analysis / Nonlinear geometry of Banach spaces

Kalton's Problem 2: does a bi-Lipschitz copy of c0c_0 force a linear copy of c0c_0?

Theorem 1.1: there is a separable real Banach space ZZ with no closed subspace isomorphic to c0c_0 and an onto bi-Lipschitz map F:Z⊕∞c0→ZF:Z\oplus_\infty c_0\to Z. Restricting FF to the c0c_0 summand embeds c0c_0 bi-Lipschitzly in ZZ, so Problem 2 has a negative answer. With Aharoni's theorem, ZZ is bi-Lipschitz universal for separable metric spaces, and ZZ, Z⊕∞c0Z\oplus_\infty c_0 form a second separable Lipschitz-isomorphic, linearly non-isomorphic pair. Real scalars only; it does not address analogous questions for other classical spaces.

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analysisSep 26, 2026Significance 28/100Registry: lean checked

Kalton's Problem 2: does a bi-Lipschitz copy of c0c_0 force a linear copy of c0c_0?

Prior state unknown→disproved

Theorem 1.1: there is a separable real Banach space ZZ with no closed subspace isomorphic to c0c_0 and an onto bi-Lipschitz map F:Z⊕∞c0→ZF:Z\oplus_\infty c_0\to Z. Restricting FF to the c0c_0 summand embeds c0c_0 bi-Lipschitzly in ZZ, so Problem 2 has a negative answer. With Aharoni's theorem, ZZ is bi-Lipschitz universal for separable metric spaces, and ZZ, Z⊕∞c0Z\oplus_\infty c_0 form a second separable Lipschitz-isomo…

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Theorem 1.1: there is a separable real Banach space ZZ with no closed subspace isomorphic to c0c_0 and an onto bi-Lipschitz map F:Z⊕∞c0→ZF:Z\oplus_\infty c_0\to Z. Restricting FF to the c0c_0 summand embeds c0c_0 bi-Lipschitzly in ZZ, so Problem 2 has a negative answer. With Aharoni's theorem, ZZ is bi-Lipschitz universal for separable metric spaces, and ZZ, Z⊕∞c0Z\oplus_\infty c_0 form a second separable Lipschitz-isomorphic, linearly non-isomorphic pair. Real scalars only; it does not address analogous questions for other classical spaces.

Theorem 1.1: there is a separable real Banach space ZZ with no closed subspace isomorphic to c0c_0 and an onto bi-Lipschitz map F:Z⊕∞c0→ZF:Z\oplus_\infty c_0\to Z. Restricting FF to the c0c_0 summand embeds c0c_0 bi-Lipschitzly in ZZ, so Problem 2 has a negative answer. With Aharoni's theorem, ZZ is bi-Lipschitz universal for separable metric spaces, and ZZ, Z⊕∞c0Z\oplus_\infty c_0 form a second separable Lipschitz-isomorphic, linearly non-isomorphic pair. Real scalars only; it does not address analogous questions for other classical spaces.

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Kalton's Problem 2: does a bi-Lipschitz copy of $c_0$ force a linear copy of $c_0$? — Mathematical Frontier Network