Proximity to \(\ell_ 1\) and distortion in asymptotic \(\ell_ 1\) spaces (Q1371032)

The authors study various aspects of what are described as ``asymptotic \(\ell_1\) spaces'', the first example of which was given by Tsirelson in his construction of a Banach space which does not contain \(c_0\) or \(\ell^p\) for any \(p\geq 1\). In particular, the paper is devoted to investigating the geometry of an asymptotic \(\ell_1\) space by means of its so-called ``asymptotic finite dimensional subspaces'' and in terms of various ``asymptotic \(\ell_1\) constants'' associated with the space, several of which are explicitly computed for specific spaces. The results and methods are highly technical and computational, and the interested reader should consult the paper itself for details.