A characterization of Orlicz functions producing an additive property (Q1374539)

The Luxemburg norm in an Orlicz space \(L_\Phi \), where \(\Phi\) is a convex increasing function on \((0,\infty)\), is given by \(|f|_\Phi =\inf \{\lambda >0; \int \Phi (|f|)/\lambda)\leq 1\}\). When \(\Phi (t)=Ct^p\), \(1\leq p<\infty \), \(L_\Phi\) coincides with the Lebesgue space \(L_p\), normed by \(|f|_p=(\int |f|^p)^{1/p}\), and the norms are equivalent. It is known that the expression \(\Phi ^{-1}(\int \Phi (|f|))\), analogous in a sense to \(|f|_p\), is not a norm unless \(\Phi (t)=Ct^p\). This fact was first proved by \textit{A.C. Zaanen} [Lecture Notes Math. 945, Springer, Berlin 1982, 263-268; Zbl 0488.46027], and later, in a more general form, by \textit{W. Wnuk} [Indag. Math. 46, No. 3, 357-359 (1984; Zbl 0583.46025]. The authors of the paper under review show that the only functions \(\Phi\) that for all simple functions \(f,g\) guarantee \(|f|_\Phi =|g|_\Phi\) whenever \(|f\chi_B|_\Phi =|g\chi_B|_\Phi\) and \(|f\chi_{B^c}|_\Phi =|g\chi_{B^c}|_\Phi \), are again the power functions (here \(B^c\) denotes the complement of a set \(B\)). The above result of Zaanen and Wnuk then follows as a consequence.