A convergence problem on bounded linear operators

functional-analysis

It's, I think, essentially a question about the relation between the pointwise limit and the limit with respect to the operator norm and uniqueness of limits for convergent sequences in a metric space.

Define $\mathcal{B}\left(X,Y\right)$ to be a set of all bounded linear operators with the operator norm
\begin{equation}\lVert T\rVert= \sup_{x\neq 0} \frac{\lVert Tx\rVert_Y}{\lVert x\rVert_X}.
\end{equation}
For each $n$, define $T_n:\mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}$ by $T_n\left(x\right)=\frac{x}{n}.$ Note that $T_n$ is a bounded linear operator for each $n$ (That is, $T_n\in \mathcal{B}\left(\mathbb{R}\right)$) since $T_n$ is continuous. Define $T\left(x\right)=\lim_{n\to \infty} T_n\left(x\right).$ Note that $T\in \mathcal{B}\left(\mathbb{R}\right)$. Also, $T_n$ converges to $0$, the zero operator since
\begin{equation}
\lim_{n\to \infty} \lVert T_n-0\rVert=\lim_{n\to \infty} \sup_{x\neq 0}\frac{\lvert \frac{x}{n}-0\rvert}{\lvert x\rvert}=\lim_{n\to \infty} \frac{1}{n}=0.
\end{equation}

However, we have $T\equiv 0$ by the uniqueness, which sounds strange to me because, particularly, $T_n\left(n\right)=\frac{n}{n}=1$ and hence $\lim_{n\to \infty}T_n\left(n\right)=1 \neq 0.$

I feel so confused about this and I must have something wrong. Could any of you help me with this? Any help is really appreciated.

Best Answer

Why does this confuse you? As you proved, $T_n\to 0$ in norm. Also, it is true that $T_n(x)\to 0$ for all $x\in\mathbb{R}$. What you are looking at, $T_n(n)=1$, is true but this is irrelevant. When we say $T_n(x)\to 0$ for all $x$, $x$ is fixed and $n$ tends to infinity. In the expression $T_n(n)$ the argument is not fixed, so it is not relevant to the rest of our observations.

It might help you think that if we fix $m\in\mathbb{N}$, then $T_n(m)\to0$ as $n\to\infty$.