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# How many operators do there exist on a Banach space?

## 1. Introduction

Over the last years the following question caught the interest of an increasing number of researchers in the area of infinite dimensional Banach space theory and became for many of them one of the central problems.

1. Assume $`X`$ is an infinite dimensional Banach space. Does there exist a linear bounded operator $`T`$ on $`X`$ which is not of the form $`T=\lambda \text{Id}+C`$, where $`\lambda `$ is a scalar, $`C`$ is a compact operator on $`X`$, and Id denotes the identity on $`X`$?

Clearly, if $`EX`$ is a finite dimensional subspace and $`S:EX`$ is any linear operator, then $`S`$ can be extended to a linear operator $`T:XX`$ of finite rank. Thus, there must be “many” finite rank operators on $`X`$, and thus “many” elements in the closure of the finite rank operators, which is, assuming $`X`$ has the approximation property, the ideal of compact operators. Of course, the identity must also be a linear bounded operator. Therefore question (Q1) asks wheather or not there are always some other linear bounded operators defined on a Banach space, beyond the class of operators which must exist by elementary reasons.

Note that a counterexample to (Q1) would be the first example of a Banach space $`X`$ for which the invariant subspace problem has a positive answer: Does every operator $`T`$ on $`X`$ have a non trivial subspace $`Y`$ ($`Y\{0\}`$ and $`YX`$) so that $`T(Y)Y`$? Indeed, due to a result of V. I. Lomonosov \[Lo\], any operator on a Banach space which commutes with a compact operator $`C0`$ must have a none trivial invariant subspace. A counterexample to (Q1) might also be a prime candidate for a Banach space on which all Lipschitz function admit a point of differentiability \[Li\].

Recall (\[GM1\] and \[GM2\]) that an infinite dimensional Banach space $`X`$ is called a hereditarily indecomposable space (HI) if every operator $`T:YX`$, with $`Y`$ being a subspace of $`X`$ is of the form $`\text{In}_{(Y,X)}+S`$, where $`\lambda `$ is a scalar, $`\text{In}_{(Y,X)}`$ denotes the inclusion map from $`Y`$ into $`X`$ and $`S`$ is a strictly singular operator, i.e. an operator which on no infinite dimensional subspace is an isomorphism into $`X`$.

The first known example of an HI space, we denote it by $`GM`$, was constructed by T. W. Gowers and B. Maurey in 1993 \[GM1\]. Since then HI spaces with additional properties were constructed (e.g. \[AD\], \[F\], and \[OS\]).

Although a counterexample to (Q1) does not need to be an HI space, these spaces are nevertheless natural candidates for counterexamples. In \[AS\] it was shown that the space constructed in \[GM1\] admits an operator (defined on all of $`GM`$) which is strictly singular but not compact. Already earlier it was shown in \[Go1\] that such an operator can be constructed on a subspace of $`GM`$.

Given the seemingly easy task to write down on a concrete space a nontrivial operator (i.e. not of the form $`\lambda +compact`$) the proof in \[AS\] is quite involved. It would be interesting, but probably technically even harder, to establish the existence of non trivial operators defined on other known HI spaces. Since it seems to be hard to answer (Q1) already for specific spaces, the tools to give an answer (at least a positive one) in the general case are probably not developed yet. It also seems that (Q1) is the type of question which will not be answered directly, but by solving first some other, more structure theoretical questions.

Following more along the line of the concept of HI spaces we turn therefore to the following “easier question” (for a positive answer) and ask whether or not it is always possible to define a non trivial operator on a subspace.

1. Assume $`X`$ is an infinite dimensional Banach space. Is there a closed subspace $`Y`$ of $`X`$ and an operator $`T:YX`$, so that $`T`$ is not of the form $`T=\lambda \text{In}_{(Y,X)}+C`$, where $`\lambda `$ is a scalar and $`C:YX`$ is a compact operator?

It is easy to see, that (Q2) can be equivalently reformulated as follows

1. Assume that $`X`$ is an infinite dimensional Banach space. Does there exist two normalized basic sequences $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ so that $`(x_n)`$ dominates $`(y_n)`$ and so that $`inf_nx_ny_n>0`$?

We want to go one step further and formulate a more structure theoretical approach to our problem. We call a Banach space $`X`$ with a basis $`(e_i)`$ a space of Class 1 if:

1. Every block basis of $`(e_i)`$ has a subsequence which is equivalent to some subsequence of $`(e_i)`$.

###### Remark.

Note that the spaces $`\mathrm{}_p`$, $`1p<\mathrm{}`$, and $`c_0`$ are clearly (C1). Actually in $`\mathrm{}_p`$, $`1p<\mathrm{}`$, and $`c_0`$ all blockbasis are equivalent to each other, a property which characterizes the unit bases of $`\mathrm{}_p`$, $`1p<\mathrm{}`$, and $`c_0`$ \[Z\]. Moreover, in \[CJT\] it was shown that Tsirelson’s space $`T`$ (as described in \[FJ\]) as well as its dual $`T^{}`$ (the original Tsirelson space defined in \[T\]) are spaces of Class 1. Recently the result of \[CJT\] was generalized to all finitely mixed Tsirelson spaces in \[LT\]. The reader unfamiliar with the usual notations and concepts (like mixed Tsirelson spaces) is referred to the last paragraphs of this section, where all the notions of this paper are introduced.

Also note that every space of Class 1 must contain an unconditional basic sequence, an observation which follows immediately from the result in \[Go1\] which says that every infinite dimensional Banach space must either contain an infinite dimensional subspace with unconditional basic sequence or it must contain an infinite dimensional subspace which is HI. Of course, a space of Class 1 cannot contain an infinite dimensional subspace which is HI.

We do not know of any elementary proof, i.e. a proof which does not use the above cited result of \[Go1\], of the fact that a space of Class 1 must contain an unconditional basic sequence.

It seems that until the early nineties all known Banach spaces had subspaces which were of Class 1. Then, in 1991, the author \[Sch\] of this work constructed a space, nowadays denoted by $`S`$, which fails (C1) in an extreme way: In all infinite dimensional subspaces, spanned by a block, one is not only able to find two normalized blocks $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ having no subsequences which are equivalent to each other. But one can even find in each subspace two normalized blocks $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$, for which the map $`x_ny_n`$ extends to a bounded linear and strictly singular operator between the span of $`(x_n)`$ and the span of $`(y_n)`$.

Let us therefore define the following second class of Banach spaces. Let us call a Banach space $`X`$ with a basis $`(e_i)`$ a space of Class 2 if:

1. Each block basis $`(z_n)`$ has two further block bases $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ so that the map $`x_ny_n`$ extends to a bounded linear and strictly singular operator between the span of $`(x_n)`$ and the span of $`(y_n)`$.

The main purpose of this paper is to establish criteria for a Banach space to be of Class 2 and thereby address the following problem.

1. Does every infinite dimensional Banach space contain a Banach space which is either of Class 1 or of Class 2?

Question (Q4) might seem at first sight somewhat daring, let us therefore motivate it. If one believes (Q3) to be true, one could argue that experience shows us that positive results in Banach space theory are often derived from dichotomy principles. Therefore (C2) could be a candidate for the second alternative in a dichotomy result in which (C1) is the first alternative.

Secondly, if one believes Question (Q3) to have a counterexample, one might try to look first for a counterexample of (Q4). Question (Q4) could have, contrary to Question (Q3), a counterexample with an unconditional basis, which probably will be easier to define. Then, starting with a counterexample to (Q4), one might ask for a modification of it to obtain a counterexample to question (Q3). Similarly, the key argument toward defining the first known HI space, was the definition of a space of Class 2.

Finally note that a negative answer of (Q3) is equivalent to the statement that the following class of Banach spaces is not empty. A Banach space $`X`$ with a basis $`(e_i)`$ is said to be a space of Class 3 if:

1. For any two block bases $`(x_n)`$ and $`(z_n)`$ of $`(e_i)`$, with $`inf_nx_nz_n>0`$, neither the map $`x_nz_n`$ nor the map $`z_nx_n`$ extends to a linear bounded operator between the spans of $`(x_n)`$ and $`(z_n)`$.

In this paper we are interested in formulating criteria which imply that a given Banach space $`X`$ is of Class 2. Therefore we want to find sufficient conditions for $`X`$ to contain two seminormalized basic sequences $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ for which the map $`x_ny_n`$ extends to a bounded linear and strictly singular operator.

In Section 2 we discuss the following problem: Given two normalized basic sequences $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$, which conditions should we impose on the spreading models of $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$, in order to insure the existence of subsequences $`(\stackrel{~}{x}_n)`$ and $`(\stackrel{~}{y}_n)`$ of $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ respectively, so that $`\stackrel{~}{x}_n\stackrel{~}{y}_n`$ extends to a strictly singular and bounded linear operator? The properties of spreading models can be quite different form the properties of the underlying generating sequences. For example, the spreading model of the basis of Schreier’s space (using the notations of Definition 1.6 this is the space $`S(𝒮_1)`$, with $`𝒮_1=\{E[]^<\mathrm{}:\mathrm{\#}E\mathrm{min}E\}`$) is isometrically equivalent to the $`\mathrm{}_1`$-unit vector basis. On the other hand Schreier’s space is hereditarily $`\text{c}_0`$. Therefore we expect to need to impose rather strong conditions on the spreading models of $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ in order to conclude that for some subsequences $`(m_k),(n_k)`$ and $``$ it follows that $`x_{m_k}y_{n_k}`$ extends to bounded linear and strictly singular map $`[x_{m_k}:k][y_{n_k}:k]`$.

The main result of Section 2 is the following answer to our question.

###### Theorem 1.1.

Let$`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ be two normalized weakly null sequences having spreading models $`(e_n)`$ and $`(f_n)`$ respectively.

Assume that $`(e_n)`$ is not equivalent to the $`c_0`$-unit vector basis and that the following condition holds.

(1) There is a sequence $`(\delta _n)`$ of positive numbers decreasing to zero so that
$`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}a_if_i\underset{\begin{array}{c}n\\ i_1<i_2<\mathrm{}i_n\end{array}}{\mathrm{max}}\delta _n{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}}a_{i_j}e_i.`$
Then there are subsequences $`(\stackrel{~}{x}_n)`$ and $`(\stackrel{~}{y}_n)`$ of $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ respectively, so that $`\stackrel{~}{x}_n\stackrel{~}{y}_n`$ extends to a strictly singular and bounded linear operator.

In order to formulate our second result, we need to recall the Cantor Bendixson index of subsets of $`[]^<\mathrm{}`$, the set of finite subsets of $``$.

A set $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ is called hereditary if for all $`A𝒜`$ and all $`BA`$ it follows that $`B𝒜`$. We call $`𝒜`$ spreading if $`A=\{a_1,a_2,\mathrm{}a_k\}𝒜`$, with $`a_1<a_2<\mathrm{}<a_k`$, and if $`b_1<b_2<\mathrm{}b_k`$ are in $``$, so that $`b_ia_i`$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{}k`$, then $`\{b_1,\mathrm{}b_k\}𝒜`$. We always consider the topology of pointwise convergence on $`[]^<\mathrm{}`$(identifying $`A`$ with $`\chi _A`$, the characteristic function of $`A`$).

For an hereditary and compact $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ we define

(2) $`𝒜^{(1)}`$ $`=\{A𝒜|A\text{ is accumulation point of }𝒜\}`$
$`=\{A𝒜|N,N\text{ infinite }nNA\{n\}𝒜\}.`$
Since $`𝒜`$ is compact in $`[]^<\mathrm{}`$ each $`A𝒜`$ is subset of a maximal element of $`𝒜`$ and therefore we conclude that

(3)
$$𝒜^{(1)}𝒜,\text{ if }𝒜\mathrm{}.$$

Secondly it follows that $`𝒜^{(1)}`$ is also compact and hereditary. We can therefore define $`𝒜^{(\alpha )}`$ for each $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ by transfinite induction. We let $`𝒜^{(0)}=𝒜`$ and assuming we defined $`𝒜^{(\beta )}`$ for all $`\beta <\alpha `$ we put

(4)
$$𝒜^{(\alpha )}=\left(𝒜^{(\beta )}\right)^{(1)}\text{ if }\alpha =\beta +1,\text{ and }𝒜^{(\alpha )}=\underset{\beta <\alpha }{}𝒜^{(\beta )}\text{ if }\alpha =\underset{\beta <\alpha }{sup}\beta .$$

Since $`[]^<\mathrm{}`$ is countable it follows from (3) that there is an $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ for which $`𝒜^{(\alpha )}`$ is empty and we define the Cantor Bendixson index of $`𝒜`$ by

(5)
$$\text{CB}(𝒜)=\mathrm{min}\{\alpha <\omega _1:𝒜^{(\alpha )}=\mathrm{}\}.$$

We note that $`\text{CB}(𝒜)`$ is a successor ordinal. Indeed, assume that $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ is a limit ordinal and that $`𝒜^{(\beta )}\mathrm{}`$ for all $`\beta <\alpha `$. Then it follows from the fact that $`𝒜^{(\beta )}`$ is hereditary that $`\mathrm{}𝒜^{(\beta )}`$ for all $`\beta <\alpha `$, and, thus, by (4) that $`\mathrm{}𝒜^{(\alpha )}`$ which implies that $`\text{CB}(𝒜)>\alpha `$.

The strong Cantor Bendixson index of $`𝒜`$ is defined as follows (cf. \[AMT\]):

(6)
$$\text{CBS}(𝒜)=\underset{N,\mathrm{\#}N=\mathrm{}}{sup}\underset{MN,\mathrm{\#}M=\mathrm{}}{inf}\text{CB}\left(𝒜[M]^<\mathrm{}\right)$$

###### Remark.

Note that $`\text{CBS}(𝒜)`$ could be a limit ordinal. Indeed, let $`(N_n)_n`$ be a sequence of infinite pairwise disjoint subsets of $``$ whose union is $``$. Take $`𝒜=_n𝒜_n`$, with $`𝒜:=\{AN_n\text{ finite }:\mathrm{\#}A=n\}`$. Then it follows that $`\text{CBS}(𝒜)=\omega `$.

On the other hand it is clear that for a successor ordinal $`\gamma `$ and an hereditary $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ we have that

$$\text{CBS}(𝒜)\gamma N,\mathrm{\#}N=\mathrm{}MN,\mathrm{\#}M=\mathrm{}\text{CB}(𝒜[M]^<\mathrm{})\gamma .$$

Using the Cantor Bendixson index we can characterize spaces which have subspaces of Class 1 and quantify the property of not having a subspace of Class 1. More generally, we will use the Cantor Bendixson index to measure “how far away” two basic sequences are to each other, up to passing to subsequences”.

###### Definition 1.2.

Assume that $`\overline{x}=(x_n)`$ and $`\overline{z}=(y_n)`$ are two seminormalized basic sequences. For $`c1`$ we define

(7)
$$𝒞(\overline{x},\overline{z},c)=\{A[]^<\mathrm{}:B[]^<\mathrm{},\mathrm{\#}B=\mathrm{\#}A,(x_n)_{nA}_c(z_n)_{nB}\},$$

by “$`(x_n)_{nA}_c(z_n)_{nB}`$” we mean that $`(x_n)_{nA}`$ and $`(z_n)_{nB}`$ are $`c`$-equivalent (see end of section), where on $`A`$ and $`B`$ we consider the order given by $``$. For $`\gamma <\omega _1`$ let (put $`inf\mathrm{}=\mathrm{}`$)

(8) $`c(\overline{x},\overline{z},\gamma )`$ $`=inf\{c1:\text{CBS}\left(𝒞(\overline{x},\overline{z},c)\right)\gamma +1\}\text{ (with }inf\mathrm{}=\mathrm{}\text{)}`$
$`=inf\{c1:N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N\text{CB}(𝒞(\overline{x},\overline{z},c)[M]^<\mathrm{})\gamma +1\}`$
(9) $`\gamma _0(\overline{x},\overline{z})`$ $`=sup\{\gamma <\omega _1:c(\overline{x},\overline{z},\gamma )<\mathrm{}\}.`$
In the case that $`\overline{z}`$ is the unit basis of $`\mathrm{}_1`$ we define $`(\overline{x},c)=𝒞(\overline{x},\overline{z},c)`$, $`b(\overline{x},\gamma )=c(\overline{x},\overline{z},\gamma )`$, and $`\beta _0(\overline{x})=\gamma _0(\overline{x},\overline{z})`$ and for a Banach space $`X`$ and $`\beta <\omega _1`$ we put

(10) $`B(\beta )=B(\beta ,X)`$ $`=sup\{b(\overline{z},\beta ):\overline{z}=(z_n)B_X\text{semi normalized, weakly null}\}`$
$`=sup\{b>0:\begin{array}{cc}& (z_n)B_X\text{semi normalized and weakly null}\\ & \text{CBS}((\overline{z},b))\}\beta +1\end{array}\}.`$
(11) $`\beta _0(X)`$ $`=sup\{\beta <\omega _1:B(\beta )>0\}`$
$`=sup\{\beta _0(\overline{z}):\overline{z}=(z_n)B_X\text{semi normalized and weakly null}\}`$
It is clear that $`\beta _0(X)`$ must be a limit ordinal.

###### Proposition 1.3.

(see proof after Corollary 4.9 in Section 4). Assume $`X`$ is a Banach space with a basis $`(x_n)`$. If $`(z_n)`$ is another basic sequence for which $`\gamma _0((z_n),(x_n))=\omega _1`$ then a subsequence of $`(z_n)`$ is ismorphically equivalent to a subsequence of $`(x_n)`$ or to the spreading model of a subsequence of $`(x_n)`$.

Moreover, $`X`$ is of Class 1 if and only if for all blockbases $`(z_n)`$ of $`(x_n)`$ it follows that $`\gamma _0((z_n),(x_n))=\gamma _0((x_n),(z_n))=\omega _1`$.

In Section 6 we will prove the following result, implying a condition for a space to be in Class 2.

###### Theorem 1.4.

Let $`X`$ be a Banach space with a basis $`(e_i)`$ not containing $`c_0`$. Assume that there is an ordinal $`\gamma [0,\beta _0(X)]`$ so that:

1. There is a semi normalized block basis $`\overline{y}=(y_n)B_X`$ with $`\beta _0(\overline{y})\gamma `$.
2. $`inf_{\beta <\gamma }B(\beta ,X)>0`$.

Then there is a seminormalized block basis $`(x_n)`$ in $`X`$ and a subsequence $`(\stackrel{~}{y}_n)`$ of $`(y_n)`$ so that the map $`x_n\stackrel{~}{y}_n`$ extends to a strictly singular operator $`T:[x_n:n][\stackrel{~}{y}_n:n]`$.

###### Corollary 1.5.

Assume that $`Z`$ is a reflexive Banach space with a basis and each block subspace of $`Z`$ satisfies the condition of Theorem 1.4.

Then $`Z`$ is of Class 2.

###### Remark.

Note that in the statement of Theorem 1.4 either $`\gamma =\beta _0(X)`$ in which case it is clear that (a) is satisfied for all block bases. Or $`\gamma <\beta _0(X)`$ in which case it is clear that (b) is satisfied.

Also note that the assumption in Theorem 1.4 says the following:

On the one hand there is a block basis $`\overline{y}`$ which is “far away from the $`\mathrm{}_1`$\- unit vector basis, in the sense that given any $`\epsilon >0`$ there is an $`\alpha <\gamma `$ so that $`b(\overline{y},\alpha )<\epsilon `$, i.e. on sets of strong Cantor Bendixson index $`\alpha `$ the best equivalence constant between the $`\mathrm{}_1`$ basis and $`\overline{y}`$ is at most $`\epsilon `$.

