Topological homomorphism explained

In functional analysis, a topological homomorphism or simply homomorphism (if no confusion will arise) is the analog of homomorphisms for the category of topological vector spaces (TVSs). This concept is of considerable importance in functional analysis and the famous open mapping theorem gives a sufficient condition for a continuous linear map between Fréchet spaces to be a topological homomorphism.

Definitions

u:X\toY

between topological vector spaces (TVSs) such that the induced map

u:X\to\operatorname{Im}u

is an open mapping when

\operatorname{Im}u:=u(X),

which is the image of

u,

is given the subspace topology induced by

Y.

This concept is of considerable importance in functional analysis and the famous open mapping theorem gives a sufficient condition for a continuous linear map between Fréchet spaces to be a topological homomorphism.

A TVS embedding or a topological monomorphism is an injective topological homomorphism. Equivalently, a TVS-embedding is a linear map that is also a topological embedding.

Characterizations

Suppose that

u:X\toY

is a linear map between TVSs and note that

u

can be decomposed into the composition of the following canonical linear maps:

X~\overset{\pi}{}~X/\operatorname{ker}u~\overset{u0}{}~\operatorname{Im}u~\overset{\operatorname{In}}{}~Y

where

\pi:X\toX/\operatorname{ker}u

is the canonical quotient map and

\operatorname{In}:\operatorname{Im}u\toY

is the inclusion map.

The following are equivalent:

u

is a topological homomorphism
  1. for every neighborhood base

l{U}

of the origin in

X,

u\left(l{U}\right)

is a neighborhood base of the origin in

Y

  1. the induced map

u0:X/\operatorname{ker}u\to\operatorname{Im}u

is an isomorphism of TVSs

If in addition the range of

u

is a finite-dimensional Hausdorff space then the following are equivalent:

u

is a topological homomorphism

u

is continuous

u

is continuous at the origin

u-1(0)

is closed in

X

Sufficient conditions

Open mapping theorem

The open mapping theorem, also known as Banach's homomorphism theorem, gives a sufficient condition for a continuous linear operator between complete metrizable TVSs to be a topological homomorphism.

Examples

Every continuous linear functional on a TVS is a topological homomorphism.

Let

X

be a

1

-dimensional TVS over the field

K

and let

x\inX

be non-zero. Let

L:K\toX

be defined by

L(s):=sx.

If

K

has it usual Euclidean topology and if

X

is Hausdorff then

L:K\toX

is a TVS-isomorphism