Almost \(p\)-summing polynomials and multilinear mappings (Q5932156)

For a study of the injective maximal Banach operator ideal \(\Pi_{al,s}\) of almost summing operators see \textit{J. Diestel}, \textit{H. Jarchow} and \textit{A. Tonge} [``Absolutely Summing Operators'', Cambridge Studies, Adv. Math. 43 (1995; Zbl 0855.47016)]. Here, the authors introduce scales of related \(n\)-linear mappings and \(n\)-homogeneous polynomials between Banach spaces; viz., almost \((p_1,\dots, p_n)\)-summing mappings and almost \(p\)-summing polynomials, where \(p_1,\dots, p_n\), \(p> 0\). All continuous \(n\)-homogeneous polynomials and all continuous \(n\)-linear mappings are almost 1-summing, every \(n\)-homogeneous polynomial of finite type is almost \(p\)-summing for \(p\leq 2n\), and there are no non-zero \(n\)-homogeneous almost \(p\)-summing polynomials for \(p> 2n\). For \(1\leq p\leq 2n\) the authors characterize the almost \(p\)-summing \(n\)-homogeneous polynomials as those mapping unconditionally \(p\)-summable sequences into almost unconditionally summable sequences, and they show that the corresponding space \({\mathcal P}^p_{al,s}(E, F)\) is Banach under its natural norm. Some illustrative examples and counterexamples are given; e.g., polynomials which are almost 2-summing, but not almost \(p\)-summing for all \(p> 2\), \(n\)-homogeneous polynomials which are almost \(n\)-summing, but not almost \(p\)-summing for \(p> n\). The authors compare two methods of generating, out of an operator ideal of linear operators, a corresponding class of multilinear mappings or a class of polynomials: the factorization method and the linearization method. Here, the linearization method leads to \(n\)-linear mappings and \(n\)-homogeneous polynomials of type \([\Pi_{al,s}]\), and in the bilinear scalar-valued case some nice properties concerning \({\mathcal L}_\infty\)-spaces and spaces of cotype 2 are inherited from the linear theory. In general, all \(n\)-linear mappings of type \([\Pi_{al,s}]\) are almost \((1,\dots, 2,\dots,1)\)-summing, where 2 can be placed in any position.