On the other hand if we let $`c=inf_{\beta <\gamma }B(\beta ,X)`$, we can choose for any $`\alpha <\gamma `$ and any $`\epsilon >0`$ a block sequence $`\overline{z}`$ for which $`b(\overline{z},\alpha )>c\epsilon `$.

In other words the assumption in Theorem 1.4 states that we require the existence of blockbases which have “different $`\mathrm{}_1`$-behavior”.

But if one wants to attack Problem (Q4) one could start by assuming that our given Banach space $`X`$ has no infinite dimensional subspace of Class 1 and therefore by Proposition 1.3 every block basis $`(y_n)`$ must admit a further block basis $`(z_n)`$ so that $`\gamma _0((y_n),(z_n))<\omega _1`$ or $`\gamma _0((z_n),(y_n))<\omega _1`$. So, instead of going the quite “uneconomical route” (as in Theorem 1.4) and comparing two blockbases to the $`\mathrm{}_1`$-unit vector basis one should compare them to each other directly.

Here exactly lies one major hurdle which one has to overcome before reaching further results. The proof of Theorem 1.1 as well as the proof of Theorem 1.4 make use of certain “partial unconditionality results” namely a result by E. Odell \[O2\] (see Theorem 2.2) and a result by S. A. Argyros, S. Mercourakis and A. Tsarpalias \[AMT\] (see Lemma 6.1 in Section 6). Both results give partial answers to the question, under which conditions a family of finite rank projections on certain subsets of a basis are uniformly bounded.

In order to make advances on (Q4) we would need to address the following question which asks for generalizations of the results in \[O2\] and \[AMT\].

1. Assume that $`X`$ is a Banach space with a basis $`(e_n)`$, $`\gamma [0,\omega _1)`$, and assume that for all normalized block bases $`(x_n)`$ of $`(e_n)`$ it follows that $`c((x_n),(e_n),\gamma )<\mathrm{}`$ $`c((e_n),(x_n),\gamma )<\mathrm{}`$.

Secondly, consider for a blockbasis $`(x_n)`$ and an $`r>0`$ the set

$$𝒰((x_n),r)=\{A[]^<\mathrm{}:P_{[x_n:nA]}r\},$$

where $`P_{[x_n:nA]}:[x_n:n][x_n:nA]`$ is the defined to be the usual projection onto $`[x_n:nA]`$.

Now, does it follow that any block basis $`(x_n)`$ has a subsequence $`(z_n)`$ for which $`\text{CBS}(𝒰((z_n),r))\gamma `$ for some $`r>0`$?

The result cited from \[O2\] gives a positive answer if $`\gamma =\omega `$ and the result cited from \[AMT\] gives a positive answer if we replaced in the assumption $`c((e_n),(x_n),\gamma )`$ by $`b((x_n),\gamma )`$.

To be able to prove Theorem 1.4 we will introduce in Section 3 a family $`(_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ of subsets of $`[]<\mathrm{}`$, having the property that for each $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ the strong Cantor Bendixson index is $`\alpha +1`$ (see Corollary4.9). The family $`(_\alpha )`$ is defined in a similar fashion as the Schreier families $`(𝒮_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ \[AA\], with one crucial difference: one obtains $`_{\alpha +1}`$ from $`_\alpha `$ by adding to each element of $`A_\alpha `$ at most one new element, therefore the step from $`_\alpha `$ to $`_{\alpha +1}`$ is much smaller than the step from $`𝒮_\alpha `$ to $`𝒮_{\alpha +1}`$.

Feeling that this family $`(_\alpha )`$ could be an important tool to analyse the combinatorics of blockbases we extensively discuss the properties of this family in the Sections 3, 4 and 5, in particular we prove a result which, roughly speaking, says that any hereditary set $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ restricted to some appropriate $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ is equal to “a version of $`_\alpha `$” (see Theorem 4.10). Based on this result we will be able to prove Theorem 1.4 in Section 6.

We will need the following notations and conventions.

For simplicity all our Banach spaces are considered to be over the field $``$. If $`X`$ is a Banach space $`B_X`$ and $`S_X`$ denotes the unit ball and the unit sphere respectively.

$`\text{c}_{00}`$ denotes the vectorspace of sequences in $``$ which eventually vanish and $`(e_i)`$ denotes the usual vector basis of $`\text{c}_{00}`$ and when we consider a Banach space $`X`$ with a normalized basis, we think of $`X`$ being the completion of some norm on $`\text{c}_{00}`$ with $`(e_i)`$ being that basis. For $`x=x_ie_i\text{c}_{00}`$ we let $`\text{supp}(x)=\{i:x_i0\}`$ be the support of $`x`$ and if $`E`$ we let $`E(x)=_{iE}x_ie_i`$.

We say that a basic sequence $`(x_n)`$ dominates another basic sequence $`(y_n)`$ if the map $`x_ny_n`$ extends to a linear bounded map between the span of $`(x_n)`$ and the span of $`(y_n)`$, i.e. if the there is a $`c>0`$ so that for all $`(a_i)\text{c}_{00}`$ $`_{i=1}^na_iy_ic_{i=1}^na_ix_i`$.

We say that $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ are $`c`$-equivalent, $`c1`$ and we write $`(x_n)_c(y_n)`$ if for any $`(a_i)\text{c}_{00}`$ it follows that $`\frac{1}{c}_{i=1}^na_ix_i_{i=1}^na_iy_ic_{i=1}^na_ix_i`$.

The closed linear span of a subsequence $`(x_n)_n`$ of a Banach space is denoted by $`[x_n:n]`$.

Let $`E`$ be a Banach space with a 1-spreading basis $`(e_i)`$, i.e.

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{}}a_ie_i=\underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{}}a_ie_{n_i},\text{ whenever }m\text{}(a_i)_{i=1}^m\text{ and }n_1<n_2<\mathrm{}n_m\text{ are in },$$

and let $`(x_n)`$ be a seminormalized basic sequence. We say that $`(e_i)`$ is the spreading model of $`(x_n)`$ if for any $`k`$ and any $`(a_i)_{i=1}^k`$ it follows that

$$\underset{n_1\mathrm{}}{lim}\underset{n_2\mathrm{}}{lim}\mathrm{}\underset{n_k\mathrm{}}{lim}\underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}a_ix_{n_i}=\underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}a_ie_i.$$

Recall \[BL\] that any seminormalized basic sequence has a subsequence with spreading model and that, using our notations in Definition 1.2, a seminormalized sequence $`(x_n)`$ has a subsequence whose spreading model is isomorphic to $`(e_i)`$ if and only if $`c((x_n),(e_i),\omega )<\mathrm{})`$.

For a set $`M`$ the set of all finite subsets of $`M`$ is denoted by $`[M]^<\mathrm{}`$ and the set of all infinite subsets is denoted by $`[M]^{\mathrm{}}`$. We write $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N`$ if M is an infinite subset of $`N`$.

###### Definition 1.6.

(Mixed Schreier and Tsirelson spaces)

For an hereditary, spreading and compact subset $``$ of $`[]^<\mathrm{}`$ containing all singletons of $`[]^<\mathrm{}`$ we define the $``$-Schreier space $`S()`$ to be the completion of $`\text{c}_{00}`$ under the norm defined by

($`S()`$)
$$x=\underset{E}{sup}\underset{iE}{}|x_i|,\text{ whenever }x=(x_i)\text{c}_{00}.$$

Let $`(_n)_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ be an increasing sequence of hereditary, spreading and compact subsets of $`[]^<\mathrm{}`$ and let $`(\mathrm{\Theta }_n)(0,1]`$ be a non increasing sequence. The mixed Schreier space  $`S((\mathrm{\Theta }_n),(_n))`$ is the completion of $`\text{c}_{00}`$ under the norm defined by

($`S((\mathrm{\Theta }_n),(_n))`$)
$$x=\underset{n}{sup}\underset{E_n}{sup}\mathrm{\Theta }_n\underset{iE}{}|x_i|,\text{ whenever }x=(x_i)\text{c}_{00}.$$

If in addition $`(\mathrm{}_n)_n`$ is a sequence in $``$ increasing to $`\mathrm{}`$, we define the mixed Schreier space with the additional admissibility condition given by $`(\mathrm{}_n)_n`$ to be the space $`S((\mathrm{\Theta }_n),(_n),(\mathrm{}_n))`$ with the following norm

($`S((\mathrm{\Theta }_n),(_n),(\mathrm{}_n))`$)
$$x=\underset{n}{sup}\underset{\mathrm{}_n\mathrm{min}E,E_n}{sup}\mathrm{\Theta }_n\underset{iE}{}|x_i|,\text{ whenever }x=(x_i)\text{c}_{00}.$$

If $``$ of $`[]^<\mathrm{}`$ is hereditary, spreading and compact, and if $`E_1<E_2<\mathrm{}E_{\mathrm{}}`$ are in $``$, we say that $`(E_i)_{i=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ is $``$-admissible if $`\{\mathrm{min}E_i:i=1,2\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\}`$. The mixed Tsirelson space  $`T((\mathrm{\Theta }_n),(_n))`$ is the completion of $`\text{c}_{00}`$ under the norm which is implicitly defined by

($`T((\mathrm{\Theta }_n),(_n))`$)
$$x=\mathrm{max}\{\underset{n}{sup}|x_n|,\underset{n}{sup}\underset{(E_i)_{i=1}^n\text{ }_n\text{-adm.}}{sup}\mathrm{\Theta }_n\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}E_i(x)\}\text{ for }x=(x_i)\text{c}_{00}$$

A finitely mixed Tsirelson space  is a space $`T((\mathrm{\Theta }_n),(_n))`$ where $`(\mathrm{\Theta }_n)(0,1]`$ and $`(_n)`$ are finite sequences.

## 2. Conditions on the spreading models implying the existence of nontrivial operators

###### Definition 2.1.

For two normalized basic sequences $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ and an $`\epsilon >0`$ we define

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_{((x_n),(y_n))}(\epsilon )=sup\{a_iy_i:(a_i)\text{c}_{00},\underset{i}{\mathrm{max}}|a_i|\epsilon ,\text{ and }a_ix_i1\}.$$

We say that $`(x_n)`$ strongly dominates  $`(y_n)`$ if

(12) $`\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}\underset{A,\mathrm{\#}A=n}{inf}{\displaystyle \underset{iA}{}}x_i=\mathrm{}\text{ and}`$
(13) $`\underset{\epsilon 0}{lim}\mathrm{\Delta }_{((x_n),(y_n))}(\epsilon )=0.`$
###### Remark.

Assume $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ are two normalized basic sequences.

1. If $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{((x_n),(y_n))}(\epsilon )<\mathrm{}`$ for some $`\epsilon >0`$ (and thus for all $`\epsilon >0`$) then $`(x_n)`$ dominates $`(y_n)`$, i.e. the map $`x_ny_n`$ extends to a bounded linear operator.
2. Note that in the case that $`(x_n)`$ is subsymmetric condition (12) means that $`(x_n)`$ is not equivalent to the $`\text{c}_0`$ unit vector basis.
3. No normalized basic sequence strongly dominates the unit vector basis in $`\mathrm{}_1`$.

We will need the following result by E. Odell on Schreier unconditionality.

###### Theorem 2.2.

\[O2\] Let $`(x_n)`$ be a normalized weakly null sequence in a Banach space and $`\eta >0`$. Then $`(x_n)`$ contains a subsequence $`(\stackrel{~}{x}_n)`$ so that

$$(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00}F,\mathrm{min}F\mathrm{\#}F:\underset{iF}{}\alpha _i\stackrel{~}{x}_i(2+\eta )\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\alpha _i\stackrel{~}{x}_i.$$

If $`(x_n)`$ is a bimonotone sequence above factor $`(2+\eta )`$ could be replaced by $`(1+\eta )`$.

###### Remark.

Assume that $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ are normalized basic sequence, that $`(x_n)`$ strongly dominates $`(y_n)`$ and that either $`(x_n)`$ is weakly null or 1-subsymmetric.

By passing to subsequences (of $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ simultaneously) we can assume that $`(x_n)`$ has a spreading model $`(e_i)`$ and that the conclusion of Theorem 2.2 holds, i.e. that

(14)
$$\underset{iF}{}\alpha _ie_i_2\underset{iF}{}\alpha _ix_i3\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\alpha _ix_i$$

for all $`(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00}`$ and finite $`F`$, with $`\mathrm{min}F\mathrm{\#}F`$.

Since $`(x_n)`$ satisfies (12) $`(e_n)`$ cannot be equivalent to the $`c_0`$-unit basis and we deduce therefore that

(15)
$$c_n=\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}e_i\mathrm{}.$$

We define now the following basic sequence $`(\stackrel{~}{y})`$ which dominates $`(y_n)`$ by

(16)
$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\alpha _i\stackrel{~}{y}_i=\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\alpha _iy_i+\underset{n}{\mathrm{max}}\frac{1}{\sqrt{c_n}}\underset{k_1<\mathrm{}k_n}{\mathrm{max}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\alpha _{k_i}e_i\text{ whenever }(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00}.$$

###### Proposition 2.3.

Using the assumptions and notations as in above Remark it follows that

1. $`(x_n)`$ strongly dominates $`(\stackrel{~}{y}_n)`$.
2. For $`\eta >0`$ it follows that

$$\mathrm{}_\eta =\{\mathrm{\#}\{i:|\alpha _i|\eta \}:(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00},\alpha _i\stackrel{~}{y}_i1\}<\mathrm{}.$$

###### Proof.

In order to show (a) let $`\eta >0`$. Since $`(x_n)`$ strongly dominates $`(y_n)`$ we can choose an $`\epsilon ^{}>0`$ so that $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{((x_n),(y_n))}(\epsilon ^{})<\eta /2`$. Secondly we choose $`n_0`$ so that $`1/\sqrt{c_{n_0}}<\eta /12`$ and we let $`\epsilon =\mathrm{min}(\epsilon ^{},\eta /2n_0)`$.

If $`(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00}`$ with $`\alpha _ix_i1`$ and $`\mathrm{max}|\alpha _i|\epsilon `$ we deduce for $`n`$, with $`nn_0`$, that

$$\frac{1}{\sqrt{c}_n}\underset{nk_1<\mathrm{}k_n}{\mathrm{max}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\alpha _ie_in\epsilon \eta /2.$$

If $`n`$, with $`nn_0`$, we deduce from (14) that

$$\frac{1}{\sqrt{c_n}}\underset{nk_1<\mathrm{}k_n}{\mathrm{max}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\alpha _{k_i}e_i\frac{2}{\sqrt{c_n}}\underset{nk_1<\mathrm{}k_n}{\mathrm{max}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\alpha _{k_i}x_i\frac{6}{\sqrt{c_n}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\alpha _ix_i\eta /2,$$

which together with the choice of $`\epsilon ^{}`$ implies that $`\alpha _i\stackrel{~}{y}_ieta`$ and finishes the proof of the claim in (a).

To show (b), let $`(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00}`$ so that $`\alpha _i\stackrel{~}{y}_i1`$ and let $`\eta >0`$. We put $`I=\{i:\alpha _i>\eta \}`$ and let $`I^{}`$ the set of the $`\mathrm{\#}I/2`$ largest elements of $`I`$. Note that $`\mathrm{\#}I^{}\mathrm{min}I`$ which implies by our definition of $`(\stackrel{~}{y}_n)`$ and the fact that $`(e_i)`$ suppression 1-unconditional (thus 2-unconditional) that

$`1{\displaystyle \alpha _i\stackrel{~}{y}_i}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{c_{\mathrm{\#}I^{}}}}}{\displaystyle \underset{iI^{}}{}}\alpha _ie_i{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\sqrt{c_{\mathrm{\#}I^{}}}}}{\displaystyle \underset{iI^{}}{}}\eta e_i\eta \sqrt{c_{\mathrm{\#}I^{}}}/2,`$
which implies that $`\mathrm{}_\eta 2\mathrm{max}\{n:\sqrt{c_n}2/\eta \}`$ and finishes the claim (b).

Finally, (c) follows easily from (b). ∎

###### Lemma 2.4.

Let $`(e_i)`$ be a suppression 1-unconditional, 1-subsymmetric and normalized basis.

For a normalized, basic and weakly null sequence $`(y_n)`$ the following statements are equivalent.

1. $`(y_n)`$ has a subsequence $`(z_n)`$ which is strongly dominated by $`(e_i)`$.
2. $`(y_n)`$ has a subsequence $`(z_n)`$ having a spreading model $`(f_i)`$ which is strongly dominated by $`(e_i)`$.
3. $`(y_n)`$ has a subsequence $`(z_n)`$ for which there is a sequence $`(\delta _n)(0,\mathrm{})`$, with $`\delta _n0`$, if $`n\mathrm{}`$, so that

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\alpha _iz_i\underset{n}{\mathrm{max}}\delta _n\underset{j_1<j_2<\mathrm{}j_n}{\mathrm{max}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i,\text{ whenever }(\alpha _j)\text{c}_{00}\text{}$$
4. $`(y_n)`$ has a subsequence $`(z_n)`$ for which there is a sequence $`(\epsilon _n)(0,\mathrm{})`$,with $`\epsilon _n0`$, if $`n\mathrm{}`$, and a subsequence $`(\mathrm{}_n)`$ of $``$ so that

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\alpha _iz_i\underset{n}{\mathrm{max}}\epsilon _n\underset{nj_1<j_2<\mathrm{}j_\mathrm{}_n}{\mathrm{max}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}_n}{}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i,\text{ whenever }(\alpha _j)\text{c}_{00}\text{.}$$

###### Proof.

(a)$``$(b) Assume $`(z_n)`$ is a subsequence of $`(y_n)`$ which is strongly dominated by $`(e_i)`$. By passing to a further subsequence we can assume that $`(z_n)`$ has a spreading model $`(f_i)`$, being subsymmetric. If $`\epsilon >0`$ and $`(\alpha _i)_{i=1}^k`$, with $`(\alpha _i)_{\mathrm{}}\epsilon `$, and $`_{i=1}^k\alpha _ie_i1`$ it follows that

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}\alpha _if_i=\underset{n_1\mathrm{}}{lim}\mathrm{}\underset{n_k\mathrm{}}{lim}\underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}\alpha _iy_{n_i}\mathrm{\Delta }_{((e_i),(y_i))}(\epsilon ),$$

which implies (b).

(b)$``$(a) Let $`(f_i)`$ be the spreading model of a subsequence $`(u_i)`$ of $`(y_i)`$. We first note that it is enough to show that for a fixed $`\eta >0`$ we need to find a subsequence $`(v_i)`$ of $`(u_i)`$ and an $`\epsilon =\epsilon (\eta )`$ so that $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{((e_i),(y_i))}(\epsilon )<\eta `$. Then a standard diagonal argument using a sequence $`(\eta _n)`$ decreasing to 0 will show that a subsequence of $`(u_i)`$ is strongly dominated by $`(e_i)`$.

For a fixed $`\eta >0`$ we first choose $`(\epsilon _n)(0,1)`$ so that $`_n\epsilon _nn<\eta /2`$ and so that $`_n\mathrm{\Delta }_{(e_i),(f_i)}(\epsilon _n)<\epsilon /4`$. Since $`(e_n)`$ satisfies condition (12) it follows that $`\mathrm{}_n=\mathrm{min}\{\mathrm{}:_{i=1}^{\mathrm{}}e_i1/\epsilon _{n+1}\}`$ is finite for every $`n`$. By passing again to a subsequence of we can assume that

(17)
$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}_n}{}}\alpha _if_i_2\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}_n}{}}\alpha _iu_{k_i},$$

whenever $`nk_1<k_2<\mathrm{}k_\mathrm{}_n`$ and $`(\alpha _i)_{i=1}^\mathrm{}_n`$.

