The flip is often discontinuous

Abstract

Let $A$ be a Banach algebra. The flip on $A \otimes A^\op$ is defined through $A \otimes A^\op \ni a \tensor b \mapsto b \tensor a$. If $A$ is ultraprime, $\El(A)$, the algebra of all elementary operators on $A$, can be algebraically identified with $A \otimes A^\op$, so that the flip is well defined on $\El(\A)$. We show that the flip on $\El(A)$ is discontinuous if $A = K(E)$ for a reflexive Banach space $E$ with the approximation property.