Linear transformation bounded iff its kernel is closed in infinite-dimensional Banach spaces

functional-analysisgeneral-topologylinear algebra

I am working on Problem 8, Chapter 6, in Luenberger's Optimization by Vector Space Methods. It states:

"Show that a linear transformation mapping one Banach space into another is bounded if and only if its nullspace is closed."

I am having a bit of trouble with the converse. In particular, if we let $f:X \rightarrow Y$ be a linear transformation, Luenberger doesn't assume that either $X$ or $Y$ be finite-dimensional. Do you have any idea on how to proceed? I have thought (without success) of considering the quotient space $\hat{X}/\ker f$

Best Answer

This is not true in general:

Let $X$ be any infinite-dimensional banach space with (Hamel) basis $B$ and let $\{b_n\}_{n\in\ \mathbb N}$ be a countable subset of $B$. Then define $T:X\to X$ on the basis $B$ by $T(b_n)=nb_n$ and $T(b)=b$ for $b\in B\setminus \{b_n\}_{n\in\ \mathbb N}$ and extend linearly. Then $T$ is an unbounded operator, with $\ker T=\{0\}$ closed.