If $`(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00}`$ with $`\alpha _ie_i1`$ and $`\mathrm{max}_i|\alpha _i|\epsilon _1`$ we deduce that

$`{\displaystyle \alpha _iu_i}`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{i,\epsilon _{n+1}<|\alpha _i|\epsilon _n}{}}\alpha _iu_i{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}n\epsilon _n+{\displaystyle \underset{ni,\epsilon _{n+1}<|\alpha _i|\epsilon _n}{}}\alpha _iu_i`$
$`{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}n\epsilon _n+2{\displaystyle \underset{ni,\epsilon _{n+1}<|\alpha _i|\epsilon _n}{}}\alpha _if_i{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}n\epsilon _n+2\mathrm{\Delta }_{((e_i)(f_i))}(\epsilon _n)<\eta ,`$
(for the third inequality note that since $`\alpha _ie_i1`$ it follows that $`\mathrm{\#}\{i:|\alpha _i|\epsilon _{n+1}\}\mathrm{}_n`$) which finishes the proof of (b)$``$(a).

(a)$``$(c) Assume that $`(y_i)`$ is strongly dominated by $`(e_i)`$. Since we could replace $`(y_n)`$ by $`(\stackrel{~}{y}_n)`$ as in the remark after Theorem 2.2 and apply Proposition 2.3 we can assume that $`(y_n)`$ satisfies the properties (a) and (b) of Proposition 2.3. After a renorming we can also assume that $`(e_i)`$ dominates $`(y_i)`$ with constant 1, i.e. that we have $`\alpha _iy_i\alpha _ie_i`$ for all $`(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00}`$. Choose a strictly to 0 decreasing sequence $`(\epsilon _i)_{i=0}^{\mathrm{}}`$ with $`\epsilon _0=1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{((e_i),(y_i))}(\epsilon _i2^{i+1})2^{i1}/i`$ and define for $`i_0`$

$$K_i=\mathrm{}_{\epsilon _{i+1}}=\mathrm{max}\left\{\mathrm{\#}\{i:|\alpha _i|>\epsilon _{i+1}\}:(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00},\alpha _iy_i1\right\}.$$

Finally, choose for $`i`$ $`\delta _i=2\mathrm{\Delta }_{((e_i),(y_i))}(1)`$ if $`i\{1,2,\mathrm{}K_0\}`$ and $`\delta _i=1/n`$ if $`i\{K_{n1}+1,K_{n1}+2,\mathrm{},K_n\}`$ for some $`n`$.

Assume now that $`(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00}`$ with $`_{i=1}^{\mathrm{}}\alpha _iy_i=1`$. Therefore there must be an $`n_0`$ for which

$$\underset{i,\epsilon _{n+1}<|\alpha _i|\epsilon _n}{}\alpha _iy_i2^{n1}=2^{n1}\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\alpha _iy_i.$$

We deduce that

$`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\alpha _iy_i`$ $`2^{n+1}{\displaystyle \underset{i,\epsilon _{n+1}<|\alpha _i|\epsilon _n}{}}\alpha _iy_i`$
$`=2^{n+1}{\displaystyle \underset{i,\epsilon _{n+1}<|\alpha _i|\epsilon _n}{}}\alpha _ie_i{\displaystyle \underset{i,\epsilon _{n+1}<|\alpha _i|\epsilon _n}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha _i}{c}}y_i`$
$`\left[\text{ with }c=_{i,\epsilon _{n+1}<|\alpha _i|\epsilon _n}\alpha _ie_i\right]`$
$`2^{n+1}{\displaystyle \underset{i,\epsilon _{n+1}<|\alpha _i|\epsilon _n}{}}\alpha _ie_i\mathrm{\Delta }_{((e_i)(y_i))}(\epsilon _n2^{n+1})`$
$`\left[\text{Note that }c=_{i,\epsilon _{n+1}<|\alpha _i|\epsilon _n}\alpha _ie_i_{i,\epsilon _{n+1}<|\alpha _i|\epsilon _n}\alpha _iy_i2^{n1}\right]`$
$`\underset{j_1<j_2<\mathrm{}j_{K_n}}{\mathrm{max}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{K_n}{}}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i\{\begin{array}{cc}2\mathrm{\Delta }_{((e_i),(y_i))}(1)\hfill & \text{if }n=0\hfill \\ 1/n\hfill & \text{if }n1\hfill \end{array}`$
$`\left[\text{by choice of }K_n\right]`$
$`=\delta _{K_n}\underset{j_1<j_2<\mathrm{}<j_{K_n}}{\mathrm{max}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{K_n}{}}}\alpha j_ie_i\underset{k}{\mathrm{max}}\delta _k\underset{j_1<j_2<\mathrm{}<j_k}{\mathrm{max}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}}\alpha j_ie_i.`$
which concludes this part of the proof.

(c)$``$(d) Let $`(z_n)`$ and $`(\delta _n)`$ be given as in (c). For $`k`$, we let $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_k=\mathrm{max}\{\mathrm{}:\delta _{\mathrm{}}>2^{k^2}\}`$.

We can assume that $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_kk`$, by passing to a slower decreasing sequence $`\stackrel{~}{\delta }_k`$, if necessary. We also can assume that $`(x_i)`$ is a monoton basis.

Then it follows from (c) for $`(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00}`$ that there is an $`\mathrm{}`$ so that

$`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\alpha _iz_i`$ $`\delta _{\mathrm{}}\underset{j_1<j_2<\mathrm{}j_{\mathrm{}}}{\mathrm{max}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i`$
$`\{\begin{array}{cc}\delta _1\mathrm{max}_{j_1<j_2<\mathrm{}j_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_1}}_{i=1}^{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_1}\alpha _{j_i}e_i\hfill & \text{if }\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_1\hfill \\ & \\ 2^{k^2}\mathrm{max}_{j_1<j_2<\mathrm{}j_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}}}_{i=1}^{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i\hfill & \text{if }\mathrm{}[\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_k+1,\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}]\hfill \\ & \text{for some }k\text{.}\hfill \end{array}`$
Therefore the claim follows in the case that $`\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_1`$ if we put $`\epsilon _1=\delta _1`$ and $`\mathrm{}_1=\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_1`$. If $`\mathrm{}>\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_1`$ we can find a $`k`$ so that

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\alpha _iz_i2^{k^2}\underset{j_1<j_2<\mathrm{}j_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}}}{\mathrm{max}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}}{}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i\text{ and}\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\alpha _iy_i>2^{(k1)^2}\underset{i=1}{\overset{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_k}{}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i.$$

Thus we conclude

$`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\alpha _iz_i`$ $`2^{k^2}\left[\underset{j_1<j_2<\mathrm{}j_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}}}{\mathrm{max}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=k}{\overset{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}}{}}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i+{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{k1}{}}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i\right]`$
$`2^{k^2}\left[\underset{j_1<j_2<\mathrm{}j_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}}}{\mathrm{max}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=k}{\overset{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}}{}}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i+{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_k}{}}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i\right]`$
$`2^{k^2}\underset{kj_1<j_2<\mathrm{}j_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}}}{\mathrm{max}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}}{}}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i+2^{k^2}2^{(k1)^2}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\alpha _iz_i.`$
which implies that

$`\left[12^{k^2}2^{(k1)^2}\right]{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\alpha _iz_i2^{k^2}\underset{kj_1<j_2<\mathrm{}j_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}}}{\mathrm{max}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}}{}}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i.`$
and finishes the proof of our claimed implication if we choose $`\epsilon _k=2^{k^2}/[12^{k^2}2^{(k1)^2}]`$ and $`\mathrm{}_k=\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{k+1}`$.

(d)$``$(a) Assume $`(z_n)`$, $`(\epsilon _n)`$ and $`(\mathrm{}_n)`$ are chosen as required in (d). Let $`\eta >0`$, choose $`n_0`$ so that $`\epsilon _{n_0}\eta /2`$ and choose $`\epsilon <\eta /2n_0`$.

If now $`(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00}`$, $`\mathrm{max}_i|\alpha _i|<\epsilon `$, and $`\alpha _ie_i1`$ then it follows from condition (d) that

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\alpha _iz_i\underset{n,nj_1<\mathrm{}j_\mathrm{}_n}{\mathrm{max}}\epsilon _n\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}_n}{}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i\eta n_0+\underset{nn_0,nj_1<\mathrm{}j_\mathrm{}_n}{\mathrm{max}}\epsilon _n\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}_n}{}}\alpha _{j_i}e_i<\eta ,$$

which implies that $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{(e_i),(z_i)}(\epsilon )<\eta `$ and proves the claim and finishes the proof of the Lemma. ∎

###### Proof of Theorem 1.1.

Using Lemma 2.4 (c)$``$(a) for the sequences $`(f_i)`$ and $`(e_i)`$ and then Lemma 2.4 (b)$``$(a) for the sequences $`(y_i)`$ and $`(e_i)`$ we can assume, by passing to a subsequence of $`(y_n)`$ if necessary, that $`(e_i)`$ strongly dominates $`(y_i)`$ and by passing to the sequence $`(\stackrel{~}{y}_n)`$ as defined in the remark after Theorem 2.2 we can assume that (a) and (b) of Proposition 2.3 are satisfied.

Using Lemma 2.4 we can again pass to a subsequence, still denoted by $`(y_n)`$ for which we find sequences $`(\stackrel{~}{\delta }_n)(0,\mathrm{})`$ and $`\mathrm{}_n`$, with $`\delta _n0`$ and $`\mathrm{}_n\mathrm{}`$ for $`n\mathrm{}`$, so that

$$\alpha _iy_i\frac{1}{2}\underset{k}{\mathrm{max}}\stackrel{~}{\delta }_k\underset{kn_1<n_2<\mathrm{}n_k}{\mathrm{max}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}\alpha _{n_i}e_i,\text{ whenever }(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00}\text{.}$$

By using Theorem 2.2 and passing to a subsequence of $`(x_n)`$, if necessary, we can assume that

(18)
$$\alpha _iy_i\underset{k}{\mathrm{max}}\delta _k\underset{kn_1<n_2<\mathrm{}n_k}{\mathrm{max}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}\alpha _{n_i}x_{n_i}3\alpha _ix_i$$

whenever $`(\alpha _i)\text{c}_{00}`$. Thus $`(x_n)`$ dominates $`(y_n)`$ and in order to show that the formal identity $`I:x_ny_n`$ extends to a strictly singular operator, let $`(u_n)`$ be a seminormalized block of $`(x_n)`$, write $`u_n`$, for $`n`$ as

$$u_n=\underset{i=k_{n1}+1}{\overset{k_n}{}}\alpha _i^{(n)}x_i,\text{ and let }v_n=I(u_n)\underset{i=k_{n1}+1}{\overset{k_n}{}}\alpha _i^{(n)}y_i$$

Using Theorem 2.2 and the fact that $`(e_n)`$ has to satisfy (12), we can assume that
$`lim_n\mathrm{}\mathrm{max}_{k_{n1}<ik_n}|\alpha _i^{(n)}|=0`$, otherwise we could pass to an appropriate seminormalized block of $`(u_n)`$. From (18) we can now easily deduce that $`lim_n\mathrm{}I(u_n)=0`$, which proves that $`I`$ cannot be an isomorphism. ∎

Theorem 1.1 gives a necessary and sufficient condition, for the property that a basic sequence strongly dominates an other one. Of course strong domination is a much stronger condition then domination. Nevertheless, if our goal is to state a condition on the spreading models of the sequences $`(x_n)`$ and $`(y_n)`$ which forces that $`(x_n)`$ dominates $`(y_n)`$ then strong domination of the spreading models is needed as the following remark shows.

###### Remark.

Assume that $`(e_i)`$ and $`(f_i)`$ are two normalized 1-subsymmetric (1-spreading and 1-unconditional) basic sequences, so that $`(e_i)`$ dominates $`(f_i)`$ but does not strongly dominate it. Moreover assume that $`F=[f_i:i]`$ does not contain a subspace isomorphic to $`c_0`$.

We can therefore find for $`n`$ an element $`a^{(n)}=(a_i^{(n)})\text{c}_{00}`$, so that $`\mathrm{max}_i|a_i^{(n)}|0`$ if $`n\mathrm{}`$, and $`c^{},c>0`$ so that

(19)
$$1=\underset{i}{}a_i^{(n)}f_ic\underset{i}{}a_i^{(n)}e_ic^{}.$$

Now we let $`(x_n)`$ be the basis for the Schreier space associated to $`(e_i)`$, i.e. the norm defined by

(20)
$$a_ix_i=\underset{\begin{array}{c}n\\ ni_1<\mathrm{}i_n\end{array}}{\mathrm{max}}\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}a_{i_j}e_j\text{ whenever }(a_i)\text{c}_{00}.$$

As in the original Schreier space (where $`(e_i)`$ is set to be the $`\mathrm{}_1`$-basis) it is easy to see that $`(e_i)`$ is a spreading model of $`(x_i)`$. Let $`(\stackrel{~}{x}_n)`$ be a subsequence of $`(x_n)`$. For $`n`$ define $`m_n=\mathrm{max}\text{supp}(a_i^{(n)})`$ and $`u_n=_{i=1}^{m_n}a_i^{(n)}\stackrel{~}{x}_{m_n+i}`$. Then $`u_nc^{}/c`$ and, again, as in the original Schreier space, we can show that a subsequence of $`u_n`$ is equivalent to the $`c_0`$-unit basis. Since $`F`$ does not contain a copy of $`c_0`$ we deduce that the map $`\stackrel{~}{x}_nf_n`$ can not be extended to a linear bounded operator.

In general the condition that a subsymmetric and normalized basis $`(e_i)`$ strongly dominates another basis $`(f_i)`$ is much stronger than the condition that $`(e_i)`$ dominates $`(f_i)`$ without $`(e_i)`$ being equivalent to $`(f_i)`$. But in the case of $`E=\mathrm{}_1`$, we have the following.

###### Proposition 2.5.

Assume $`(y_n)`$ is a normalized basic weakly null sequence.

$`(y_n)`$ has a subsequence which is strongly dominated by $`\mathrm{}_1`$ if and only if $`(y_n)`$ has a subsequence whose spreading model is not equivalent to the unit vector basis of $`\mathrm{}_1`$.

###### Proof.

By Lemma 2.4 it follows immediately that $`(y_n)`$ is not strongly dominated by $`\mathrm{}_1`$ if it has a subsequence whose spreading model is equivalent to the unit vector basis of $`\mathrm{}_1`$.

To show the converse we need to show by Lemma2.4 that if a 1-subsymmetric basis $`(f_i)`$ is not strongly dominated by $`\mathrm{}_1`$ then $`(f_i)`$ is equivalent to the unit vector basis of $`\mathrm{}_1`$.

Let $`f_n^{}`$, $`n`$, be the coordinate functionals on $`F`$. Then $`(f_n^{})`$ is a 1-subsymmetric basis of the closed linear span of $`(f_n^{})`$.

By assumption there is a $`\delta _0>0`$ and to for each $`n`$ a sequence $`y_n=_{i=1}^{\mathrm{}}a_i^{(n)}f_i[f_i:i]`$ with $`0a_i^{(n)}<1/n`$, for $`i`$, $`_{i=1}^{\mathrm{}}a_i^{(n)}=1`$, and $`_{i=1}^{\mathrm{}}a_i^{(n)}f_i\delta _0`$.

For each $`n`$ choose $`y_n^{}=_{i=1}^{\mathrm{}}\beta _i^{(n)}f_i^{}[f_i^{}:i]`$ with $`0\beta _i^{(n)}`$, for $`i`$, $`_{i=1}^{\mathrm{}}\beta _i^{(n)}f_i^{}=1`$, and $`y_n^{}(y_n)=_{i=1}^{\mathrm{}}a_i^{(n)}\beta _i^{(n)}\delta _0/2`$.

Letting $`c_n=\mathrm{\#}\{i:\beta _i^{(n)}\delta _0/4\}`$, $`n=1,2\mathrm{}`$ it follows from the conditions on $`(a_i^{(n)})`$ that

$$\delta _0/2\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_i^{(n)}\beta _i^{(n)}c_n\frac{1}{n}+\delta _0/4,$$

thus $`c_n\frac{n\delta _0}{4}`$. Since $`(f^{}n)`$ is 1-subsymmetric it follows for all $`k`$ that $`\frac{\delta _0}{4}_{i=1}^kf_i^{}1`$ and thus that $`f_i^{}`$ is equivalent to unit basis of c<sub>0</sub>, from which we finally deduce that $`(f_i)`$ is equivalent to the $`\mathrm{}_1`$-basis. ∎

The following proposition describes another situation in which Theorem 1.1 applies. Its proof can be compiled from the techniques in \[AOST\], Section 3. Nevertheless, the proof is still quite technical, and since Theorem 1.4 provides a generalization, we will not give a proof here. Before we can state the result we need the following Definition from \[AOST\].

###### Definition 2.6.

Let $`(x_i)`$ be a 1-subsymmetric basic sequence. The Krivine set of $`(x_i)`$ is the set of $`p`$’s $`(1p\mathrm{})`$ with the following property: For all $`\epsilon >0`$ and $`n`$ there exists $`m`$ and $`(\lambda _k)_{k=1}^m`$, such that for all $`(a_i)_1^n`$,

$$\frac{1}{1+\epsilon }(a_i)_{i=1}^n_p\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}a_iy_i(1+\epsilon )(a_i)_{i=1}^n_p,\text{ where}$$

$$y_i=\underset{k=1}{\overset{m}{}}\lambda _kx_{(i1)m+k}\text{for}i=1,\mathrm{},n$$

and $`_p`$ denotes the norm of the space $`\mathrm{}_p`$.

The proof of Krivine’s theorem \[K\] as modified by Lemberg \[Le\] (see also \[Gu\], remark II.5.14), shows that for every 1-subsymmetric basic sequence $`(x_i)`$ the Krivine set of $`(x_i)`$ is non-empty. It is important to note that our definition of a Krivine $`p`$ requires not merely that $`\mathrm{}_p`$ be block finitely representable in $`[x_i]`$ but each $`\mathrm{}_p^n`$ unit vector basis is obtainable by means of an identically distributed block basis.

###### Proposition 2.7.

Assume $`X`$ is a Banach space containing a normalized basic sequence $`(x_n)`$ which has a spreading model $`(e_i)`$ which is not equivalent to the $`\mathrm{}_1`$-unit vector basis, but whose Krivine set contains the number 1.

Then there is a normalized basic sequence $`(z_n)`$ in $`X`$ which strongly dominates $`(x_n)`$.

## 3. The transfinite family $`(_\alpha )`$ and some of its basic properties

In this section we discuss a well ordered family $`(_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega }`$ of subsets of the finite subsets of $``$. Its definition is similar to the definition of the Schreier family $`(S_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega }`$ \[AA\]. The Schreier set of order $`\alpha `$, $`S_\alpha `$, corresponds to our set $`_{\omega ^\alpha }`$, in the sense that they have the same Cantor Bendixson index.

For every limit ordinal $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ we consider a sequence of sets $`(A_n(\alpha ))_n`$ so that for each $`n`$ $`A_n(\alpha )`$ is a finite subset of $`[0,\alpha )`$ and

(21)
$$A_n(\alpha )A_{n+1}(\alpha )\text{ for, }n\text{, and}\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}\mathrm{max}A_n(\alpha )=\alpha .$$

We call $`(A_n(\alpha ))_n`$ the sequence approximating $`\alpha `$. If for every limit ordinal $`\alpha <\omega `$ (we write $`\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)`$) $`(A_n(\alpha ))_n`$ is a sequence approximating $`\alpha `$, we call the family $`(A_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$ an approximating family.

