Kolmogorov averages and approximate identities (Q836077)

The action of Kolmogorov-type nonlinear averaging operators of the form \(V^{-1}AV\) on smooth functions is studied. Here, \(A\) runs through a family of convolution operators \(A_\varepsilon ^{[K]},\;\varepsilon >0,\) generated by a single kernel \(K\in L^1(R^n)\) in the usual way and forming an ``approximate identity'' as \(\varepsilon\rightarrow 0\). \(V\) and \(V^{-1}\) are the superposition maps given by \(Vf=v\circ f\) and \(V^{-1}h=v^{-1}\circ h\), with an increasing on an interval \(I\subset R\) continuous function \(v\). It is proved that if \(K\) is a compactly supported kernel in \(R^n\), a function \(f\) belongs to the Lipschitz space \(\Lambda _\omega ,\) associated with a majorant \(\omega \) and if \(v\circ f\in L^1+L^\infty ,\) then \[ \|V^{-1}A_\varepsilon ^{[K]}Vf-f\|_\infty \leq \mathrm{const} \|f\|_{\Lambda _\omega}\omega (\varepsilon ). \] Moreover, several types of converse to this result are established.