The multiplicative property characterizes \(\ell _{p}\) and \(L_{p}\) norms (Q763705)

Let \((\Omega, \Sigma, {\mathbb P})\) be a sufficiently rich probability space in the sense that it supports a sequence of independent random variables with prescribed distributions, e.g., \(\Omega =[0,1] \) with the Lebesgue measure. The main result of the paper reads as follows: Let \(\|\,.\,\|\) be a norm on the space of bounded random variables that is rearrangement invariant, i.e., \(\|X\|\) depends only on the distribution of \(X\). Suppose \(\|XY\|=\|X\| \, \|Y\|\) whenever \(X\) and \(Y\) are independent. Then \(\|\,.\,\|=\|\,.\,\|_p\) for some \(p\in [1,\infty]\). The authors first note that their result can be deduced from a deep theorem due to Krivine [\textit{J.L.~Krivine}, Ann.\ Math.\ (2) 104, 1--29 (1976; Zbl 0329.46008)] on block-finite representability of \(\ell_p\) in a given Banach space. But the main point of the paper is to give an independent proof that is rather interesting. The result is first reduced to the discrete case, i.e., the case of sequence spaces. It is proved in this setting that the norm of the sequences \((1,\dots,1,0\dots)\) containing \(n\) ones is \(n^{1/p}\) for some \(p\geq1\). It is then shown that this is the \(p\) one is looking for. To achieve this the authors employ a version of Cramér's large deviation theorem.