Solution to a conjecture on the norm of the Hardy operator minus the identity (Q629694)

The authors show that \[ \sup\{\| S(f)- f\|_p: f \text{ nonnegative decreasing and } \|f\|_p\leq 1\}= \frac{1}{(p-1)^{1/p}} \] for any \(p\geq 2\), where \(\|f\|_p=(\int_0^\infty |f(t)|^p\, dt)^{1/p}\) and \(S\) is the Hardy operator \[ Sf(x) = \frac{1}{x} \int_0^x f(t)\,dt, \] extending the result known already for \(p\in \mathbb N\), \(p\geq 2\), due to \textit{N. Kruglyak} and \textit{E. Setterqvist} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 136, No. 7, 2505--2513 (2008; Zbl 1156.46027)]. In fact, the technique used by the authors extends to the weighted \(L^p(w)\) spaces and the constant appearing in this case is \[ \|w\|_{B_p}=\sup_{r>0}\bigg(r^p\int_t^\infty \frac{w(t)}{t^p}\,dt\bigg) \bigg/ \bigg(\int_0^r w(t) \,dt\bigg), \] corresponding to the norm in the class of weights which characterize the boundedness of the Hardy operator on monotone functions [cf. \textit{M. A. Ariño} and \textit{B. Muckenhoupt}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 320, No.~2, 727--735 (1990; Zbl 0716.42016)]. The authors also present a counterexample for \(1<p<2\), showing that the best constant is smaller than the one presented there.