families of subspaces called D-families, of which several concrete examples are given. As a main example, non-Hilbertian spaces form D-families; therefore versions of the above properties for…
We prove three new dichotomies for Banach spaces à la W.T. Gowers' dichotomies. The three dichotomies characterise respectively the spaces having no minimal subspaces, having no subsequentially minimal basic sequences, and having no subspaces crudely finitely representable in all of their subspaces. We subsequently use these results to make progress on Gowers' program of classifying Banach spaces by finding characteristic spaces present in every space. Also, the results are used to embed any partial order of size $\aleph_1$ into the subspaces of any space without a minimal subspace ordered by …
We prove several dichotomies on linear embeddings between Banach spaces. Given an arbitrary Banach space X with a basis, we show that the relations of isomorphism and bi-embedding are meager or co-meager on the Polish set of block-subspaces of X. We relate this result with tightness and minimality of Banach spaces. Examples and open questions are provided.
We discuss some open problems in the Geometry of Banach spaces having Ramsey-theoretic flavor. The problems are exposed together with well known results related to them.
We give a new approach to the Ramsey-type results of Gowers on block bases in Banach spaces and apply our results to prove the Gowers dichotomy in F-spaces.
A well known application of Ramsey's Theorem to Banach Space Theory is the notion of a spreading model (e'_i) of a normalized basic sequence (x_i) in a Banach space X. We show how to generalize the construction to define a new creature (e_i), which we call an asymptotic model of X. Every spreading model of X is an asymptotic model of X and in most settings, such as if X is reflexive, every normalized block basis of an asymptotic model is itself an asymptotic model. We also show how to use the Hindman-Milliken Theorem--a strengthened form of Ramsey's Theorem--to generate asymptotic models with …
Oscillation stability is an important concept in Banach space theory which happens to be closely connected to discrete Ramsey theory. For example, Gowers proved oscillation stability for the Banach space $c_0$ using his now famous Ramsey theorem for $\mathrm{FIN}_k$ as the key ingredient. We develop the theory behind this connection and introduce the notion of compact big Ramsey degrees, extending the theory of (discrete) big Ramsey degrees. We then prove existence of compact big Ramsey degrees for the Banach space $\ell_\infty$ and the Urysohn sphere, with an explicit characterization in the …
If a Banach space is saturated with basic sequences whose linear span embeds into the linear span of any subsequence, then it contains a minimal subspace. It follows that any Banach space is either ergodic or contains a minimal subspace. For a Banach space $X$ with an (unconditional) basis, topological 0-1 law type dichotomies are stated for block-subspaces of $X$ as well as for subspaces of $X$ with a successive FDD on its basis. A uniformity principle for properties of block-sequences, results about block-homogeneity, and a possible method to construct a Banach space with an unconditional ba…
We show that the Gurarij space $\mathbb{G}$ has extremely amenable automorphism group. This answers a question of Melleray and Tsankov. We also compute the universal minimal flow of the automorphism group of the Poulsen simplex $\mathbb{P}$ and we prove that it consists of the canonical action on $\mathbb{P}$ itself. This answers a question of Conley and Törnquist. We show that the pointwise stabilizer of any closed proper face of $\mathbb{P}$ is extremely amenable. Similarly, the pointwise stabilizer of any closed proper biface of the unit ball of the dual of the Gurarij space (the Lusky simp…
We prove that every Banach space containing a subspace isomorphic to $\co$ fails the fixed point property. The proof is based on an amalgamation approach involving a suitable combination of known results and techniques, including James's distortion theorem, Ramsey's combinatorial theorem, Brunel-Sucheston spreading model techniques and Dowling, Lennard and Turett's fixed point methodology employed in their characterization of weak compactness in $\co$.
