[Math] the difference between weak topology and strong topology

functional-analysisnormed-spacesoperator-theoryreal-analysisweak-convergence

As the title suggests I am trying to find out, what the difference of the weak topology $\tau_\omega$ and the strong topology $\tau$ explicitly is.

The setup is the following.

We are given a normed vector space $(X, ||\cdot||)$ over $\mathbb{R}$. Denote by $\tau$ the strong topology, i.e. the topology induced by the norm $||\cdot||$. Now we define the weak topology to be the smallest topology generated by the sets $\Omega_{l,U} := l^{-1}(U), l \in X^*=L(X,\mathbb{R}), U \subset \mathbb{R}$ open. Denote this topology by $\tau_\omega$.

My question is the following:

Our professor said that $\tau_\omega$ and $\tau$ differ only in the case where $\dim_\mathbb{R}X = \infty$, since in that case with the sets $\Omega_{l,U}$ also every weakly open set contains a non-trivial affine subspace.

Now what is an affine subspace?

Why are they equal in the case where $\dim_{R}X < \infty$?

And how do I understand the second part of the sentence?

Best Answer

An affine subspace is $a+Y=\{a+y:y\in Y\}$ where $Y$ is a linear subspace of $X$.

There is exactly one topological vector space structure on a given finite dimensional real vector space.

A basis for the weak topology consists of finite intersections $V=\bigcap_{j=1}^n l_j^{-1}(U_j)$ with $l_j$ linear functions and $U_j$ are open subsets of $\Bbb R$. If nonempty, $V$ contains a subset $a+Y$ where $Y$ is the intersection of the kernels of the $l_j$, that is $Y$ is a vector subspace of finite codimension in $X$. So if $X$ is infinite-dimensional every weakly open nonempty set contains an $a+Y$ with $Y$ an infinite-dimensional vector subspace. Thus an open ball in the metric topology cannot be weakly open.