Type and cotype of a Banach space explained

In functional analysis, the type and cotype of a Banach space are a classification of Banach spaces through probability theory and a measure, how far a Banach space from a Hilbert space is.

The starting point is the Pythagorean identity for orthogonal vectors

(ek)

n
k=1
in Hilbert spaces
n
\left\|\sum
k=1

ek\right\|2=

n
\sum
k=1
2.
\left\|e
k\right\|
This identity no longer holds in general Banach spaces, however one can introduce a notion of orthogonality probabilistically with the help of Rademacher random variables, for this reason one also speaks of Rademacher type and Rademacher cotype.

The notion of type and cotype was introduced by French mathematician Jean-Pierre Kahane.

Definition

Let

(X,\|\|)

be a Banach space,

(\varepsiloni)

be a sequence of independent Rademacher random variables, i.e.

P(\varepsiloni=-1)=P(\varepsiloni=1)=1/2

and

E[\varepsiloni\varepsilonm]=0

for

im

and

\operatorname{Var}[\varepsiloni]=1

.

Type

X

is of type

p

for

p\in[1,2]

if there exist a finite constant

C\geq1

such that

E\varepsilon

n
\left[\left\|\sum\limits
i=1

\varepsilonixi\right\|p\right]\leq

n
C
i=1
p\right)
\|x
i\|
for all finite sequences

(xi)

n
i=1

\inXn

. The sharpest constant

C

is called type

p

constant
and denoted as

Tp(X)

.

Cotype

X

is of cotype

q

for

q\in[2,infty]

if there exist a finite constant

C\geq1

such that

E\varepsilon

n
\left[\left\|\sum\limits
i=1

\varepsiloni

q
x
i\right\|

\right]\geq

1
Cq
n
\left(\sum\limits
i=1
q\right),
\|x
i\|

if2\leqq<infty

respectively

E\varepsilon

n
\left[\left\|\sum\limits
i=1

\varepsilonixi\right\|\right]\geq

1
C

\sup\|xi\|,ifq=infty

for all finite sequences

(xi)

n
i=1

\inXn

. The sharpest constant

C

is called cotype

q

constant
and denoted as

Cq(X)

.[1]

Remarks

By taking the

p

-th resp.

q

-th root one gets the equation for the Bochner

Lp

norm
.

Properties

1

(follows from the triangle inequality).

2

and cotype

2

if and only if the space is also isomorphic to a Hilbert space.If a Banach space:

p

then it is also type

p'\in[1,p]

.

q

then it is also of cotype

q'\in[q,infty]

.

p

for

1<p\leq2

, then its dual space

X*

is of cotype

p*

with

p*:=(1-1/p)-1

(conjugate index). Further it holds that
C
p*

(X*)\leqTp(X)

Examples

Lp

spaces for

p\in[1,2]

are of type

p

and cotype

2

, this means

L1

is of type

1

,

L2

is of type

2

and so on.

Lp

spaces for

p\in[2,infty)

are of type

2

and cotype

p

.

Linfty

is of type

1

and cotype

infty

.[2]

Literature

References

  1. Book: Daniel. Li. Hervé. Queffélec . 2017 . Introduction to Banach Spaces: Analysis and Probability . Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics . 159–209 . Cambridge University Press . 10.1017/CBO9781316675762.009.
  2. Book: Michel. Ledoux. Michel . Talagrand . 1991 . Probability in Banach Spaces . Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzgebiete. 23 . Springer . Berlin, Heidelberg . 10.1007/978-3-642-20212-4_11.