Banach Spaces Whose Algebras of Operators are Unitary: A Holomorphic Approach

An element u of a norm-unital Banach algebra A is said to beunitary if u is invertible in A and satisfies ||u|| = ||u^–1||= 1. The norm-unital Banach algebra A is called unitary if theconvex hull of the set of its unitary elements is norm-densein the closed unit ball of A. If X is a complex Hilbert space,then the algebra BL(X) of all bounded linear operators on Xis unitary by the Russo–Dye theorem. The question of whetherthis property characterizes complex Hilbert spaces among complexBanach spaces seems to be open. Some partial affirmative answersto this question are proved here. In particular, a complex Banachspace X is a Hilbert space if (and only if) BL(X) is unitaryand, for Y equal to X, X* or X** there exists a biholomorphicautomorphism of the open unit ball of Y that cannot be extendedto a surjective linear isometry on Y. 2000 Mathematics SubjectClassification 46B04, 46B10, 46B20.