On the numerical radius of operators in Lebesgue spaces (Q537715)

For a real or complex Banach space \(X\), the numerical radius of a bounded linear operator \(T\) on \(X\) (\(T\in{\mathcal L}(X)\)) is, by definition, \[ v(T)= \sup\{|x^*(Tx)|: x\in X,\;x^*\in X^*,\;\| x\|=\| x^*\|= x^*(x)= 1\}, \] while the numerical index of \(X\) is \(n(X)= \text{inf}\{v(T): T\in{\mathcal L}(X),\;\| T\|= 1\}\). The exact value of \(n(X)\) is unknown even when \(X\) is the (real or complex) Lebesgue space \(L_p(u)\) (\(u\) a positive measure and \(1< p<\infty\)). One of the main results of this paper (Theorem 2.1) is that the absolute numerical index of \(L_p(u)\), defined by \(|n|(L_p(u))= \text{inf}\{|v|(T): T\in{\mathcal L}(L_p(u)),\;\| T\|= 1\}\), where \[ |v|(T)= \sup\{|x^*|(|Tx|): x\in L_p(u),\;x^*\in L_q(u),\;\| x\|=\| x^*\|= x^*(x)= 1\} \] \((q= p/(p-1))\) is the absolute numerical radius of \(T\) in \({\mathcal L}(L_p(u))\), is equal to \(k_p\equiv p^{-1/p}q^{-1/q}\) if \(\dim(L_p(u))\geq 2\). The authors also obtain (in Theorem 3.1) estimates for the rank-one numerical index \[ n_1(L_p(u))\equiv \text{inf}\{v(T): T\in{\mathcal L}(L_p(u)),\;\| T\|= 1,\;\operatorname{rank}T= 1\} \] of \(L_p(u)\) for atomless \(u\), namely, \(k^2_p\leq n_1(L_p(u))\leq k_p\), and (in Theorem 4.1) estimates for the ``narrow'' numerical index \(n_{\text{nar}}(L_p(u))\) for atomless finite measure \(u\), namely, \[ n_{\text{nar}}(L_p(u))\geq \begin{cases} k^2_p\quad &\text{in the complex case},\\ M_p\equiv\max_{t> 0} (k_p t^{p-1}- t)/(1+ t^p)\quad &\text{in the real case}.\end{cases} \] The paper ends with some open questions. It is conjectured that \(n(L_p(u))\) should be \(M_p\) in the real case and \(k_p\) in the complex case, and \(n_1(L_p(u))= k_p\) in both the real and complex cases.