Given an approximating family $`(A_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$ the sets $`_\alpha []^<\mathrm{}`$, $`\alpha <\omega _1`$, are defined by transfinite recursion as follows

(22)
$$_0=\{\mathrm{}\}.$$

Assuming for some $`0<\alpha <\omega _1`$ the sets $`_\beta []^<\mathrm{}`$, with $`\beta <\alpha `$, are already defined we proceed as follows.

(23) $`_\alpha `$ $`=\{\{n\}E:n,E_\beta \}\{\mathrm{}\}\text{ if }\alpha =\beta +1\text{ and}`$
(24) $`_\alpha `$ $`=\{E[]^<\mathrm{}:E{\displaystyle \underset{\beta A_{\mathrm{min}E}(\alpha )}{}}_\beta \}\text{ if }\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)`$
We say that the transfinite family $`(_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega }`$ is defined by the approximating family
$`(A_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$.

We first state some elementary properties of our family $`(_\alpha )`$.

###### Proposition 3.1.

Assume that $`(_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ is the transfinite family associated to an approximating family $`(A_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$.

1. For $`\alpha <\omega _1`$, $`_\alpha `$ is hereditary, spreading and compact in $`[]^<\mathrm{}`$.
2. For $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ it follows that

$`_{\alpha +1}`$ $`=\{\{n\}E:n,n<\mathrm{min}E,\text{ and }E_\alpha \}\{\mathrm{}\}`$
$`=\{E[]^<\mathrm{}:E\mathrm{},E\{\mathrm{min}E\}_\alpha \}\{\mathrm{}\}.`$
3. For $`\alpha \beta <\omega _1`$ there is an $`m`$ so that

$$_\alpha \left[\{m,m+1,\mathrm{}\}\right]^<\mathrm{}_\beta \left[\{m,m+1,\mathrm{}\}\right]^<\mathrm{}.$$

###### Proof.

We can prove (a) by transfinite induction for all $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ while (b) follows from the fact that $`_\alpha `$ is hereditary and spreading.

To show (c) we fix $`\alpha `$ and prove the claim by transfinite induction for all $`\beta >\alpha `$. Assuming the claim is true for all $`\gamma <\beta `$. If $`\beta =\gamma +1`$ the claim follows since $`_\gamma _{\gamma +1}`$. If $`\beta `$ is a limit ordinal and if $`(A_n(\beta ))`$ is its approximating sequence we proceed as follows.

First we choose $`n`$ so that $`\beta ^{(n)}=\mathrm{max}A_n(\beta ))>\alpha `$, and, using the induction hypothesis we can find an $`\mathrm{}`$ so that

$$_\alpha [\{\mathrm{},\mathrm{}+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}_{\beta ^{(n)}}[\{\mathrm{},\mathrm{}+1\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}.$$

Secondly we observe from the definition of $`_\beta `$ it follows that

$$_{\beta ^{(n)}}[\{n,n+1\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}_\beta [\{n,n+1\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}.$$

Therefore the claim follows by choosing $`m=\mathrm{max}\{\mathrm{},n\}`$. ∎

In the definition of approximating families we allow the sets $`A_n(\alpha )`$ to have more than one element, contrary to the definition of the Schreier families (see \[AA\]), because we want to ensure that the transfinite families are directed.

###### Proposition 3.2.

Assume for every $`k`$ $`(A_n^{(k)}(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$ is an approximating family defining the transfinite family $`(_\alpha ^{(k)})_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$.

For each $`k`$, $`n`$ and $`\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)`$ define $`B_n^{(k)}(\alpha )=_{i=1}^kA_n^{(i)}(\alpha )`$ and let $`𝒢_\alpha ^{(k)}`$, $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ be defined using the approximating family $`(B_n^{(k)}(\alpha ))`$.

Further more define for $`n`$ and $`\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)`$ $`B_n(\alpha )=_{i=1}^nA_n^{(i)}(\alpha )`$ and let $`(𝒢_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ be the transfinite family defined by $`(B_n(\alpha ))`$.

Then it follows for all $`\alpha <\omega _1`$

1. $`_{i=1}^k_\alpha ^{(i)}𝒢_\alpha ^{(k)}`$ for $`k`$.
2. For all $`k`$ it follows that $`_\alpha ^{(k)}[\{k,k+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_\alpha `$.

###### Proof.

By transfinite induction. ∎

###### Definition 3.3.

Let $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ and $`N=\{n_i:i\}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$, $`n_i\mathrm{}`$, if $`i\mathrm{}`$.

1. We call the set $`𝒜[N]^<\mathrm{}`$ the restriction of $`𝒜`$ onto $`N`$.
2. We call the family $`𝒜^N=\{\{n_i:iE\}:E𝒜\}`$ the spreading of $`𝒜`$ onto $`N`$.

Using the definition of $`(_\alpha )`$, we obtain the following recursive description of $`_\alpha ^N`$.

###### Proposition 3.4.

Assume $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$, $`N=(n_i)`$, $`n_i\mathrm{}`$ and $`\alpha <\omega _1`$. Then

1. If $`\alpha =\beta +1`$

$`_\alpha ^N`$ $`=\{\{n\}F:nN\text{ and }F_\beta ^N\}\{\mathrm{}\}`$
$`=\{F[N]^<\mathrm{}\{\mathrm{}\}:F\{\mathrm{min}F\}_\beta \}\{\mathrm{}\}.`$
2. If $`\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)`$ and $`(A_n(\alpha ))`$ is the sequence approximating $`\alpha `$, then

$$_\alpha ^N=\{F[N]^<\mathrm{}:F\underset{\beta A_{\mathrm{min}\{i:n_iF\}}(\alpha )}{}_\beta ^N\}.$$

###### Proposition 3.5.

Assume $`M,N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ and $`m_0`$ so that

1. $`\mathrm{\#}(M[1,m_0])\mathrm{\#}(N[1,m_0])`$
2. $`M[m_0,\mathrm{})N[m_0,\mathrm{})`$

Then it follows for $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ that $`_\alpha ^M[\{m_0,m_0+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}_\alpha ^N[\{m_0,m_0+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}`$.

###### Proof.

We prove the claim by transfinite induction on $`\alpha <\omega _1`$, using at each inductionstep Proposition 3.4 (a) or (b). ∎

###### Proposition 3.6.

If $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$, $`N=(n_i)`$, $`n_i\mathrm{}`$, and $`\beta <\alpha <\omega _1`$ then there is an $`\mathrm{}`$ so that

$$_\beta ^{\{n_i:i\mathrm{}\}}_\alpha ^N.$$

###### Proof.

Using Proposition 3.1 (c) we can choose $`\mathrm{}`$ so that $`_\beta [\{\mathrm{},\mathrm{}+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}_\alpha [\{\mathrm{},\mathrm{}+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}`$. Thus it follows (for the first ”$``$” recall that $`_\beta `$ is spreading)

$`_\beta ^{\{n_i:i\mathrm{}\}}`$ $`=\{\{n_{i+\mathrm{}1}:iE\}:E_\beta \}\{\{n_j:jE\}:E_\beta ,\text{ and }E\mathrm{}\}`$
$`\{\{n_j:jE\}:E_\alpha ,\text{ and }E\mathrm{}\}_\alpha ^N,`$
which finishes the proof.∎

###### Proposition 3.7.

Assume that $`(A_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$ and $`(B_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$ are two approximating families defining the transfinite families $`(_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ and $`(𝒢_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ respectively. For $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ and $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ there is an $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N`$ so that $`𝒢_\alpha ^M_\alpha `$.

###### Proof.

We proof the claim by transfinite induction on $`\alpha <\omega _1`$. Assume that the claim is true for all $`\beta <\alpha `$. If $`\alpha `$ is a successor it follows immediately that the claim is true for $`\alpha `$.

Assume $`\alpha =sup_{\gamma <\alpha }\gamma =sup_n\mathrm{max}B_n(\alpha )=sup_n\mathrm{max}A_n(\alpha )`$.

Using Proposition 3.1(c) we can choose an $`m_i`$ for each $`i`$ , so that for all $`\gamma B_i(\alpha )`$ it follows that $`_\gamma [\{m_i,m_i+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}_\alpha .`$

Secondly, using the induction hypothesis, we can find $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}M_1\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}M_2\mathrm{}`$ so that for all $`k`$ and all $`\gamma B_k(\alpha )`$ it follows that $`𝒢_\gamma ^{M_k}_\gamma `$. Since we can make sure that $`\mathrm{min}M_km_k`$, for $`k`$, it follows that $`𝒢_\gamma ^{M_k}_\alpha `$ for all $`k`$ and $`\gamma B_k(\alpha )`$. If we finally let $`M`$ be a diagonal sequence of the $`M_i`$’s we deduce the claim from Proposition 3.5. ∎

From the property that $`_\alpha `$ is spreading it is easy to see that for any $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ it follows that $`_\alpha ^L_\alpha [L]^<\mathrm{}`$. If one is willing to change the approximating family the converse becomes true.

###### Proposition 3.8.

Let $`(_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ be a transfinite family which is defined by an approximating family $`(A_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$, and let $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$.

Then there is an approximating family $`(B_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$ defining a transfinite family $`(𝒢_\alpha )`$ for which it follows that for any $`\alpha <\omega _1`$

(25)
$$_\alpha [L]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_\alpha ^L.$$

###### Proof.

We write $`L`$ as $`L=\{\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\}`$ with $`\mathrm{}_1<\mathrm{}_2,<\mathrm{}`$. For a limit ordinal $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ and an $`i`$ we put $`B_i(\alpha )=A_\mathrm{}_i(\alpha )`$ and show by transfinite induction that $`_\alpha [L]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_\alpha ^L`$, where the family $`(𝒢_\alpha )`$ is defined based on the approximating family $`(B_i(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$.

Assuming the claim to be true for all $`\beta <\alpha `$ the claim follows immediately from Proposition 3.4 (a) for $`\alpha `$ if $`\alpha `$ is a successor. If $`\alpha `$ is a limit ordinal we observe that for an $`F_\alpha [L]^<\mathrm{}`$ we have $`F_{\beta A_n(\alpha )}_\beta [L]^<\mathrm{}`$ with $`n=\mathrm{min}F`$. Choosing $`i_0`$ so that $`\mathrm{}_i=n`$ we deduce from the induction hypothesis that

$`F{\displaystyle \underset{\beta A_n(\alpha )}{}}_\beta [L]^<\mathrm{}{\displaystyle \underset{\beta A_n(\alpha )}{}}𝒢_\beta ^L={\displaystyle \underset{\beta B_i(\alpha )}{}}𝒢_\beta ^L`$
which implies by Proposition 3.4 (b) the claim. ∎

## 4. The transfinite family $`(_\alpha )`$ is universal

The main goal in this section is to prove that the family $`(_\alpha )`$ which was introduced in section 3 is universal (see Theorem 4.10 for the precise statement).

In the following Defintion we are using the transfinite family $`(F_\alpha )`$ to measure the complexity of hereditary sets $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$. As we will see later this measure is equivalent to the Cantor Bendixson index introduced in Section 1.

###### Definition 4.1.

Consider an approximating family $`(A_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$ defining a transfinite family $`(𝒜_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$.

Let $`P\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$, $`\alpha <\omega _1`$, and $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ be hereditary. We say that $`𝒜`$ is $`\alpha `$-large on $`P`$, if for all $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ there is an $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}M`$ so that $`_\alpha ^N𝒜`$.

Moreover, we call $`𝕀(𝒜,P)=sup\{\alpha :𝒜\text{ is }\alpha \text{-large on }P\text{ }\}`$  the complexity of $`𝒜`$ on $`P`$.

Remark. Since the notion $`\alpha `$-large depends on $`(_\alpha )`$ which depends on the choice of the approximating family, we should have rather used the notion $`_\alpha `$-large instead of $`\alpha `$-large. But in Corollary 4.4 we will show that the property of being $`\alpha `$-large is independent to the underlying approximating family. For the results up to Corollary 4.4 we consider the approximating family and its transfinite family to be fixed.

###### Proposition 4.2.

(Stabilization of $`𝕀(𝒜,P)`$ with respect to $`P`$).

Assume $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ is hereditary, $`P\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ and let $`\alpha _0=𝕀(𝒜,P)`$. Then there is a $`Q\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ so that for all $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}Q`$ it follows that $`𝕀(𝒜,L)=\alpha _0`$.

###### Proof.

Since $`𝕀(𝒜,P)<\alpha _0+1`$ we deduce that there is a $`Q\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ so that for all $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}Q`$ it follows that $`_{\alpha _0+1}^N𝒜`$. This implies that for all $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}Q`$ we have $`𝕀(𝒜,N)<\alpha _0+1`$, and thus $`𝕀(𝒜,N)\alpha _0`$. On the other hand it is clear that $`𝕀(𝒜,N)I(𝒜,P)`$ for all $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$, which implies the claim. ∎

###### Proposition 4.3.

Let $`P\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$, $`\alpha <\omega _1`$, and $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ hereditary.

1. If $`\beta <\alpha `$ and if $`𝒜`$ is $`\alpha `$-large on $`P`$, then $`𝒜`$ is $`\beta `$-large on $`P`$.
2. If $`\alpha =\beta +1`$, then

$`𝒜\text{ is }\alpha \text{-large on }P`$ $`Q\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}PL\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}Q\text{ so that}`$
$`()\{\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{}LM\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}LN\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}M\hfill & \\ _\beta ^N𝒜|_{\mathrm{}}:=\{E:\{\mathrm{}\}E𝒜,\mathrm{}<E\}\hfill & \\ [\text{i.e. }𝒜|_{\mathrm{}}\text{ is }\beta \text{-large on }L]\hfill & \end{array}`$
3. If $`\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)`$ and $`(A_n(\alpha ))`$ is the approximating sequence for $`\alpha `$ it follows that

$`𝒜\text{ is }\alpha \text{-large on }P`$ $`n𝒜\text{ is }\mathrm{max}A_n(\alpha )\text{-large on }P`$
$`[`$ $`(\text{by part (a) })\beta <\alpha 𝒜\text{ is }\beta \text{-large on }P]`$

Together with (a), (c) implies that if $`𝕀(𝒜,P)<\omega _1`$ it follows that the set of all $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ for which $`𝒜`$ is $`\alpha `$-large on $`P`$ is the closed interval $`[0,𝕀(𝒜,P)]`$.

###### Proof.

(a) follows immediately from Proposition 3.6.

For (b) ”$``$” let $`𝒜`$ be $`\alpha `$-large and $`Q\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$. Then there is an $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}Q`$ with $`_\alpha ^L𝒜`$.

Since $`\alpha =\beta +1`$ it follows from Proposition 3.4 that

$$_\alpha ^L=\{\{\mathrm{}\}E:E_\beta ^L,\mathrm{}L\text{ and }\mathrm{}<E\}\{\mathrm{}\}𝒜.$$

Therefore it follows for all $`\mathrm{}L`$ that $`_\beta ^L𝒜|_{\mathrm{}}`$ and therefore it follows for any $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L`$ that $`_\beta ^M𝒜_{\mathrm{}}`$.

In order to prove “$``$” of (b) assume that $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$. We need to find $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}M`$ so that $`_\alpha ^N𝒜`$. By assumption we find an $`L=(\mathrm{}_i)M`$ satisfying $`()`$.

By induction we can choose $`n_1<n_2<\mathrm{}`$ and $`N_1N_2\mathrm{}`$ so that for all $`k`$:

(26) $`n_{i+1}N_i`$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{}k1`$
(27) $`\mathrm{\#}\left(N_i[0,n_{i+1}]\right)i+1`$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{}k1`$
(28) $`_\beta ^{N_i}𝒜|_{n_i}`$, for $`i=1,\mathrm{}k`$.
Indeed, choose $`n_1=\mathrm{}_1`$ and, using the property $`()`$ (with $`\mathrm{}=n_1`$) we find $`N_1\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L`$ so that $`_\beta ^{N_1}𝒜|_{n_1}`$. Then we choose an $`n_2N_1\{n_1+1,n_1+2,\mathrm{}\}`$, large enough in order to satisfy (27), and apply $`()`$ again (with $`\mathrm{}=n_2`$) to find an $`N_2\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N_1`$ with $`_\beta ^{N_2}𝒜|_{n_1}`$. We continue in that way.

Now we claim that $`_\alpha ^{\{n_i:i\}}𝒜`$, which would finish this part of the proof. Indeed, if $`E=\{n_{i_1},n_{i_2},\mathrm{}n_{i_k}\}_\alpha ^{\{n_i:i\}}`$, with $`n_{i_1}<n_{i_2}<\mathrm{}<n_{i_k}`$, then, by Proposition 3.4 it follows that $`\{n_{i_2},n_{i_3}\mathrm{}n_{i_k}\}_\beta ^{\{n_i:i\}}`$. Also note that by choice of $`n_{i_2}`$, $`\mathrm{\#}(N_{i_21}[0,n_{i_2}])i_2=\mathrm{\#}\{n_i:i\}[0,n_{i_2}]`$. Therefore, by Proposition 3.5 $`\{n_{i_2},n_{i_3}\mathrm{}n_{i_k}\}_\beta ^{N_{i_21}}`$, and thus, since $`_\beta ^{N_{i_21}}_\beta ^{N_{i_1}}`$, it follows that $`\{n_{i_2},n_{i_3}\mathrm{}n_{i_k}\}_\beta ^{N_{i_1}}`$, which implies by (28) that $`\{n_{i_2},n_{i_3}\mathrm{}n_{i_k}\}𝒜|_{n_{i_1}}`$ and thus $`\{n_{i_1},n_{i_2}\mathrm{}n_{i_k}\}𝒜`$.

The claim (c)“$``$” follows from (a). In order to show (c)“$``$” let $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$. Using the assumption and part (a) we find $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N_1\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N_2\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}\mathrm{}`$ so that $`_\gamma ^{N_i}𝒜`$ for all $`i`$ and $`\gamma A_i(\alpha )`$. Then choose $`N=(n_i)`$ to be a diagonal sequence of $`(N_i)_{i=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ in such a way that for $`i`$ $`n_i`$ is in $`N_i`$ and is at least as big as the $`i`$-th element of $`N_i`$.

It follows that $`_\alpha ^N𝒜`$. Indeed, let $`E_\alpha ^N`$ and, thus, $`E_{\gamma _0}^N`$ for some $`\gamma _0A_{i_0}(\alpha )`$ where $`n_{i_0}=\mathrm{min}E`$. Note that by the choice of $`N`$ we have that $`i_0=\mathrm{\#}(N[1,n_{i_0}])\mathrm{\#}(N_{i_0}[1,n_{i_0}])`$ and $`N[n_{i_0},\mathrm{})N_{i_0}[n_{i_0},\mathrm{})`$, and we deduce from Proposition 3.5 that $`E_{\gamma _0}^N[\{n_{i_0},n_{i_0}+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}_{\gamma _0}^{N_{i_0}}[\{n_{i_0},n_{i_0}+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}𝒜`$, which finishes the proof. ∎

Now we can conclude that the property of being $`\alpha `$-large for a set $`𝒜`$ does not depend on the choice of the approximating sequences.

###### Corollary 4.4.

For an $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$, $`P\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ and $`\alpha <\omega _1`$, the property of being $`\alpha `$-large does not depend on the choice of approximating family one has chosen for defining the sets $`_\beta `$.

###### Proof.

Assume that $`(𝒢_\alpha )`$ is a transfinite family defined by another approximating family. We will show by transfinite induction that if $`_\alpha ^N𝒜`$ for some $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ then there is an $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N`$ so that $`𝒢_\alpha ^M𝒜`$. Assume that our claim is true for all $`\beta <\alpha `$ for some $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ and let $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ be such that $`_\alpha ^N𝒜`$.

