Spaceability of sets of \(p\)-compact maps (Q2672994)

A linear operator between two Banach spaces \(E, F\) is said to be \(p\)-compact, \(1\leq p < \infty\), if it maps the closed unit ball into a relatively \(p\)-compact set, and the set of all such operators is denoted by \(\mathcal{K}_p (E,F)\). The paper has two primary purposes: to investigate conditions under which there exist \(q\)-compact mappings (linear, polynomial, Lipschitz, holomorphic) which are not \(p\)-compact; and to study if there exist (up to the null mapping) linear structures formed by \(q\)-compact mappings which are not \(p\)-compact. This last goal leads the authors to investigate lineability and spaceability in the setting of \(p\)-compact maps. The authors' starting point is to study the spaceability of the set formed by \(q\)-compact linear operators which are not \(p\)-compact, for \(1 \leq p < q\), where the domain and codomain are \(\ell_r\), \( 1 \leq r \leq \infty\), and \(c_0\). It is proved that the set \[ \mathcal{K}_q (\ell_r, \ell_s ) \setminus \mathcal{K}_p (\ell_r, \ell_s ), \] is either empty or one may find (up to \(0\)) a subspace isomorphic to \(\ell_s\) inside this difference of sets. A list of cases in which the highlighted setting is either empty or not is given as examples. Next, the results are extended, and the existence of linear structures in \(\mathcal{K}_q (E,F) \setminus \mathcal{K}_p (E,F)\) is investigated for more general Banach spaces \(E\) and \(F\) with geometries somehow similar to \(\ell_r\). In the last section, the authors provide applications related to the previous results. They study the spaceability of some sets formed by nonlinear mappings (polynomial and Lipschitz), which are \(q\)-compact but not \(p\)-compact. Also, a brief discussion about the spaceability in the space of holomorphic mappings determined by \(p\)-compact sets is considered.