Intersection properties of ball sequences and uniqueness of Hahn–Banach extensions

Abstract

Let X be a Banach space and Y a closed subspace. We introduce an intrinsic geometric property of Y—the k-ball sequence property—which is a weakening of the famous k-ball property due to Alfsen & Effros. We prove that Y satisfies the 2-ball sequence property if and only if Y has the Phelps uniqueness property U (i.e. every continuous linear functional g ∈Y* has a unique norm-preserving extension f ∈X*). We prove that Y is an ideal having property U if and only if Y satisfies the 3-ball sequence property, and in this case, Y satisfies the k-ball sequence property for all k.