Banach spaces where convex combinations of relatively weakly open subsets of the unit ball are relatively weakly open

Abstract: We introduce and study Banach spaces which have property CWO, i.e., every finite convex combination of relatively weakly open subsets of their unit ball is open in the relative weak topology of the unit ball. Stability results of such spaces are established, and we introduce and discuss a geometric condition---property (co)---on a Banach space. Property (co) essentially says that the operation of taking convex combinations of elements of the unit ball is, in a sense, an open map. We show that if a finite dimensional Banach space $X$ has property (co), then for any scattered locally compact Hausdorff space $K$, the space $C_0(K,X)$ of continuous $X$-valued functions vanishing at infinity has property CWO. Several Banach spaces are proved to possess this geometric property; among others: 2-dimensional real spaces, finite dimensional strictly convex spaces, finite dimensional polyhedral spaces, and the complex space $\ell_1^n$. In contrast to this, we provide an example of a $3$-dimensional real Banach space $X$ for which $C_0(K,X)$ fails to have property CWO. We also show that $c_0$-sums of finite dimensional Banach spaces with property (co) have property CWO. In particular, this provides examples of such spaces outside the class of $C_0(K,X)$-spaces.