If $`\alpha =\beta +1`$ the claim follows from the induction hypothesis and Proposition 4.3 part (b). If $`\alpha =sup_{\beta <\alpha }\beta `$ the claim follows from applying Proposition 4.3 part (a) and (c). ∎

###### Corollary 4.5.

For $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ and $`P\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ it follows that

(29)
$$𝕀(𝒜,P)\underset{pP}{sup}\underset{L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P}{sup}𝕀(𝒜|_p,L)+1.$$

Moreover if $`𝕀(𝒜,P)`$ is a limit ordinal then it even follows that

(30)
$$𝕀(𝒜,P)\underset{pP}{sup}\underset{L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P}{sup}𝕀(𝒜|_p,L)$$

###### Proof.

Put $`\alpha _0=𝕀(𝒜,P)`$. If $`\alpha _0`$ is a successor our claim follows directly from Proposition 4.3 part (b). If $`\alpha _0`$ is a limit ordinal and $`\beta <\alpha _0`$ arbitrary (and thus $`\beta +1<\alpha _0`$) we conclude from Proposition 4.3 part (b) that there is a $`pP`$ and an $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ so that $`𝕀(𝒜|_p,L)\beta `$.

Since $`\beta <\alpha _0`$ was arbitrary it follows that $`\alpha _0sup_{pP}sup_{L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P}𝕀(𝒜|_p,L)`$. ∎

###### Corollary 4.6.

Assume that for $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ and $`P\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ we have that

(31)
$$\alpha <\omega _1N_\alpha \stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P_\alpha ^{N_\alpha }𝒜.$$

Then there is an $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ so that $`[L]^<\mathrm{}𝒜`$.

Therefore, if an hereditary set $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ has the property, that for no $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ it follows that $`[L]^<\mathrm{}𝒜`$, the complexity of $`𝒜`$ must be some countable ordinal $`\alpha _0`$.

We will say that the complexity of $`𝒜`$ on $`P`$ is $`\omega _1`$ and write $`𝕀(𝒜,P)=\omega _1`$ if (31) is satisfied.

###### Proof.

We first show that there is an $`nP`$, so that (31) holds for $`𝒜|_n`$ (instead of $`𝒜`$). Indeed, otherwise we could find for each $`nP`$ an $`\alpha _n`$ so that $`_{\alpha _n}^N𝒜|_n`$ for all $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$. Letting $`\alpha =supa_n`$ we deduce that $`_\alpha ^N𝒜|_n`$ for any $`nP`$ and any $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$. By Proposition 4.3 (b) this would contradict (31) for $`\alpha +1`$. Note that $`n`$ could have been chosen out of any given cofinite subset of $`P`$.

We can iterate this argument and produce a strictly increasing sequence $`(n_i)P`$ so that for every $`k`$ (31) holds for $`𝒜|_{n_1,n_2,,\mathrm{}n_k}=\{A:\{n_1,\mathrm{}n_k\}A𝒜\}`$ holds. This implies that that $`[\{n_i:i\}]^<\mathrm{}𝒜`$. ∎

###### Corollary 4.7.

For $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ and $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ it follows that $`𝕀(_\alpha ,L)=\alpha `$.

###### Proof.

Since $`_\alpha ^L_\alpha [L]^<\mathrm{}`$ it is clear that $`𝕀(_\alpha ,L)\alpha `$. Assume that for some $`\beta >\alpha `$ and some $`N=\{n_1^{(1)},n_2^{(1)}\mathrm{}\}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ it follows that $`_\beta ^N_\alpha `$.

By Propostion 4.3 (a) we can assume that $`\beta =\alpha +1`$ and we claim that it would follow that there is a family $`(N_\beta )_{\alpha <\beta <\omega _1}`$ of infinite subsets of $``$, with $`N_\gamma N_\beta `$ being finite, if $`\gamma <\beta `$, so that

(32)
$$_\beta ^{N_\beta }_\alpha .$$

Using Corollary 4.6 this would imply that for some $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ so that $`[L]^{<\omega }_\alpha `$, contradicting the compactness of $`_\alpha `$.

We will show the existence of $`N_\beta `$ by transfinite induction of $`\beta >\alpha `$. For $`\beta =\alpha +1`$ $`N_\beta `$ exists by assumption. If $`\beta =\gamma +1`$ and if $`N_\gamma =\{n_1^{(\gamma )},n_2^{(\gamma )},\mathrm{}\}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ is as in (32) we choose $`N_{\gamma +1}=\{n_{n_i^{(\gamma )}}^{(\alpha +1)}:i\}`$ and observe that (note that $`_{\gamma +1}^{N_\gamma }_{\alpha +1}`$ since $`_\gamma ^{N_\gamma }_\alpha `$)

$`_{\gamma +1}^{N_{\gamma +1}}`$ $`=\{\{n_{n_i^{(\gamma )}}^{(\alpha +1)}:iE\}:E_{\gamma +1}\}=\{\{n_m^{(\alpha +1)}:mF\}:F_{\gamma +1}^{N_\gamma }\}`$
$`\{\{n_m^{(\alpha +1)}:mF\}:F_{\alpha +1}\}=_{\alpha +1}^{N_{\alpha +1}}_\alpha .`$
If $`\beta \text{Lim}(\omega _1)`$ and if $`(A_i(\beta ))`$ is the sequence approximating $`\beta `$ we first note that we can choose infinite subsets $`\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}M_1\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}M_2\mathrm{}`$ so that for all $`i`$ it follows that $`_{\gamma A_i(\beta )}_\gamma ^{N_i}_\alpha `$. Then we choose $`N_\beta =\{n_i^{(\beta )}:i\}`$ with $`n_i^{(\beta )}`$ being the $`i`$-th element of $`M_i`$, for $`i=1,2\mathrm{}`$. We deduce then the claim in this case from Proposition 3.5. ∎

Using our results on the family $`(_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega }`$ we can now show the relation ship between $`𝕀`$ and the Cantor Bendixson index.

###### Lemma 4.8.

Assume that $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ is hereditary and compact.

1. Define the expansion of $`𝒜`$ by $`\text{Ep}(𝒜)=\{\{n\}A:A𝒜\}\{\mathrm{}\}`$. (Note that $`_{\alpha +1}=\text{Ep}(_\alpha )`$ for $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ and that $`F\text{Ep}(𝒜)`$ if and only if $`F=\mathrm{}`$ or $`F\{\mathrm{min}F\}𝒜`$.)
For $`\alpha \text{CB}(𝒜)`$ it follows that $`\text{Ep}\left(𝒜^{(\alpha )}\right)=\left(\text{Ep}(𝒜)\right)^{(\alpha )}`$.
2. Assume that there is a sequence $`(\mathrm{}_n)`$ with $`lim_n\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_n=\mathrm{}`$ and for $`n`$ hereditary and compact sets $`𝒜_n[\{\mathrm{}_n,\mathrm{}_n+1,\mathrm{}_n+2,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}`$ so that $`\alpha _n=\text{CB}(𝒜_n)`$ strictly increases to some $`\alpha <\omega _1`$, and assume that $`𝒜=𝒜_n`$. Then it follows that $`\text{CB}(𝒜)=\alpha +1`$.
3. For any $`n`$ and any $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ it follows that $`\left(𝒜|_n\right)^{(\alpha )}=\left(𝒜^{(\alpha )}\right)|_n`$

###### Proof.

(a) First assume that $`\alpha =1`$ and, thus, that $`\text{CB}(𝒜)1`$. Clearly, $`\text{Ep}\left(𝒜^{(1)}\right)`$ as well as $`\left(\text{Ep}(𝒜)\right)^{(1)}`$ contain $`\mathrm{}`$ as an element. For $`F[]^<\mathrm{}`$, $`F\mathrm{}`$, we observe that

$`F\left(\text{Ep}(𝒜)\right)^{(1)}`$ $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{},\mathrm{min}N>\mathrm{max}FnNF\{n\}\text{Ep}(𝒜)`$
$`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{},\mathrm{min}N>\mathrm{max}FnN(F\{n\})\{\mathrm{min}F\{n\}\}𝒜`$
$`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{},\mathrm{min}N>\mathrm{max}FnN(F\{\mathrm{min}F\})\{n\}𝒜`$
$`F\{\mathrm{min}F\}𝒜^{(1)}F\text{Ep}\left(𝒜^{(1)}\right).`$
For general $`\alpha \text{CB}(𝒜)`$ the claim now follows easily by transfinite induction.

(b) Note that for $`\beta <\alpha `$ we can choose $`m`$ so that $`\alpha _m>\beta `$ and thus $`\mathrm{}𝒜_m^{(\beta )}𝒜^{(\beta )}`$. Since $`\alpha `$ is a limit ordinal we deduce that $`\mathrm{}𝒜^{(\alpha )}`$ and, thus, that $`\text{CB}(𝒜)\alpha +1`$.

On the other hand note that for any $`m`$ it follows that

$$𝒜^{(\alpha _m)}=(\underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{}}𝒜_i)^{(\alpha _m)}(\underset{i=m+1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}𝒜_i)^{(\alpha _m)}[\{\mathrm{}_m,\mathrm{}_m+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}$$

and, thus, that $`𝒜^{(\alpha )}_m[\{\mathrm{}_m,\mathrm{}_m+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}=\{\mathrm{}\}`$, which implies that $`\text{CB}(𝒜)\alpha +1`$.

To prove (c) let first $`\alpha =1`$ and $`n`$. For $`F[]^<\mathrm{}\{\mathrm{}\}`$, $`\mathrm{min}F>n`$, it follows that

$`F\left(𝒜|_n\right)^{(1)}`$ $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{},\mathrm{min}M>nmM\{n\}F\{m\}𝒜`$
$`\{n\}F𝒜^{(1)}F\left(𝒜^{(1)}\right)|_n`$
For general $`\alpha `$ we conclude the claim by transfinite induction. ∎

###### Corollary 4.9.

For $`\alpha <\omega _1`$, a hereditary and compact $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$, and an $`P\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ it follows that

(33) $`𝒜\text{ is }\alpha \text{-large on }PQ\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P\text{CB}(𝒜[Q]^<\mathrm{})\alpha +1.`$
###### Proof.

In order to show “$``$” it is enough to observe that $`\text{CB}(_\alpha ^N)=\alpha +1`$ for any $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ which follows by transfinite induction on $`\alpha `$ using (a) (in the successor case) and (b) (in the case of limit ordinals) of Lemma 4.8.

We also show “$``$” by transfinite induction on $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ and assume that the implication is true for all $`\stackrel{~}{\alpha }<\alpha `$.

Assume that $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ is compact and hereditary so that for all $`Q\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ it follows that $`\text{CB}(𝒜[Q]^<\mathrm{})\alpha +1`$.

If $`\alpha =\beta +1`$, it is by the induction hypothesis and by Proposition 4.3 enough to show:

Claim. $`Q\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}PL\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}Q\mathrm{}LK\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L,\mathrm{}<\mathrm{min}K\text{CB}(𝒜[K]^<\mathrm{})\beta +1`$.

Assume the claim is not true and choose a $`Q\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ so that for all $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}Q`$ there is an $`\mathrm{}L`$ and a $`K\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L`$ so that $`\text{CB}(𝒜[K]^<\mathrm{})\beta `$.

We first put $`L_1=Q`$ and then choose $`\mathrm{}_1L_1`$ and $`K_1\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L_1`$, with $`\mathrm{min}K_1>\mathrm{}_1`$ so that $`\text{CB}(𝒜|_\mathrm{}_1[K_1]^<\mathrm{})\beta `$. Then we let $`L_2=K_1`$ and choose an $`\mathrm{}_2L_2`$ and a $`K_1\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L_2`$ with $`\mathrm{min}K_2>\mathrm{}_2`$ so that $`\text{CB}(𝒜|_\mathrm{}_2[K_2]^<\mathrm{})\beta `$. We can continue in this way and eventually get a strictly increasing sequence $`L=(\mathrm{}_i)`$ and $`(L_i)`$ with $`Q=L_1\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L_2\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}\mathrm{}`$ so that $`\text{CB}(𝒜|_\mathrm{}_i[L_{i+1}]^<\mathrm{})\beta `$. Thus it follows for each $`i`$ that

$$\left(𝒜|_\mathrm{}_i[L]^<\mathrm{}\right)^{(\beta )}=\left(𝒜|_\mathrm{}_i[\{\mathrm{}_{i+1},\mathrm{}_{i+1}+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}\right)^{(\beta )}\left(𝒜|_\mathrm{}_i[L_{i+1}]^<\mathrm{}\right)^{(\beta )}=\mathrm{},$$

which implies by Lemma 4.8 (c) that $`𝒜^{(\beta )}[L]^<\mathrm{}`$ must be finite and, thus, that
$`\text{CB}(𝒜[L]^<\mathrm{})\beta +1`$, contradicting the assumption. This proves the claim and the induction step in the case that $`\alpha `$ is a successor.

If $`\alpha `$ is a limit ordinal and $`\text{CB}(𝒜[Q]^<\mathrm{})\alpha +1`$ for all $`Q\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ it follows that for all $`\beta <\alpha `$ we have $`\text{CB}(𝒜[Q]^<\mathrm{})\beta `$, and, thus, by our induction hypothesis that $`𝒜`$ is $`\beta `$-large on $`P`$, for all $`\beta <\alpha `$, which implies, by Proposition 4.3 (c), that $`𝒜`$ is $`\alpha `$-large on $`P`$. ∎

Using the equivalence of the strong Cantor Bendixson index and the concept of $`\alpha `$-largeness and using Corollary 4.6 we can prove Proposition 1.3 of Section 1.

###### Proof of Proposition 1.3..

Assume that $`X`$ is a Banach space with a seminormalized basis $`(x_i)`$ and let $`(z_n)`$ another seminormalized basic sequence with $`\gamma _0((z_n),(x_{k_n}))=\omega _1`$.

By Corollary 4.9 we deduce for $`1c<\mathrm{}`$ and $`\gamma <\omega _1`$ that

$`c((z_n),(x_n),\gamma )=inf\{c1:N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}𝒞((z_n),(x_n),c)\text{ is }\gamma \text{-large on N}\}<\mathrm{}.`$
Since $`c((z_n),(x_n),\gamma )`$ is non decreasing in $`\gamma `$ we deduce from the uncountability of $`[0,\omega _1)`$ that there is a $`c_0>0`$ so that $`c((z_n),(x_n),\gamma )c_0`$ for all $`\gamma <\omega _1`$. But this means that for any $`\gamma <\omega _1`$ the set $`𝒞((z_n),(x_n),c_0/2)`$ is $`\gamma `$ large on some set $`N_\gamma \stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$. From Corollary 4.6 we deduce therefore that there is an $`L=(\mathrm{}_i)\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ so that $`[L]^<\mathrm{}𝒞((z_n),(x_n),c_0/2)`$. By passing to a subsequence of $`(z_n)`$ we might simply assume that $`L=`$.

Therefore we can choose for any $`n`$ a sequence $`m_1^{(n)}<m_2^{(n)}<\mathrm{}m_n^{(n)}`$ in $`N`$ so that $`(z_i)_{i=1}^n`$ is $`c_0/2`$ equivalent to $`(x_{m_i^{(n)}})_{i=1}^n`$. Passing possibly to a subsequence of $`(z_n)`$ and having possibly to redefine the $`m_i^{(n)}`$’s (note for a fixed sequence $`(n_k)`$ we could change the choice of $`m_i^{(n)}`$ in such a way that $`m_i^{(n)}=m_i^{(n_k)}`$ if $`in`$ and $`n[n_{k1}+1,n_k]`$) we can assume one of the following two cases happens.

Case 1. There is a sequence $`(m_n)`$ so that $`m_i^{(n)}=m_i`$ for all $`n`$ and $`in`$.

In this case it follows that $`(z_i)`$ is isomorphically equivalent to $`(x_{m_i})`$.

Case 2. For any $`i`$ it follows that $`lim_n\mathrm{}m_i^{(n)}=\mathrm{}`$.

In the second case it follows that $`(z_i)`$ is equivalent to a spreading model of a subsequence of $`(x_n)`$. This proves the first part of Proposition 1.3.

In order to deduce the second part we assume that for all block bases $`(z_n)`$ of $`(x_n)`$ it follows $`\gamma _0((z_n),(x_n))=\gamma _0((x_n),(z_n))=\omega _1`$ and fix a block basis $`(z_n)`$. By the first part of the proof a subsequence of $`(z_n)`$ could be equivalent to a subsequence of $`(x_n)`$, then we are done. Otherwise $`(z_n)`$ is equivalent to a spreading model of a subsequence of $`(x_n)`$ which means in particular that $`(z_n)`$ is subsymmetric. Now we change the roles of $`(x_n)`$ and $`(z_n)`$, use the assumption $`\gamma _0((x_n),(z_n))=\omega _1`$, and go again through the arguments of the first part of the proof and observe that since $`(z_i)`$ is subsymmetric both cases collaps to one and that a subsequence of $`(x_n)`$ is isomorphically equivalent to a subsequence of $`(z_i)`$. This proves that $`X`$ is a space of Class 1. The other direction of the stated equivalence is trivial. ∎

We are now in the position to state and prove Theorem 4.10 concerning the universality of the transfinite families.

###### Theorem 4.10.

Let $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ be not empty and hereditary, and assume that $`\alpha _0=𝕀(𝒜,P)<\omega _1`$. Then there is an approximating family $`(B_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$ defining the transfinite family $`(𝒢_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$, and there is an $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ so that

(34)
$$𝒢_{\alpha _0}^L𝒜[L]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_{\alpha _0}[L]^<\mathrm{}.$$

###### Proof.

Let $`(_\alpha )`$ be a transfinite family being chosen a priori. We will prove the claim by transfinite induction for all $`\alpha _0<\omega _1`$.

If $`\alpha _0=0`$, we deduce that $`L=\{\mathrm{}P:\{\mathrm{}\}𝒜\}`$ is infinite and, thus, since $`𝒜`$ is hereditary and not empty it follows that

$$𝒜[L]^<\mathrm{}=\{\mathrm{}\}=_0.$$

Assume the claim to be true for all hereditary $`\stackrel{~}{𝒜}[]^<\mathrm{}`$ with $`𝕀(\stackrel{~}{𝒜},P)<\alpha _0`$, where $`\alpha _01`$. Let $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ be hereditary with $`𝕀(𝒜,P)=\alpha _0`$. By passing to a subsequence of $`P`$, if necessary, we can assume that $`𝕀(𝒜,L)=\alpha _0`$ for all $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ (we are using Proposition 4.2). Since $`𝒜`$ is not $`\alpha _0+1`$-large on $`P`$ we deduce from Proposition 4.3 part (b) that there is a $`Q\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ so that

(35)
$$M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}Q\text{ }mM𝒜|_m\text{ is not }\alpha _0\text{-large on }M.$$

We start by applying (35) to $`M_1=Q`$ and find an $`m_1M_1`$ for which $`\beta _{m_1}=𝕀(𝒜|_{m_1},M_1)<\alpha _0`$ (recall that by Proposition 4.3 the set of ordinals $`\alpha `$ for which $`𝒜|_{m_1}`$ is $`\alpha `$-large is a closed interval). By the induction hypothesis we can find an approximating family $`(B_n^{(1)}(\gamma ))_{n,\gamma \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$ which defines a transfinite family $`(𝒢_\gamma ^{(1)})_{\gamma <\omega _1}`$ and an $`M_2M_1`$ so that $`𝒜|_{m_1}[M_2]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_{\beta _{m_1}}^{(1)}[M_2]^<\mathrm{}`$.