A well-known application of the Ramsey Theorem in the Banach Space Theory is the proof of the fact that every normalized basic sequence has a subsequence which generates a spreading model (the Brunel-Sucheston Theorem). Based on this application, as an intermediate step, we can talk about the notion of $(k,\varepsilon)-$oscillation stable sequence, which will be described and analyzed more generally in this article. Indeed, we introduce the notion $((\mathcal{B}_i)_{i=1}^k,\varepsilon)-$block oscillation stable sequence where $(\mathcal{B}_i)_{i=1}^k$ is a finite sequence of barriers and using…
We study the dynamics of the group of isometries of $L_p$-spaces. In particular, we study the canonical actions of these groups on the space of $δ$-isometric embeddings of finite dimensional subspaces of $L_p(0,1)$ into itself, and we show that for $p \neq 4,6,8,\ldots$ they are $\varepsilon$-transitive provided that $δ$ is small enough. We achieve this by extending the classical equimeasurability principle of Plotkin and Rudin. We define the central notion of a Fraïssé Banach space which underlies these results and of which the known separable examples are the spaces $L_p(0,1)$, $p \neq 4,6,8…
In \cite{K3} we pointed out the correspondence between a result of Shelah in model theory, i.e. a theory is unstable if and only if it has IP or SOP, and the well known compactness theorem of Eberlein and Šmulian in functional analysis. In this paper, we relate a {\em natural} Banach space $V$ to a formula $ϕ(x,y)$, and show that $ϕ$ is stable (resp NIP, NSOP) if and only if $V$ is reflexive (resp Rosenthal, weakly sequentially complete) Banach space. Also, we present a proof of the Eberlein-Šmulian theorem by a model theoretic approach using Ramsey theorems which is illustrative to show some …
We introduce the notion of cotype of a metric space, and prove that for Banach spaces it coincides with the classical notion of Rademacher cotype. This yields a concrete version of Ribe's theorem, settling a long standing open problem in the nonlinear theory of Banach spaces. We apply our results to several problems in metric geometry. Namely, we use metric cotype in the study of uniform and coarse embeddings, settling in particular the problem of classifying when L_p coarsely or uniformly embeds into L_q. We also prove a nonlinear analog of the Maurey-Pisier theorem, and use it to answer a qu…
It is known that there exists a Banach space $X$ with a Schauder basis $(e_i)_{i=1}^{\infty}$ which does not admit $\ell_p$ as the model space obtained by a finite chain of sequences such that each element is a spreading model of a block subsequence of the previous element, starting from a block subsequence of $(e_i)_{i=1}^{\infty}$. We prove that $X$ has the stronger property of not admitting $\ell_p$ via a finite chain consisting of block asymptotic models. This is related to a question posed by L. Halbeisen and E. Odell for the special case of block generated asymptotic models. Also, we sho…
The paper is concerned with the problem whether a nonseparable Banach space must contain an uncountable set of vectors such that the distances between every two distinct vectors of the set are the same. Such sets are called equilateral. We show that Martin's axiom and the negation of the continuum hypothesis imply that every nonseparable Banach space of the form $C(K)$ has an uncountable equilateral set. We also show that one cannot obtain such a result without an additional set-theoretic assumption since we construct an example of nonseparable Banach space of the form $C(K)$ which has no unco…
The noncommutative Gurarij space $\mathbb{\mathbb{\mathbb{NG}}}$, initially defined by Oikhberg, is a canonical object in the theory of operator spaces. As the Fra\"ıssé limit of the class of finite-dimensional nuclear operator spaces, it can be seen as the noncommutative analogue of the classical Gurarij Banach space. In this paper, we prove that the automorphism group of $\mathbb{\mathbb{NG}}$ is extremely amenable, i.e.\ any of its actions on compact spaces has a fixed point. The proof relies on the Dual Ramsey Theorem, and a version of the Kechris--Pestov--Todorcevic correspondence in the …
The article is a survey related to a classical unsolved problem in Banach space theory, appearing in Banach's famous book in 1932, and known as the Mazur rotations problem. Although the problem seems very difficult and rather abstract, its study sheds new light on the importance of norm symmetries of a Banach space, demonstrating sometimes unexpected connections with renorming theory and differentiability in functional analysis, with topological group theory and the theory of representations, with the area of amenability, with Fraïssé theory and Ramsey theory, and led to development of concept…
