Simultaneously continuous retraction and Bishop-Phelps-Bollob\'as type theorem

We study the existence of a retraction from the dual space $X^*$ of a (real or complex) Banach space $X$ onto its unit ball $B_{X^*}$ which is uniformly continuous in norm topology and continuous in weak-$*$ topology. Such a retraction is called a uniformly simultaneously continuous retraction. It is shown that if $X$ has a normalized unconditional Schauder basis with unconditional basis constant 1 and $X^*$ is uniformly monotone, then a uniformly simultaneously continuous retraction from $X^*$ onto $B_{X^*}$ exists. It is also shown that if $\{X_i\}$ is a family of separable Banach spaces whose duals are uniformly convex with moduli of convexity $\delta_i(\varepsilon)$ such that $\inf_i \delta_i(\varepsilon)>0$ and $X= \left[\bigoplus X_i\right]_{c_0}$ or $X=\left[\bigoplus X_i\right]_{\ell_p}$ for $1\le p<\infty$, then a uniformly simultaneously continuous retraction exists from $X^*$ onto $B_{X^*}$. The relation between the existence of a uniformly simultaneously continuous retraction and the Bishsop-Phelps-Bollob\'as property for operators is investigated and it is proved that the existence of a uniformly simultaneously continuous retraction from $X^*$ onto its unit ball implies that a pair $(X, C_0(K))$ has the Bishop-Phelps-Bollob\'as property for every locally compact Hausdorff spaces $K$. As a corollary, we prove that $(C_0(S), C_0(K))$ has the Bishop-Phelps-Bollob\'as property if $C_0(S)$ and $C_0(K)$ are the spaces of all real-valued continuous functions vanishing at infinity on locally compact metric space $S$ and locally compact Hausdorff space $K$ respectively.Comment: 15 page

On continuous choice of retractions onto nonconvex subsets

For a Banach space $B$ and for a class \A of its bounded closed retracts, endowed with the Hausdorff metric, we prove that retractions on elements A \in \A can be chosen to depend continuously on $A$, whenever nonconvexity of each A \in \A is less than \f{1}{2}. The key geometric argument is that the set of all uniform retractions onto an \a-paraconvex set (in the spirit of E. Michael) is \frac{\a}{1-\a}-paraconvex subset in the space of continuous mappings of $B$ into itself. For a Hilbert space $H$ the estimate \frac{\a}{1-\a} can be improved to \frac{\a (1+\a^{2})}{1-\a^{2}} and the constant \f{1}{2} can be reduced to the root of the equation \a+ \a^{2}+a^{3}=1

Polyfolds: A First and Second Look

Polyfold theory was developed by Hofer-Wysocki-Zehnder by finding commonalities in the analytic framework for a variety of geometric elliptic PDEs, in particular moduli spaces of pseudoholomorphic curves. It aims to systematically address the common difficulties of compactification and transversality with a new notion of smoothness on Banach spaces, new local models for differential geometry, and a nonlinear Fredholm theory in the new context. We shine meta-mathematical light on the bigger picture and core ideas of this theory. In addition, we compiled and condensed the core definitions and theorems of polyfold theory into a streamlined exposition, and outline their application at the example of Morse theory.Comment: 62 pages, 2 figures. Example 2.1.3 has been modified. Final version, to appear in the EMS Surv. Math. Sc