Since $`𝒜|_{m_1}`$ is $`\beta _{m_1}`$-large on $`M_1`$ (which does not depend on the choice of the approximating family) we also can require that $`\left(𝒢_{\beta _{m_1}}^{(1)}\right)^{M_2}𝒜|_{m_1}`$.

By repeating this argument we find an increasing sequence $`(m_i)_i`$, sets $`M_i\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$, for $`i`$, a sequence of ordinals $`(\beta _{m_i})_i[0,\alpha _0)`$, and approximating families $`(B_n^{(i)}(\gamma ))_{n,\gamma \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$ defining transfinite families $`(𝒢^{(i)})_{\gamma <\omega _1}`$, for $`i`$, so that for all $`i`$

(36)
$$m_iM_i,M_{i+1}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}M_i,\text{ and }m_i<\mathrm{min}M_{i+1},$$

(37)
$$\left(𝒢_{\beta _{m_i}}^{(i)}\right)^{M_{i+1}}𝒜|_{m_i}[M_{i+1}]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_{\beta _{m_i}}^{(i)}[M_{i+1}]^<\mathrm{},$$

Putting $`M=\{m_1,m_2,\mathrm{}\}`$ we deduce from (36) and (37) that for all $`i`$

(38)
$$\left(𝒢_{\beta _{m_i}}^{(i)}\right)^{\{m_{i+1},m_{i+2},\mathrm{}\}}𝒜|_{m_i}[M]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_{\beta _{m_i}}^{(i)}[M]^<\mathrm{}.$$

(for the second “$``$” recall that we defined $`𝒜|_m`$ in such a way that $`𝒜|_m[\{m+1,m+2,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}`$) which implies that for any $`mM`$ and any $`\stackrel{~}{M}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}M`$ we have $`𝕀(𝒜|_m,\stackrel{~}{M})=\beta _m`$ and, thus, by Corollary 4.5, it follows that

(39)
$$\underset{mM,mk}{sup}\beta _m+1=\alpha _0,\text{ for all }k.$$

To finish the proof we distinguish between the case that $`\alpha _0`$ is a successor and the case that $`\alpha _0`$ is a limit ordinal.

If $`\alpha _0=\gamma +1`$ we deduce from (39) that the set $`\stackrel{~}{L}=\{mM:\beta _m=\gamma \}`$ is infinite. Using Proposition 3.2 (b) we can find an approximating family $`(B_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha <\omega _1}`$ so that for any $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ and any $`i`$ it follows that $`𝒢_\alpha ^{(i)}[\{i,i+1\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_\alpha `$, where $`(𝒢_\alpha )`$ is defined by $`(B_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha <\omega _1}`$. We therefore deduce that

$`𝒜[\stackrel{~}{L}]^<\mathrm{}`$ $`=\{\{\mathrm{}\}E:\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{L},\mathrm{}<E\text{ and }E𝒜|_{\mathrm{}}\}[\stackrel{~}{L}]^<\mathrm{}\{\mathrm{}\}`$
$`\{\{\mathrm{}\}E:i\mathrm{}=m_i\stackrel{~}{L},\mathrm{}<E,E𝒢_\gamma ^{(i)}\}[\stackrel{~}{L}]^<\mathrm{}\{\mathrm{}\}\text{ (by (}\text{38}\text{))}`$
$`\{\{\mathrm{}\}E:\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{L},\mathrm{}<E\text{ and }E𝒢_\gamma \}[\stackrel{~}{L}]^<\mathrm{}\{\mathrm{}\}=𝒢_{\alpha _0}[\stackrel{~}{L}]^<\mathrm{}\text{ (since }im_i\text{).}`$
If $`\alpha _0\text{Lim}(\omega _1)`$ we also define the approximating family $`(B_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha <\omega _1}`$ as in Proposition 3.2 (b), but add in the case of $`\alpha =\alpha _0`$ the ordinals $`\beta _{m_1}+1,\beta _{m_2}+1,\mathrm{}\beta _{m_n}+1`$ to the set $`B_n(\alpha _0)`$ (still denoting it $`B_n(\alpha _0)`$). The transfinite family defined by $`(B_n(\alpha ))_{n,\alpha <\omega _1}`$ is denoted by $`(𝒢_\alpha )`$. We put $`\stackrel{~}{L}=M=\{m_1,m_2,\mathrm{}\}`$.

Now if $`E𝒜[\stackrel{~}{L}]^<\mathrm{}`$, $`E\mathrm{}`$, we write $`E=\{m\}F`$ with $`m=m_n=\mathrm{min}E`$ and $`F𝒜|_{m_n}𝒢_{\beta _{m_n}}^{(n)}`$ (by (38)). From the definition of the family $`(𝒢_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ we conclude that $`F𝒢_{\beta _{m_n}}`$ and thus $`E𝒢_{\beta _{m_n}+1}`$. Since $`nm_nE`$ and since $`\beta _{m_n}+1B_n(\alpha _0)`$ we deduce that $`E𝒢_{\alpha _0}[\stackrel{~}{L}]^<\mathrm{}`$.

Therefore we derive in both cases ($`\alpha _0`$ being a successor and $`\alpha _0`$ being a limitordinal) that

(40)
$$𝒜[\stackrel{~}{L}]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_{\alpha _0}[\stackrel{~}{L}]^<\mathrm{}.$$

On the other hand it follows from the definition of $`\alpha _0`$ and from Proposition 4.3 that $`𝒜`$ is $`\alpha _0`$-large (which by Corollary 4.4 does not depend on the transfinite family). We can therefore chose an $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}\stackrel{~}{L}`$ so that $`𝒢_{\alpha _0}^L𝒜`$ which implies that

$$𝒢_{\alpha _0}^L𝒜[L]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_{\alpha _0}[L]^<\mathrm{}$$

and finishes the proof of Theorem 4.10. ∎

We will have to apply Theorem 4.10 not only for one $`𝒜[]^<\mathrm{}`$ but for a sequence $`(𝒜_n)`$ simultaneously. Therefore we need the following reformulation.

###### Corollary 4.11.

Assume we are given a $`P\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N`$, a sequence $`(𝒜_{\mathrm{}})_{\mathrm{}}`$ of nonempty and hereditary subsets of $`[]^<\mathrm{}`$, an increasing sequence $`(\mathrm{}_k)`$, and a sequence of ordinals $`(\alpha _{\mathrm{}})`$ so that

(41)
$$\alpha _{\mathrm{}}𝕀(𝒜_{\mathrm{}},Q),\text{ whenever }\mathrm{}\text{ and }Q\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P.$$

Then there is a transfinite family $`(𝒢_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ and $`K\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$, $`K=\{k_1,k_2,\mathrm{}\}`$, $`(k_i)`$ strictly increasing, so that for all $`n`$ and $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_n`$

(42)
$$𝒜_{\mathrm{}}[\{k_n,k_{n+1},\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}G_\alpha _{\mathrm{}}^K.$$

###### Proof.

We first use Proposition 4.2 and an easy diagonalization argument to assume that $`𝕀(𝒜_{\mathrm{}},Q)=𝕀(𝒜_{\mathrm{}},P)`$ for all $`Q\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ (note that (41) stays valid if we pass to subsequences).

For $`i`$ we then apply Theorem 4.10 to each of $`𝒜_{\mathrm{}}`$, $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_i`$, in order to get an approximating family $`(B_n^{(i)}(\gamma ))_{n,\gamma \text{Lim}(\omega _1)}`$ with associated transfinite families $`(𝒢_\alpha ^{(i)})_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ and an $`L_i\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ so that for any $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_i`$ it follows that $`L_i\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L_{i1}`$ (with $`L_0=P`$) and $`𝒜_{\mathrm{}}[L_i]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_\alpha _{\mathrm{}}`$.

Now define for $`n`$ and $`\gamma \text{Lim}(\omega _1)`$ as in Proposition 3.2, i.e. $`B_n(\gamma )=_{j=1}^nB_n^{(j)}(\gamma )`$, let $`(_\alpha )`$ be the transfinite family associated to $`B_n(\gamma )`$, and Let $`K=\{k_1,k_2\mathrm{}\}`$ be a diagonal sequence of the $`L_i`$’s. Then we deduce that for any $`m`$ and any $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_m`$ it follows that

$`𝒜_{\mathrm{}}[\{k_m,k_{m+1}\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}`$ $`=𝒜_{\mathrm{}}[L_m]^<\mathrm{}[\{k_m,k_{m+1},\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}`$
$`𝒢_\alpha _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}[\{k_m,k_{m+1},\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}_\alpha _{\mathrm{}}[K]^{\mathrm{}}.`$
By Proposition 3.8 we then choose $`(G_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ so that $`_\alpha [K]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_\alpha ^K`$, for $`\alpha <\omega _1`$. ∎

## 5. Some Consequences of Theorem 4.10

Using Theorem 4.10 we deduce the following generalization of Ramsey’s theorem for finite sets.

###### Corollary 5.1.

Let $`[]^<\mathrm{}`$ be hereditary and let $`P\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$.

If $`=𝒜`$ with $`𝒜`$ and $``$ also being hereditary then there is a $`Q\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ so that

(43)
$$\mathrm{max}(𝕀(𝒜,Q),𝕀(,Q))=𝕀(,Q)$$

###### Proof.

By passing to an infinite subsequence of $`P`$ and using Proposition 4.2, if necessary, we can assume that there are ordinals $`\alpha _0,\beta _0`$ and $`\gamma _0`$ so that for all $`\stackrel{~}{P}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$

$$\alpha _0=𝕀(𝒜,\stackrel{~}{P}),\beta _0=𝕀(,\stackrel{~}{P}),\text{ and }\gamma _0=𝕀(,\stackrel{~}{P}).$$

We need to show that $`\mathrm{max}(\alpha _0,\beta _0)=\gamma _0`$.

Assume that this is not true and, thus, assume that $`\mathrm{max}(\alpha _0,\beta _0)<\gamma _0`$.

By Theorem 4.10 and the fact that $`𝕀(𝒜,P)`$ and $`𝕀(,P)`$ are stabilized in the sense of Proposition 4.2 we find a transfinite family $`(𝒢_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ and an $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}P`$ so that $`𝒜[L]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_{\alpha _0}`$ and $`[\stackrel{~}{L}]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_{\beta _0}`$ and therefore, it would follow from Corollary 4.7 that $`𝕀(𝒜,L)𝕀(𝒢_{\mathrm{max}(\alpha _0,\beta _0)},L)=\mathrm{max}(\alpha _0,\beta _0)<\gamma _0`$ which is a contradiction. ∎

We introduce the following ”addition” of subsets of $`[]^<\mathrm{}`$

###### Definition 5.2.

For $`𝒜,[]^<`$ we define $`𝒜=\{AB:A𝒜,B\}`$

###### Remark.

At first sight one might believe that $`𝕀(_\alpha _\beta ,N)=\alpha +\beta `$. But this cannot be true since on one hand addition on the ordinal numbers is not commutative, on the other hand it is clear that $`𝒜=𝒜`$, for any $`𝒜,[]^<\mathrm{}`$. For example it is easy to see that $`_{\omega +1}_\omega =2\omega +12\omega =\omega +1+\omega `$.

One could define the following ”commutative addition of ordinal numbers”:

$$\alpha \beta =𝕀(_\alpha _\beta ,).$$

It might be interesting to determine the properties of this binary operation and compare it with the addition of ordinal numbers. Nevertheless it is easy to prove by transfinite induction on $`\beta `$ that for all $`\alpha ,\beta <\omega _1`$ it follows that

(44)
$$_{\alpha +\beta }_\alpha _\beta .$$

###### Proposition 5.3.

Assume that $`\alpha <\beta <\omega _1`$ and that $`\gamma <\omega _1`$

1. There is an $`m`$ so that $`_\alpha [\{m,m+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}_\gamma _\beta [\{m,m+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}_\gamma `$
2. For any $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ it follows that $`𝕀(_\alpha _\gamma ,N)<𝕀(_\beta _\gamma ,N)`$

###### Proof.

(a) follows immediately from Proposition 3.1(c). To prove (b) define $`\delta =`$
$`𝕀(_\alpha _\gamma ,N)`$. Let $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N`$. By Proposition 4.3 (last part) there is an $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}M`$ so that $`_\delta ^L_\alpha _\gamma `$. Then note that

$`_{\delta +1}^L`$ $`=\{\{\mathrm{}\}D:D_\delta ^L\text{ and }\mathrm{}L\}`$
$`\{\{\mathrm{}\}AG:A_\alpha [L]^<\mathrm{},G_\gamma [L]^<\mathrm{}\mathrm{}L\}`$
$`\{\stackrel{~}{A}G:\stackrel{~}{A}_{\alpha +1}[L]^<\mathrm{},G_\gamma \}_{\alpha +1}_\gamma .`$
Thus, by (a), $`\delta =𝕀(_\alpha _\gamma ,N)<\delta +1𝕀(_{\alpha +1}_\gamma ,N)𝕀(_\beta _\gamma ,N)`$ which finishes the proof.∎

###### Proposition 5.4.

Assume that $`(_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ and $`(𝒢_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ are two transfinite families and let $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ and $`\alpha <\beta `$ be such that $`𝕀(_\alpha _\beta ,N)`$ and $`𝕀(𝒢_\alpha 𝒢_\beta ,N)`$ are stabilized in the sense of Proposition 4.2, i.e. $`𝕀(_\alpha _\beta ,N)=𝕀(_\alpha _\beta ,\stackrel{~}{N})`$ and $`𝕀(𝒢_\alpha 𝒢_\beta ,N)=𝕀(𝒢_\alpha 𝒢_\beta ,\stackrel{~}{N})`$ for all $`\stackrel{~}{N}N`$.

Then it follows that $`𝕀(_\alpha _\beta ,N)=𝕀(𝒢_\alpha 𝒢_\beta ,N)`$.

###### Proof.

Write $`N`$ as $`N=\{n_1,n_2,\mathrm{}\}`$, with $`n_i\mathrm{}`$. By Proposition 3.7 we can find an $`M=\{m_1,m_2,\mathrm{}\}N`$, $`m_i\mathrm{}`$, so that $`𝒢_\alpha ^M_\alpha `$ and $`𝒢_\beta ^M_\beta `$. Define $`L=\{m_{n_i}:i\}`$. Then it follows that $`𝕀(𝒢_\alpha 𝒢_\beta ,N)=𝕀(𝒢_\alpha ^M𝒢_\beta ^M,L)𝕀(_\alpha _\beta ,L)=𝕀(_\alpha _\beta ,N)`$, which finishes the proof by symmetry. ∎

###### Proposition 5.5.

(Cancellation Lemma)

Let $`\alpha ,\beta <\omega _1`$ and consider a map $`\mathrm{\Psi }:_\alpha _\beta []^<\mathrm{}`$ with the following property:

There exists a hereditary $`[]^<\mathrm{}`$ and an $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ so that $`\mathrm{\Psi }(_\alpha _\beta )`$ and $`𝕀(,N)\beta `$.

If $`𝒞[]^<\mathrm{}`$ is hereditary and contains the set $`\{A\mathrm{\Psi }(A):A_\alpha _\beta \}`$ then there is an $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N`$ so that $`𝕀(𝒞,M)\alpha `$.

###### Proof.

Assume that our claim is not true and that for all $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N`$ it follows that $`𝕀(𝒞,M)<\alpha `$. First, by applying Proposition 4.2 and passing to a subsequence of $`N`$, we can assume that $`𝕀(,\stackrel{~}{N})=𝕀(,N)\beta `$ for all $`\stackrel{~}{N}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N`$. By applying Proposition 4.2 a second time we can also assume that $`\alpha _0=𝕀(𝒞,\stackrel{~}{N})=𝕀(𝒞,N)<\alpha `$, for all $`\stackrel{~}{N}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N`$, and define $`\beta _0=𝕀(,N)\beta `$.

Using Theorem 4.10 (since we are in the stabilized situation we can apply it simultaneously to $`𝒞`$ and $``$ as in the proof of Corollary 4.11) we obtain a transfinite family $`(𝒢_\gamma )`$ and a $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N`$ so that $`[M]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_{\beta _0}`$ and $`𝒞[M]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_{\alpha _0}`$ and thus $`(𝒞)[M]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_{\beta _0}𝒢_{\alpha _0}`$.

On the other hand it is clear that $`_\alpha _\beta 𝒞`$. Now, using Proposition 4.2 we first find a subset $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}M`$ so that $`𝕀(𝒢_{\beta _0}𝒢_{\alpha _0},\stackrel{~}{L})=I(𝒢_{\beta _0}𝒢_{\alpha _0},L)=𝕀(𝒢_{\beta _0}𝒢_{\alpha _0},M)`$ for all $`\stackrel{~}{L}L`$. Then we pass to a subset $`K\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L`$ so that and $`𝕀(_\alpha _\beta ,\stackrel{~}{K})=𝕀(_\alpha _\beta ,K)=𝕀(_\alpha _\beta ,L)`$, for all $`\stackrel{~}{K}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}K`$.

Finally we deduce the following chain of inequalities

$$𝕀(_\alpha _\beta ,K)𝕀(𝒞,K)𝕀(𝒢_{\alpha _0}𝒢_{\beta _0},K)=𝕀(_{\alpha _0}_{\beta _0},K)$$

(the last inequality follows from Proposition 5.4). But on the other it follows from Proposition 5.3 that $`𝕀(_\alpha _\beta ,K)>𝕀(_{\alpha _0}_\beta ,K)𝕀(_{\alpha _0}_{\beta _0},K)`$ which is a contradiction. ∎

## 6. Proof of Theorem 1.4

We now turn to the proof of Theorem 1.4. We will first restate it in an equivalent form using the equivalence of the Cantor Bendixson index and the concept of $`\alpha `$-largeness. Recall the definitions of $`(\overline{z},b)`$, $`B(X,\beta )`$, $`\beta _0(\overline{z})`$ and $`\beta _0(X)`$ in Definition 1.2 for $`X`$ being a Banach space, $`\overline{z}=(z_n)X`$ seminormalized, $`b>0`$ and $`\beta <\omega _1`$. Using Corollary 4.9 we get

(45)
$$b(\overline{z},\beta )=inf\{b1:N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}(\overline{z},b)\text{ is }\beta \text{-large on }N\},$$

where for $`b1`$ and $`(\overline{z},b)=\{A[]^<\mathrm{}:(z_n)_{nA}_b\mathrm{}_1^A\text{unit vector basis}\}`$.

We secondly want to replace in the definition of $`b(\overline{z},\beta )`$ the set $`(\overline{z},b)`$ by a somewhat more convenient set. We will need the following special case of a result from \[AMT\] (see also \[AG\] Lemma 3.2).

###### Lemma 6.1.

Assume $`(x_n)`$ is a weakly null and semi-normalized sequence in a Banach space $`X`$. Let $`\delta >0`$, $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ and $`\epsilon _n>0`$, for $`n`$. Then there exists an $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ , $`M=\{m_1,m_2,\mathrm{}\}`$ so that for all finite $`FM`$ the following implication is true:

(46) $`\text{If there is an }x^{}B_X^{},\text{ with }x^{}(x_m)\delta \text{ for all }mF,\text{then there is a }y^{}B_X^{},`$
$`\text{with }y^{}(x_m)\delta \text{ for all }mF\text{ and }|y^{}(x_{m_i})|<\epsilon _i\text{ for all }i,\text{ with }m_iF.`$
For the sake of being self contained and reader-friendly we present a proof of this special case of the above cited result of \[AG\].

