On the numerical index with respect to an operator

Abstract

Given Banach spaces $X$ and $Y$, and a norm-one operator $G\in \mathcal{L}(X,Y)$, the numerical index with respect to $G$, $n_G(X,Y)$, is the greatest constant $k\geq 0$ such that $$\max_{|w|=1}\|G+wT\|\geq 1 + k \|T\|$$ for all $T\in \mathcal{L}(X,Y)$. We present some results on the set $\mathcal{N}(\mathcal{L}(X,Y))$ of the values of the numerical indices with respect to all norm-one operators on $\mathcal{L}(X,Y)$. We show that $\mathcal{N}(\mathcal{L}(X,Y))=\{0\}$ when $X$ or $Y$ is a real Hilbert space of dimension greater than one and also when $X$ or $Y$ is the space of bounded or compact operators on an infinite-dimensional real Hilbert space. For complex Hilbert spaces $H_1$, $H_2$ of dimension greater than one, we show that $\mathcal{N}(\mathcal{L}(H_1,H_2))\subseteq \{0,1/2\}$ and the value $1/2$ is taken if and only if $H_1$ and $H_2$ are isometrically isomorphic. Besides, $\mathcal{N}(\mathcal{L}(X,H))\subseteq [0,1/2]$ and $\mathcal{N}(\mathcal{L}(H,Y))\subseteq [0,1/2]$ when $H$ is a complex infinite-dimensional Hilbert space and $X$ and $Y$ are arbitrary complex Banach spaces. We also show that $\mathcal{N}(\mathcal{L}(L_1(\mu_1),L_1(\mu_2)))\subseteq \{0,1\}$ and $\mathcal{N}(\mathcal{L}(L_\infty(\mu_1),L_\infty(\mu_2)))\subseteq \{0,1\}$ for arbitrary $\sigma$-finite measures $\mu_1$ and $\mu_2$, in both the real and the complex cases. Also, we show that the Lipschitz numerical range of Lipschitz maps can be viewed as the numerical range of convenient bounded linear operators with respect to a bounded linear operator. Further, we provide some results which show the behaviour of the value of the numerical index when we apply some Banach space operations, as constructing diagonal operators between $c_0$-, $\ell_1$-, or $\ell_\infty$-sums of Banach spaces, composition operators on some vector-valued function spaces, and taking the adjoint to an operator.