Exotic closed subideals of algebras of bounded operators

Abstract

We exhibit a Banach space $Z$ failing the approximation property, for which there is an uncountable family $\mathscr F$ of closed subideals contained in the Banach algebra $\mathcal K(Z)$ of the compact operators on $Z$, such that the subideals in $\mathscr F$ are mutually isomorphic as Banach algebras. This contrasts with the behaviour of closed ideals of the algebras $\mathcal L(X)$ of bounded operators on $X$, where closed ideals $\mathcal I \neq \mathcal J$ are never isomorphic as Banach algebras. We also construct families of non-trivial closed subideals contained in the strictly singular operators $\mathcal S(X)$ for classical spaces such as $X = L^p$ with $p \neq 2$, where pairwise isomorphic as well as pairwise non-isomorphic subideals occur.