Comparison theorems for weak splittings of bounded operators (Q909410)

Comparison theorems for weak splittings of bounded operators are presented. These theorems extend the classical comparison theorem for regular splittings of matrices by Varga, the less known result by Woźnicki, and the recent results for regular and weak regular splittings of matrices by Neumann and Plemmons, Elsner, and Lanzkron, Rose and Szyld. The hypotheses of the theorems presented in the paper are weaker and the theorems hold for general Banach spaces and rather general cones. Hypotheses are given which provide strict inequalities for the comparisons. It is also shown that the comparison theorem by Alefeld and Volkmann applies exclusively to monotone sequences of iterates and is not equivalent to the comparison of the spectral radius of the iteration operators.