On Grothendieck Sets

We call a subset M of an algebra of sets A a Grothendieck set for the Banach space b a ( A ) of bounded finitely additive scalar-valued measures on A equipped with the variation norm if each sequence μ n n = 1 ∞ in b a ( A ) which is pointwise convergent on M is weakly convergent in b a ( A ) , i.e., if there is μ ∈ b a A such that μ n A → μ A for every A ∈ M then μ n → μ weakly in b a ( A ) . A subset M of an algebra of sets A is called a Nikodým set for b a ( A ) if each sequence μ n n = 1 ∞ in b a ( A ) which is pointwise bounded on M is bounded in b a ( A ) . We prove that if Σ is a σ -algebra of subsets of a set Ω which is covered by an increasing sequence Σ n : n ∈ N of subsets of Σ there exists p ∈ N such that Σ p is a Grothendieck set for b a ( A ) . This statement is the exact counterpart for Grothendieck sets of a classic result of Valdivia asserting that if a σ -algebra Σ is covered by an increasing sequence Σ n : n ∈ N of subsets, there is p ∈ N such that Σ p is a Nikodým set for b a Σ . This also refines the Grothendieck result stating that for each σ -algebra Σ the Banach space ℓ ∞ Σ is a Grothendieck space. Some applications to classic Banach space theory are given.