Functional Analysis – How to Show the Limit of Compact Operators in the Operator Norm Topology is Compact

compact-operatorsfunctional-analysis

When I read the item of compact operator on Wikipedia, it said that

Let $T_{n}, ~~n\in \mathbb{N}$, be a sequence of compact operators from
one Banach space to the other, and suppose that $T_n$ converges to $T$
with respect to the operator norm. Then $T$ is also compact.

Can anyone give me a brief proof of this? Thanks in advance.

Best Answer

I think it is simpler to prove this without resorting to sequences.

Key result: In a complete metric space, a set is relatively compact iff it is totally bounded.

Let $B=B(0,1)$ be the open unit ball.

To show that $TB$ is compact, it suffices to show that it is totally bounded.

Choose $\epsilon>0$, and $n$ such that $\|T-T_n\| < \frac{1}{2} \epsilon$. Since $T_n$ is compact, $T_n B$ is totally bounded and hence has a finite $\frac{1}{2}\epsilon$-net $\{t_1,...,t_k \} \subset T_nB$.

I claim that $t_1,...,t_k$ is an $\epsilon$-net for $TB$. Suppose $t \in TB$, then $t=Tx$ for some $x \in B$. Then $\tilde{t} = T_n x$ satisfies $\|t-\tilde{t}\| < \frac{1}{2} \epsilon$. Since $t_1,...,t_k$ is a $\frac{1}{2}\epsilon$-net for $T_nB$, we have $\|\tilde{t}-t_i\| < \frac{1}{2} \epsilon$ for some $i$. Hence $\|t-t_i\| < \epsilon$. Hence $TB$ is totally bounded and so $T$ is compact.

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