On modular inequalities in variable \(L^p\) spaces (Q2580938)

Let \(p: \mathbb R^n\to[1,\infty)\) be a measurable function. Denote by \(L^{p(\cdot)}(\mathbb R^n)\) the Banach space of measurable functions \(f\) on \(\mathbb R^n\) such that for some \(\lambda>0\), \(\int_{\mathbb R^n}| f(x)/\lambda| ^{p(x)}\,dx<\infty\), with norm \(\| f\| _{L^{p(\cdot)}}=\inf\{\lambda>0; \int_{\mathbb R^n}| f(x)/\lambda| ^{p(x)}\,dx\leq1\}\). The author states the following: Suppose \(1<\text{ess\, inf}_{x\in\mathbb R^n}p(x) \leq \text{ess\, sup}_{x\in\mathbb R^n}p(x)<\infty\). Then, the inequality \[ \int_{\mathbb R^n}(Mf(x))^{p(x)}\,dx\leq C\int_{\mathbb R^n}| f(x)| ^{p(x)}\,dx \] holds for any \(f\in L^{p(\cdot)}(\mathbb R^n)\) if and only if \(p(x)\sim \text{a constant}\). The above inequality is called modular inequality. This property is very different from the characterization of \(p(x)\) for which the norm inequality holds, in which case several sufficient conditions are known first by \textit{L. Diening} [Math. Inequal. Appl. 7, No. 2, 245--253 (2004; Zbl 1071.42014)], and later by \textit{D. Cruz-Uribe, A. Fiorenza} and \textit{C. J. Neugebauer} [Ann. Acad. Sci. Fenn., Math. 28, 223--238 (2003; Zbl 1037.42023), ibid. 29, 247--249 (2004; Zbl 1064.42500)], and \textit{A. Nekvinda} [Math. Inequal. Appl. 7, No. 2, 255--265 (2004; Zbl 1059.42016)], etc. The author states that the same result holds for Calderón-Zygmund operators.