An n-Dimensional Hahn-Banach Extension Theorem and Minimal Projections

Let T~=_i=1 ⁿ _irv_i:V V=v₁,. . . .,v_n] X, where _i V* and X is a Banach space. Let T= _i=1 ⁿu_iv_i: X V be an extension of T~ to all of X (i.e., u_i X*) such that T has minimal (operator) norm. (E.g., if T~=I, T is a minimal projection from X onto V.) Then it is necessary and sufficient that u:=u_1,. . . ,u_n is given by (v:=v₁,. . . ,v_n)ext_v(u) Vⁿ,where the notion of a v-extremal (ext_v) of u is properly defined.The condition above leads in many important cases to a simple geometric interpretation of minimal projections. Furthermore, by applying this formula to the case X=L^p, we obtain a linear n-dimensional analog of the Hölder equality condition (M is given by ext_v(u)=Mv)1/p u · Mv = 1/q u · Mv,wherever v is differentiable.We point out several applications, including the determination of the absolute projection constant of _n ^p