Asplund operators and holomorphic maps

LetE andF be locally convex topological vector spaces. A holomorphic mapf: E→F is defined to be an Asplund map if it takes the separable subsets of a neighbourhood of eacha∈E into absolutely convex weakly metrisable subsets ofF; a Banach space is an Asplund space if and only if its identity map has this property. We show that a continuous linear map from a quasinormable locally convex spaceE into a Banach spaceF is an Asplund map if and only if it factors through an Asplund space. IfE andF are both Banach spaces, then a holomorphic mapf: E→F is an Asplund map if and only if its derivative maps factor through Asplund spaces for eacha∈E. This is true if and only if such a factorisation holds ata=0. Part of this research was done during a visit to the University of Namibia, whose financial support is gratefully acknowledged This article was processed by the author using the Springer-Verlag T_EX mamath macro package 1990