0708-1300/the unit sphere in a Hilbert space is contractible
From Drorbn
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Let H = L2[0,1] and define
Claim
is contractible
Proof
For any
and any
define ft(x) = f for
and ft(x) = 1 for
.
Observe that
is continuous and gives the desired retraction to the point f = 1.
This proof only works in separable Hilbert spaces? Is the unit ball in a non-separable Hilbert space contractible?
The answer seems to be YES see Spheres in infinite-dimensional normed spaces are Lipschitz contractible
