Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
The object of this and a subsequent paper is to investigate the locally convex structure of several strict topologies that are generalizations of R. C. Buck's strict topology β on C(S), S locally compact Hausdorff. If the topology τ of a locally convex space (lcs) (X, τ) is any of these strict topologies, then it is localizable on every absorbing disc T in X, i.e. it is the finest locally convex topology on X agreeing with τ on T. Topologies of this kind are said to be (L)-topologies. As our main tools for the analysis of the structure of strict topologies, we deduce in this paper several closed graph theorems for spaces of type (L). In particular, it is shown that every semi-Montel lcs with a fundamental sequence of bounded sets and every Bτ-complete Schwartz space belongs to the class Bτ(L) of all lcs Y with the property that every closed linear map from any (L)-space X into Y is continuous. Further closed graph theorems are established and many of the known closed graph theorems are deduced as special cases of our results. Moreover, the problem of Bτ-completeness of locally convex spaces belonging to Bτ(L) is considered.