###### Proof.

By recursion we choose for every $`k`$, $`m_k`$ and $`L_k\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N`$ with $`m_1<m_2<\mathrm{}m_k`$, $`L_k\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L_{k1}\mathrm{}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L_1\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L_0=N`$, and $`m_k=\mathrm{min}L_{k1}`$ so that for all $`F\{1,\mathrm{},k\}`$ all $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L_k`$, $`L=\{\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{}\}`$, and all $`n`$ the following implication holds:

(47) $`[xB_X^{}x^{}(x_{m_i})\delta \text{ for all }iF\text{ and }x^{}(x_\mathrm{}_i)\delta \text{ for all }i=2,3,\mathrm{}n]`$
$``$ $`[y^{}B_X^{}y^{}(x_{m_i})\delta \text{ for all }iF,y^{}(x_\mathrm{}_i)\delta \text{ for all }i=2,3,\mathrm{}n`$
$`|y^{}(x_{m_i})|<\epsilon _i\text{ for all }i\{1,\mathrm{}k\}F\text{ and }|y^{}(x_\mathrm{}_1)|<\epsilon _{k+1}].`$
Clearly the claim of the Lemma follows if we can accomplish such a choice of $`m_k`$’s and $`L_k`$’s.

Assume for some $`k1`$ we have chosen $`L_{k1}`$ (recall: $`L_0=N`$) and $`m_1<\mathrm{}m_{k1}`$.

We define $`m_k=\mathrm{min}L_{k1}`$ and

$$=\{LL_{k1}:F\{1,\mathrm{}k\}n(L,F,n)\text{ satisfies (}\text{47}\text{}\}.$$

It is easy to see that $``$ is closed in the pointwise topology and we can apply Ramsey’s theorem.

In the case that there is an $`L`$ so that $`[L]^{\mathrm{}}`$ we are done. We have to show that the alternative in Ramsey’s theorem leads to a contradiction.

Assume that there is an $`\stackrel{~}{L}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}L_{k1}`$ so that $`[\stackrel{~}{L}]^{\mathrm{}}=\mathrm{}`$. Thus for any $`L=\{\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2\mathrm{}\}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}\stackrel{~}{L}`$ there is an $`F=F_L\{1,2\mathrm{}k\}`$ and an $`n=n_L`$ so that there exists an $`x^{}=x_L^{}B_X^{}`$ with

(48)
$$x^{}(x_{m_i})>\delta \text{ for all }iF,\text{ and }x^{}(x_\mathrm{}_i)>\delta \text{ for all }i=2,3,\mathrm{}n$$

but for any $`y^{}B_X^{}`$ satisfying (48) there must be either an $`i\{1,\mathrm{}k\}F`$ with $`|y^{}(x_{m_i})|>\epsilon _i`$ or $`|y^{}(x_\mathrm{}_1)|\epsilon _{k+1}`$.

We first use again Ramsey’s theorem to assume without loss of generality that the sets $`F_L`$ do not depend on $`L`$. Thus $`F_L=F`$ for all $`L\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}\stackrel{~}{L}`$.

Fixing for a moment such an $`L=\{\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2\mathrm{}\}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}\stackrel{~}{L}`$ we let $`j_0=\mathrm{max}\{j[0,k]:jF\}`$. If $`j_0=0`$ (meaning $`F=\{1,2\mathrm{}k\}`$) we put $`z_L^{}=x_L^{}`$ and observe that we must have $`|z_L^{}(x_\mathrm{}_1)|\epsilon _{k+1}`$. If $`j_01`$ we apply the fact that our induction hypothesis is true for $`j_01`$ and are able to find a $`z_L^{}B_X^{}`$ satisfying (48) and secondly

(49)
$$|z_L^{}(x_{m_i})|<\epsilon _i\text{ if }i\{1,2,\mathrm{}k\}F$$

and, thus, we also must have $`|z_L^{}(x_\mathrm{}_1)|>\epsilon _{k+1}`$ (apply the induction hypothesis to the set
$`L=\{m_{j_0},\mathrm{}m_k,\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{}_3,\mathrm{}\}L_{j_01}`$, $`F[1,j_01]`$ and $`n+kj_0+1`$).

We write $`\stackrel{~}{L}=\{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_1,\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_2,\mathrm{}\}`$ and claim that for any $`m`$ there is a $`x_m^{}`$ so that $`|x_m^{}(x_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_i})|\epsilon _{k+1}`$, for $`i=1,2,\mathrm{}m`$. This would be a contradiction to the assumption that $`(x_i)`$ is weakly null.

For each $`j=1,2,\mathrm{}m`$ we find an $`n_j`$ so that the triple $`(\stackrel{~}{L}_j,F,n_j)`$ does not satisfy (47) with $`\stackrel{~}{L}_j=\{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_j,\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{m+1},\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_{m+2}\mathrm{}\}`$. Choose $`j_0`$ so that $`n_{j_0}`$ is the maximum of $`(n_j)_{j=1}^m`$. Then choose $`x_m^{}=z_{L_{j_0}}^{}`$ (where $`z_L`$ is defined as above).

We observe that $`x_m^{}`$ satisfies (48) with respect to all of the $`L_j`$’s. Secondly it satisfies (49) and thus it must follow that $`|x_m^{}(x_{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{}}_j})|>\epsilon _{k+1}`$ for all $`j=,2,\mathrm{}m`$. This finishes the proof of the claim and, thus the proof of the Lemma.∎

We will slightly reformulate Lemma 6.1.

###### Corollary 6.2.

Assume $`(x_n)`$ is a weakly null and semi-normalized sequence in a Banach space $`X`$. Let $`\delta >0`$, $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ and $`\epsilon >0`$.

Then there exists an $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ , $`M=\{m_1,m_2,\mathrm{}\}`$ so that for all finite $`FM`$ the following implication is true:

(50) $`\text{If there is an }x^{}B_X^{},\text{ with }x^{}(x_m)\delta \text{ for all }mF,\text{then there is also a }z^{}B_X^{},`$
$`\text{with }z^{}(x_m)\delta \epsilon \text{ for all }mF\text{ and }z^{}(x_{m_i})=0,\text{ for all }i,\text{ with }m_iF.`$
###### Proof.

After passing to a subsequence of $`x_n`$ we can assume that there is for each $`n`$ an $`x_n^{}(2/x_n)B_X^{}`$, with $`x_n^{}(x_m)=\delta _{(n,m)}`$, whenever $`n,m`$. Choose for $`n`$ $`\epsilon _n=2^n\epsilon /(2+sup_nx_n)`$ and apply Lemma 6.1 in order to obtain $`M=(m_i)\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$.

If $`FM`$ is finite and $`x^{}B_X^{}`$ so that $`x^{}(x_i)\delta `$, whenever $`iF`$, then we let $`y^{}B_X^{}`$ be as prescribed in (46) and let $`z^{}=\stackrel{~}{z}^{}/\stackrel{~}{z}^{}`$ where $`\stackrel{~}{z}^{}=y^{}_{mMF}y^{}(x_m)x_m^{}`$. ∎

We introduce notations similar to $`(\overline{z},b)`$, $`b(\overline{z},\beta )`$, $`B(\beta ,X)`$, $`\beta _0(\overline{z})`$ and $`\beta _0(X)`$.

###### Definition 6.3.

Let $`\overline{x}=(x_n)`$ be a seminormalized sequence in a Banach space $`X`$. For $`a>0`$ we put

(51)
$$𝒜(\overline{x},a)=\{A[]^<\mathrm{}:x^{}B_X^{}iAx^{}(x_i)a\}.$$

For $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ we let

(52) $`a(\overline{x},\alpha )=sup\{a0:N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}𝒜(\overline{x},a)\text{ is }\alpha \text{-large on }N\}`$
$`=sup\{a0:M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}_\alpha ^M𝒜(\overline{x},a)\},`$
(53) $`\alpha _0(\overline{x})=sup\{\alpha <\omega _1:a(\overline{x},\alpha )>0\},`$
(54) $`A(\alpha ,X)=sup\{a(\overline{z},\alpha ):\overline{z}B_X\text{ seminormalized and weakly null}\},\text{ and}`$
(55) $`\alpha _0(X)=sup\{\alpha <\omega _1:A(\alpha ,X)>0\}=sup\{\alpha _0(\overline{z}):\overline{z}B_X\text{ seminorm., weakly null}\}.`$
###### Lemma 6.4.

Let $`\overline{x}`$ be a seminormalized sequence in a Banach space $`X`$ with $`\alpha _0(\overline{x})<\omega _1`$.

Then there is subsequence $`\overline{y}=(y_n)`$ of $`\overline{x}`$ with the following properties.

1. For all $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ and all $`a^{}<a(\overline{y},\alpha )`$ the set $`𝒜(\overline{y},a^{})`$ is $`\alpha `$-large on $``$.
2. For all $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ and all subsequences $`\overline{z}`$ of $`\overline{y}`$ it follows that $`a(\overline{y},\alpha )=a(\overline{z},\alpha )`$.
3. The map $`[0,\omega _1)\alpha a(\overline{y},\alpha )`$ is decreasing and continuous.

Moreover if $`\beta _0<\alpha _0(\overline{x})`$ (and, thus $`a(\overline{x},\beta _0)>0`$) and if $`0<\eta <a(\overline{x},\beta _0)`$ the subsequence $`\overline{y}`$ can be chosen so that $`a(\overline{y},\beta _0)>a(\overline{x},\beta _0)\eta `$.

###### Proof.

We first note that if $`(\overline{u})=(u_n)`$ is almost a subsequence of $`\overline{v}=(v_n)`$ (i.e. for some $`n_0`$ it follows that $`(u_{n_0+i})_i`$ is a subsequence of $`\overline{v}`$) then $`a(\overline{u},\alpha )a(\overline{v},\alpha )`$. In particular this means that $`\alpha _0(\overline{u})\alpha _0(\overline{v})`$ and therefore it is enough to find a subsequence of $`\overline{x}`$ which satisfies (a), (b) and (c) for all $`\alpha <\alpha _0(\overline{x})`$.

Claim. Let $`\overline{y}=(y_n)`$ be a subsequence of $`\overline{x}`$ and let $`\alpha <\alpha _0(\overline{x})`$. Then there is a subsequence $`\overline{z}`$ of $`\overline{y}`$ so that for all $`a^{}<a(\overline{z},\alpha )`$ it follows that $`𝒜(\overline{z},a^{})`$ is $`\alpha `$-large on $``$.

Because of the observation at the beginning of the proof the sequence $`\overline{z}`$ in the claim has the property that $`a(\overline{u},\alpha )=a(\overline{z},\alpha )`$ for any sequence $`\overline{u}`$ which is almost a subsequence of $`\overline{z}`$.

In order to show the claim we let $`\epsilon _i0`$, put $`a_0=a(\overline{y},\alpha )`$ and choose an $`N_1=(n_i^{(1)})\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ so that $`_\alpha ^{N_1}𝒜(\overline{y},a_0\epsilon _1)`$. Letting now $`\overline{z}^{(1)}=(y_{n_i^{(1)}})`$ we deduce that $`_\alpha 𝒜(\overline{z}^{(1)},a_0\epsilon _1)`$ and, thus, $`_\alpha 𝒜(\overline{z},a_0\epsilon _1)`$ for any subsequence $`\overline{z}`$ of $`\overline{z}^{(1)}`$ (recall that $`_\alpha `$ is spreading), which finally implies that $`𝒜(\overline{z},a_0\epsilon _1)`$ is $`\alpha `$-large for any sequence $`\overline{z}`$ which is almost a subsequence of $`\overline{z}^{(1)}`$.

Now we let $`a_1=a(\overline{z}^{(1)},\alpha )`$ and continue this way, eventually finding $`\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N_1=(n_i^{(1)})\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N_2`$ $`=(n_i^{(2)})\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}\mathrm{}`$, so that if we put $`\overline{z}^{(k)}=(y_{n_i^{(k)}})`$ and $`a_k=a(\overline{z}^{(k)},\alpha )`$ it follows that $`_\alpha 𝒜(\overline{z}^{(k)},a_{k1}\epsilon _k)`$. We deduce that $`a_{k1}\epsilon _ka_ka_{k1}`$. Letting $`\overline{z}`$ be a diagonal sequence of the $`\overline{z}^{(k)}`$’s it follows that $`a(\overline{z},\alpha )=a=infa_k`$ and, since every subsequence of $`\overline{z}`$ is almost a subsequence of each $`\overline{z}^{(k)}`$ it follows for each $`k`$ that $`𝒜(\overline{z},a_{k1}\epsilon _k)`$ is $`\alpha `$-large, which implies the claim.

Note also, that if we had assumed that none of the $`\epsilon _i`$’s would exceed a value $`\eta `$ then it follows that $`a(\overline{z},\alpha )>a(\overline{y},\alpha )\eta `$ (this proves the part of our claim starting with “moreover” if we let $`\alpha =\beta _0`$). Writing now the interval $`[0,\alpha _0(\overline{x}))`$ as a sequence $`(\alpha _n)`$ and applying successively the above claim to each $`\alpha _n`$, we obtain by diagonalization a subsequence $`\overline{y}`$ of $`\overline{x}`$ so that (a) and (b) of our statement are satisfied. It is also clear that $`a(\overline{y},\alpha )`$ is decreasing in $`\alpha `$. Let $`\alpha `$ be a limit ordinal and $`a^{}<a=lim_{\beta \alpha }a(\overline{y},\beta )=inf_{\beta <\alpha }a(\overline{y},\beta )`$, then it follows that for every $`\beta <\alpha `$ that $`𝒜(\overline{y},a^{})`$ is $`\beta `$-large on $``$. By Proposition 4.3 this implies that $`𝒜(\overline{y},a^{})`$ is $`\alpha `$-large on $``$ for all $`a^{}<a`$, which implies the claimed continuity. ∎

###### Proposition 6.5.

Let $`\overline{x}=(x_n)`$ be a weakly null, and normalized sequence in a Banach space $`X`$ and $`c>\eta >0`$. Then there is a subsequence $`\overline{y}`$ of $`\overline{x}`$ so that

(56)
$$𝒜(\overline{y},2c+\eta )(\overline{y},\frac{1}{c})𝒜(\overline{y},c\eta )$$

and, thus it follows that

(57) $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}a(\overline{x},\alpha ){\displaystyle \frac{1}{b(\overline{x},\alpha )}}a(\overline{x},\alpha )\text{ and }{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}A(X,\alpha ){\displaystyle \frac{1}{B(X,\alpha )}}A(X,\alpha ),`$
(58) $`\alpha _0(\overline{x})=\beta _0(\overline{x}),\text{ and }\alpha _0(X)=\beta _0(X)`$
Proposition 6.5 will follow from Corollary 6.2 and the following simple observation.

###### Lemma 6.6.

Assume $`E=(^n,)`$, $`n`$ is an $`n`$-dimensional normed space for which the unit vector basis $`(e_i)_{i=1}^n`$ of $`^n`$ is a normalized basis. Define:

$`c_1=\mathrm{max}\left\{c0:A\{1,2\mathrm{}n\}:x^{}B_E^{}\begin{array}{cc}& x^{}(e_i)c\text{ if }iA\\ & x^{}(e_i)=0\text{ if }iA\end{array}\right\}`$
$`c_2=\mathrm{max}\left\{c0:cB_\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{}}^nB_E^{}\right\}\text{ and }c_3=\mathrm{min}\left\{{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}a_ie_i:{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}|a_i|=1\right\}`$
Then it follows that $`c_1c_2=c_3\frac{1}{2}c_1`$.

###### Proof.

It is clear that $`c_1c_2`$. To show that $`c_2c_3`$ we first observe that by the maximality of $`c_2`$ we can find an $`x^{}S_X^{}`$ of the form $`x^{}=_{i=1}^nx_i^{}e_i^{}S_E^{}`$ ($`e_i^{}`$ being the $`i`$-th coordinate functional) so that $`|x_i^{}|=c_2`$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{}n`$. Then choose $`x=(x_i)S_E`$ so that $`x^{}(x)=x_ix_i^{}=1`$. Thus $`1=x_ix_i^{}c_2|x_i|c_2/c_3`$, which implies the claimed inequality.

In order to show $`c_3c_2`$ and $`c_3c_1/2`$ let $`(a_i)_{i=1}^n^n`$ with $`_{i=1}^n|a_i|=1`$. First we can choose an $`x^{}=_{i=1}^nx_i^{}e_i^{}B_E^{}`$ with $`|x_i^{}|=c_2`$ and $`\text{sign}(x_i^{})=\text{sign}(a_i)`$, for $`1in`$. This proves that $`_{i=1}^na_ie_ix^{}(_{i=1}^na_ie_i)c_2`$, which implies $`c_3c_2`$. Secondly, we can assume that $`_{i=1}^na_i^+1/2`$ and a simliar argument implies that $`_{i=1}^na_ie_ic_1/2`$, and thus $`c_3c_1/2`$. ∎

###### Proof of Proposition 6.5.

Assume $`c>\eta >0`$ to be given. Using Corollary 6.2 we can find a subsequence $`\overline{y}=(y_n)`$ of $`\overline{x}`$ so that

$$𝒜(\overline{y},2c+\eta )\stackrel{~}{𝒜}(\overline{y},2c),\text{ and (trivially) }\stackrel{~}{𝒜}(\overline{y},c)𝒜(\overline{y},c),\text{ where we put for }r>0$$

$`\stackrel{~}{𝒜}(\overline{y},r)=\{A[]^<\mathrm{}:BAx^{}B_X^{}x^{}(y_i)r\text{ if }iB\text{ and }x^{}(y_i)=0\text{ if }iB\}`$.

Secondly we deduce from Lemma 6.6 that

$$\stackrel{~}{𝒜}(\overline{y},2c)\{A[N]^{\mathrm{}}:(a_i)_{iA}\underset{iA}{}a_iy_ic\underset{iA}{}|a_i|\}\stackrel{~}{𝒜}(\overline{y},c),$$

proving the claim (note that $`1/c_3`$, where $`c_3`$ as defined in Lemma 6.6 is the smallest $`c`$ so that $`E`$ is $`c`$-equivalent to $`\mathrm{}_1^n`$). ∎

We now can restate Theorem 1.4 as follows.

###### Theorem 6.7.

Let $`X`$ be a Banach space with a basis not containing $`c_0`$. Assume that there is an ordinal $`\beta _0[0,\alpha _0(X)]`$ so that the following two conditions hold.

1. There is a seminormalized weakly null sequence $`\overline{y}B_X`$ with $`a(\overline{y},\beta _0)=0`$.
2. $`inf_{\gamma <\beta _0}B(X,\gamma )>0`$.

Then there is a seminormalized block basis $`(x_n)`$ in $`X`$ and a subsequence $`(\stackrel{~}{y}_n)`$ of $`(y_n)`$ so that the map $`x_n\stackrel{~}{y}_n`$ extends to a strictly singular and linear bounded operator

$$T:[x_n:n][\stackrel{~}{y}_n:n].$$

In order to prove Theorem 6.7 we will need several Lemmas.

###### Lemma 6.8.

Let $`(_\alpha )`$ be a transfinite family and $`\overline{x}=(x_n)`$ be a weakly null and semi-normalized sequence in a Banach space $`X`$ satisfying the conclusions of Lemma 6.4. Let $`1\alpha <\omega _1`$ and assume that $`a(\overline{x},\alpha )>0`$. For any $`\eta >0`$ there is a subsequence $`\overline{z}`$ of $`\overline{x}`$ so that:

For $`A_\alpha `$, or $`A_\alpha _\alpha `$, there is a $`z_A^{}B_X^{}`$ so that $`z_A^{}(x_m)=0`$ if $`mA`$ and $`z_A^{}(x_m)a(\overline{x},\alpha )\eta `$, or $`z_A^{}(x_m)(a(\overline{x},\alpha )\eta )/2`$, if $`mA`$, respectively.

