Separable Spaces of Continuous Functions as Calkin Algebras

Abstract: It is proved that for every compact metric space $K$ there exists a Banach space $X$ whose Calkin algebra $\mathcal{L}(X)/\mathcal{K}(X)$ is homomorphically isometric to $C(K)$. This is achieved by appropriately modifying the Bourgain-Delbaen $\mathscr{L}_\infty$-space of Argyros and Haydon in such a manner that sufficiently many diagonal operators on this space are bounded.