###### Proof.

Let $`1\alpha <\omega _1`$, with $`a(\overline{x},\alpha )>0`$, and $`\eta >0`$. Put $`a=a(\overline{x},\alpha )`$. From the definition of $`a(,)`$ it follows that there is an $`M_1`$ so that $`_\alpha ^{M_1}𝒜(\overline{x},a\eta /4)`$ and applying Corollary 6.2 we find an $`M_2\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}M_1`$ so that (50) holds for $`\delta =a\eta /4`$ and $`\epsilon =\eta /4`$. In particular this means that our claim holds for all $`A_\alpha ^{M_2}`$. Secondly we deduce that $`_\alpha ^{M_2}_\alpha ^{M_2}𝒜(\overline{x},(a\eta /2)/2)`$. Since each $`A_\alpha _\alpha `$ is the disjoint union of two elements of $`_\alpha `$, it also follows that for any $`A_\alpha ^{M_2}_\alpha ^{M_2}`$ we find a $`z_A^{}B_X^{}`$ so that $`z_A^{}(x_m)=0`$ if $`mM_2A`$ and $`z_A^{}(x_m)(a(\overline{x},\alpha )\eta )/2`$, if $`mA`$.

Choosing finally $`\overline{z}`$ to be the subsequence defined by $`M_3`$, will finish the proof. ∎

Using Lemma 6.8 successively for different $`\alpha `$’s and the appropriate choices of $`\eta `$ we conclude from a simple diagonalization argument the following Corollary.

###### Corollary 6.9.

Let $`\overline{x}=(x_n)`$ be a weakly null and semi-normalized sequence in a Banach space $`X`$ satisfying the conclusions of Lemma 6.4, let $`(\mathrm{}_k)`$ be strictly increasing, and let $`(\alpha _k)[0,\alpha _0(\overline{x}))`$. Then there is a subsequence $`\overline{z}`$ so that for any $`k`$ and any $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_k`$ it follows that:

For $`A_\alpha _{\mathrm{}}[\{k,k+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}`$, or $`A[_\alpha _{\mathrm{}}_\alpha _{\mathrm{}}][\{k,k+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}`$, there is a $`z_A^{}B_X^{}`$ so that $`z_A^{}(x_m)=0`$ if $`mA`$ and $`z_A^{}(x_m)a(\overline{z},\alpha _{\mathrm{}})/2`$, or $`z_A^{}(x_m)a(\overline{z},\alpha _{\mathrm{}})/4`$, if $`mA`$, respectively.

###### Lemma 6.10.

Let $`\overline{x}=(x_n)`$ be a weakly null and semi-normalized sequence in a Banach space $`X`$ satisfying the conclusions of Lemma 6.4. Let $`(\delta _k)`$ be decreasing sequence in $`(0,1)`$, with $`\delta _k1/(k+1)`$, for any $`k`$.

Then there is a subsequence $`\overline{z}`$ of $`\overline{x}`$ and a sequence of ordinals $`\alpha _k`$ which increases to $`\alpha _0(\overline{x})`$ so that for each $`k`$

1. $`\frac{1}{2}\delta _ka(\overline{z},\alpha _k)\delta _k`$
2. $`\alpha _k`$ is of the form $`\alpha _k=\stackrel{~}{\alpha }_k+k`$ (here we identify positive integers with finite ordinals of the same cardinality).

###### Proof.

We define for $`k`$ $`\beta _k=\mathrm{min}\{\beta :a(\overline{x},\beta )\delta _k\}`$. Since $`\delta _k1/(k+1)`$ it is easy to see that $`\beta _k(k+1)`$. If $`\beta _k`$, is a successor, say $`\beta _k=\gamma _k+1`$, then $`a(\overline{x},\gamma _k)\delta _k`$ If $`\beta _k`$ is a limit ordinal we deduce from the continuity that $`a(\overline{x},\beta _k)=\delta _k`$, and we let $`\gamma _k=\beta _k`$.

It follows from (44) that $`a(\overline{x},2\gamma _k)\frac{1}{2}a(\overline{x},\gamma _k)\frac{1}{2}\delta _k`$. Since $`\gamma _kk`$ we will be able to find an $`\alpha _k`$ between $`\beta _k`$ and $`2\gamma _k`$ which is of the form as required in (b). ∎

###### Lemma 6.11.

Assume that $`\overline{x}=(x_n)`$ is a weakly null and seminormalized sequence in a Banach space $`X`$ satisfying the conclusion of Lemma 6.4. Let $`\alpha _k`$ be ordinals increasing to $`\alpha _0(\overline{x})`$ so that for each $`k`$ $`\alpha _k`$ can be written as $`\alpha _k=\stackrel{~}{\alpha }_k+k`$ for some $`\stackrel{~}{\alpha }_k<\omega _1`$. For $`k`$ let $`\epsilon _k=a(\overline{z},\alpha _k)`$.

1. There exists a transfinite family $`(𝒢_\alpha )`$ and a subsequence $`\overline{z}=(z_n)`$ of $`\overline{x}`$ so that for all $`(a_i)\text{c}_{00}`$ it follows that

$$a_iz_i8\underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\epsilon _{k1}\underset{A𝒢_{\alpha _k}}{\mathrm{max}}\underset{iA}{}|a_i|.$$
2. Let $`(_\alpha )`$ be a transfinite family. Then there is a subsequence $`\overline{z}=(z_n)`$ of $`\overline{x}`$ so that for all $`(a_i)\text{c}_{00}`$ it follows that

$$a_iz_i\frac{1}{8}\underset{k,A_{\alpha _k}}{\mathrm{max}}\epsilon _k\underset{iA}{}|a_i|.$$

###### Proof.

From our assumption on $`\overline{x}`$ it follows that for all $`Q\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ and all $`k`$ it follows that $`𝕀(𝒜(\overline{x},2\epsilon _k),Q)\alpha _k`$. Therefore we can apply Corollary 4.11 to obtain a transfinite family $`(𝒢_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ and a $`K=\{k_1,k_2,\mathrm{}\}\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$, $`k_i\mathrm{}`$, if $`i\mathrm{}`$, so that for all $`\mathrm{}`$

(59)
$$𝒜(\overline{x},2\epsilon _{\mathrm{}})[\{k_{\mathrm{}},k_{\mathrm{}+1},\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_\alpha _{\mathrm{}}^K.$$

Putting $`\overline{z}=(x_{k_i})`$ this implies that for all $`\mathrm{}`$

(60)
$$𝒜(\overline{z},2\epsilon _{\mathrm{}})[\{\mathrm{},\mathrm{}+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}𝒢_\alpha _{\mathrm{}}.$$

Let $`(a_i)\text{c}_{00}`$. We find a $`z^{}B_X^{}`$ which norms $`a_iz_i`$ and ($`\epsilon _0=supz_i`$) and deduce that

(61) $`z^{}\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}a_iz_i\right)`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{2\epsilon _k<z^{}(z_i)2\epsilon _{k1}}{}}z^{}(z_i)a_i+{\displaystyle \underset{2\epsilon _k<z^{}(z_i)2\epsilon _{k1}}{}}z^{}(z_i)a_i`$
$`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}2\epsilon _{k1}\left[{\displaystyle \underset{2\epsilon _k<z^{}(z_i)2\epsilon _{k1}}{}}|a_i|+{\displaystyle \underset{2\epsilon _k<z^{}(z_i)2\epsilon _{k1}}{}}|a_i|\right].`$
Now note that the set $`\{i:2\epsilon _k<z^{}(z_i)\}`$ is the union of two sets in $`𝒢_{\alpha _k}`$ namely $`\{ik:2\epsilon _k<z^{}(z_i)\}`$ and $`\{ik:2\epsilon _k<z^{}(z_i)\}`$ (where the second set lies in $`𝒢_{\alpha _k}`$ because $`\alpha _k`$ is the $`k`$-th successor of some $`\stackrel{~}{\alpha }_k`$). Similarly we can proceed with $`\{i:2\epsilon _k<z^{}(z_i)\}`$ and we therefore derive from (61) that

(62) $`z^{}\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}a_iz_i\right){\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}2\epsilon _{k1}4\underset{A𝒢_{\alpha _k}}{\mathrm{max}}{\displaystyle \underset{iA}{}}|a_i|,`$
which finishes the proof of part (a).

In order to prove part (b) we first choose $`\mathrm{}_0=0`$ and $`(\mathrm{}_k)_k`$ fast enough increasing so that for all $`(a_i)\text{c}_{00}`$ it follows that

(63)
$$a_iz_i\underset{A,\mathrm{\#}A=k}{sup}\frac{\epsilon _\mathrm{}_k}{4}\underset{iA}{}|a_i|.$$

After passing to a subsequence we can assume that the conclusion of Corollary 6.9 is satisfied.

Let $`(a_i)\text{c}_{00}`$, $`k`$, $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_k`$ and $`A_\alpha _{\mathrm{}}[\{k,k+1,\mathrm{}\}]^<\mathrm{}`$. Letting $`A^+=\{iA:a_i0\}`$ and $`A^{}=AA^+`$ we can choose $`z_{A^+}^{}`$ and $`z_A^{}^{}`$ as prescribed in Corollary 6.9 and deduce that

(64)
$$\underset{i=k}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_iz_i\frac{1}{2}z_{A^+}^{}\left(\underset{i=k}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_iz_i\right)\frac{1}{2}z_A^{}^{}\left(\underset{i=k}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_iz_i\right)\frac{1}{4}\epsilon _{\mathrm{}}\underset{iA}{}|a_i|.$$

Therefore we obtain

$`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}a_iz_i`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\underset{k}{\mathrm{max}}\left[{\displaystyle \underset{i=k}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}a_iz_i+{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{k1}{}}}a_iz_i\right]`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\underset{k}{\mathrm{max}}\left[\underset{\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}_{k1},\mathrm{}_k],\\ A_\alpha _{\mathrm{}},Ak\end{array}}{\mathrm{max}}\epsilon _{\mathrm{}}{\displaystyle \underset{iA}{}}|a_i|+\epsilon _{\mathrm{}_{k1}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{k1}{}}}|a_i|\right]`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\underset{k}{\mathrm{max}}\underset{\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}_{k1},\mathrm{}_k]\\ A_\alpha _{\mathrm{}}\end{array}}{\mathrm{max}}\epsilon _{\mathrm{}}{\displaystyle \underset{iA}{}}|a_i|={\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\underset{\mathrm{},A_\alpha _{\mathrm{}}}{\mathrm{max}}\epsilon _{\mathrm{}}{\displaystyle \underset{iA}{}}|a_i|,\text{ proving part (b).}`$
###### Lemma 6.12.

Assume that $`\overline{u}=(u_n)`$ and $`\overline{v}=(v_n)`$ are two weakly null and seminormalized sequences in a Banach space $`X`$ satisfying the conclusions of Lemma 6.4 such that

(65)
$$a(\overline{u},\alpha )<\frac{1}{5}a(\overline{v},\alpha ).$$

Let $`\overline{x}=\overline{u}+\overline{v}=(u_n+v_n)`$. Then there is a subsequence $`\overline{z}`$ of $`\overline{x}`$ so that

(66)
$$_\alpha 𝒜(\overline{z},a(\overline{v},\alpha )/4),\text{ in particular }a(\overline{y},\alpha )a(\overline{v},\alpha )/4\text{ for all subsequences }\overline{y}\text{ of }\overline{z}.$$

###### Proof.

By passing to a subsequence we can assume that the conclusions of Lemma 6.8 are satisfied for $`\overline{v}`$, $`\alpha `$, and $`\eta =\frac{1}{10}a(\overline{v},\alpha )`$. In particular we find for each $`A_\alpha _\alpha `$, a $`v_A^{}B_X^{}`$ which has the property that $`v_A^{}(x_m)(a(\overline{v},\alpha )\eta )/2=\frac{9}{20}a(\overline{v},\alpha )`$, whenever $`mA`$, and $`v_A^{}(x_m)=0`$, if $`mA`$.

For $`A_\alpha _\alpha `$ we define $`\psi (A)=\{iA:v_A^{}(u_i)<\frac{1}{5}a(\overline{v},\alpha )\}`$, and note that
$`\mathrm{\Psi }(_\alpha _\alpha )𝒜(\overline{u},\frac{1}{5}a(\overline{v},\alpha ))`$ and $`𝕀(𝒜(\overline{u},\frac{1}{5}a(\overline{v},\alpha )),)\alpha `$ (using (65)). Secondly we note that $`\{A\mathrm{\Psi }(A):A_\alpha _\alpha \}`$ contains $`𝒜(\overline{v}+\overline{u},\frac{1}{4}a(\overline{v},\alpha ))`$. This means that we can apply Proposition 5.5 and derive that for some $`N\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}`$ we have $`𝕀(𝒜(\overline{v}+\overline{u},\frac{1}{4}a(\overline{v},\alpha )),N)\alpha `$ and thus that there is an $`M\stackrel{\mathrm{}}{}N`$ so that $`_\alpha ^M𝒜(\overline{v}+\overline{u},\frac{1}{4}a(\overline{v},\alpha ))`$ which implies the claim for the subsequence of $`\overline{v}+\overline{u}`$ defined by $`M`$. ∎

###### Lemma 6.13.

For $`\alpha <\omega _1`$, $`(\alpha _n)[0,\omega _1)`$ strictly increasing, $`(\mathrm{\Theta }_n)[0,1]`$ being non decreasing, and $`(\mathrm{}_n)`$, with $`lim_n\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_n=\mathrm{}`$ it follows that the Schreier spaces $`S(_\alpha )`$, $`S((\mathrm{\Theta }_n),(_{\alpha _n}))`$ and $`S((\mathrm{\Theta }_n),(_n),(\mathrm{}_n))`$ (recall Definition 1.6) are hereditarily $`c_0`$, assuming that in the case of the space $`S((\mathrm{\Theta }_n),(_{\alpha _n}))`$ the sequence $`(\mathrm{\Theta }_n)`$ decreases to 0.

###### Proof.

We will proof by transfinite induction on $`\alpha <\omega _1`$ that the spaces $`S(_\alpha )`$, $`S((\mathrm{\Theta }_n),(_{\alpha _n}))`$ and $`S((\mathrm{\Theta }_n),(_n),(\mathrm{}_n))`$, where $`\alpha _n\alpha `$, is hereditarily $`c_0`$ (of course the claim for the second and third space is vacuous if $`\alpha `$ is not a limit ordinal).

Assume the claim is true for all $`\beta <\alpha `$. If $`\alpha `$ is a successor, say $`\alpha =\beta +1`$ it is clear that the norm on $`S(_\beta )`$ and $`S(_{\beta +1})`$ are equivalent, and, thus, the claim follows from the induction hypothesis.

If $`\alpha `$ is a limit ordinal then $`S(_\alpha )`$ is a special case of the space $`((\mathrm{\Theta }_n),(_{\alpha _n}),(\mathrm{}_n))`$. Indeed, we let $`\mathrm{\Theta }_n=1`$, for $`n`$, and if $`A_n(\alpha )`$ is the approximating sequence we write $`A_n(\alpha )`$ as a strictly increasing sequence $`\{\alpha _n:n\}`$ and put $`\mathrm{}_n=\mathrm{min}\{\mathrm{}:\alpha _nA_{\mathrm{}}(\alpha )\}`$.

Therefore we only need to consider the norms

$$x=\{\begin{array}{cc}sup_{nN}sup_{F_{\alpha _n},\mathrm{}_nF}\mathrm{\Theta }_n_{iF}|x_i|\hfill & \text{or }\hfill \\ sup_{nN}sup_{F_{\alpha _n}}\mathrm{\Theta }_n_{iF}|x_i|\hfill & \end{array}.$$

Let $`X`$ be the completion of $`\text{c}_{00}`$ under $``$, and let, without of generality, $`Y`$ be the closed subspace spanned by a normalized block $`(y_n)`$. Either there is a further block $`(z_n)`$ and an $`n_0`$ so that the norm $``$ is on the closed subspace spanned by $`(z_n)`$ equivalent to the norm $`_{\alpha _{n_0}}`$ on $`S(_{\alpha _{n_0}})`$. Then our claim follows from the induction hypothesis. Or we can choose a normalized block $`(z_n)`$ in $`Y`$ and increasing sequences $`(k_n),(m_n)`$ in $``$, with $`k_n<m_n<k_{n+1}`$ so that for each $`n`$ it follows that (we denote for $`z=a_ie_i\text{c}_{00}`$ and $`k`$ $`z|_{[\mathrm{}_k,\mathrm{})}=_{ik}a_ie_i`$)

(67) $`z_n_{\alpha _k}<2^n,\text{ whenever }kk_n`$
(68) $`\mathrm{max}\text{supp}z_n\mathrm{}_n\text{ (if we assume admissibility) and }1=z_n=\mathrm{\Theta }_{m_n}z_n_{\alpha _{m_n}}`$
(69) $`\begin{array}{cc}& \mathrm{\Theta }_kz_n_{\alpha _k}\\ & \text{ respectively }\\ & \mathrm{\Theta }_kz_n|_{[k,\mathrm{})}_{\alpha _k}\end{array}\}<2^n,\text{ whenever }kk_{n+1}`$
(for (69) we are using either the $`(\mathrm{}_n)`$-admissibility condition or the fact that $`\mathrm{\Theta }_n0`$, if $`n\mathrm{}`$).

Finally it is easy to see that (67), (69)and (68) imply that $`(z_{m_n})`$ is equivalent to the $`c_0`$-unit basis.∎

We are now ready for the proof of Theorem 6.7.

###### Proof of Theorem 6.7.

We choose a seminormalized and weakly null sequence $`\overline{y}B_X`$ with the property that $`a(\overline{y},\beta _0)=0`$ and (by passing to a subsequence) assume that $`\overline{y}`$ satisfies the conclusion of Lemma 6.4. We let

(70)
$$c=\mathrm{min}\{\frac{1}{5},\frac{1}{2}\underset{\gamma <\beta _0}{inf}B(X,\gamma )\}$$

Using first Lemma 6.10 we find an increasing sequence of ordinals $`(\alpha _k)[0,\alpha _0(\overline{y}))`$ so that, after passing to a subsequence, we can assume that $`\frac{1}{2}(c/2)^{3k}a(\overline{y},\alpha _k)(c/2)^{3k}`$ and that $`\alpha _k`$ is the $`k`$-th successor of another ordinal, for all $`k`$. Using secondly Lemma 6.11(a) we can assume, after passing again to a subsequence, that there is a transfinite family $`(𝒢_\alpha )_{\alpha <\omega _1}`$ so that for any $`(a_i)\text{c}_{00}`$ it follows that

(71)
$$a_iy_i8\underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}(c/2)^{3k3}\underset{A𝒢_{\alpha _k}}{\mathrm{max}}\underset{iA}{}|a_i|\frac{16}{c^3}\underset{k,A𝒢_{\alpha _k}}{\mathrm{max}}c^{3k}\underset{iA}{}|a_i|$$

(where the second inequality is an easy application of the inequality of Holder).

We now choose (infinitely or finitely many) sequences $`\overline{x}^{(1)}`$, $`\overline{x}^{(2)}`$ in $`X`$ as follows.

We first choose $`\overline{x}^{(1)}B_X`$ weakly null, seminormalized, so that $`a(\overline{x}^{(1)},\alpha _1)>c`$. By Lemma 6.4 (using also the part which starts with “moreover” for $`\alpha _1`$) we can assume that the conclusions of Lemma 6.4 are satisfied.

Now we consider the following two cases:

Case 1: For all $`k`$ it follows that $`a(\overline{x}^{(1)},\alpha _k)c^{3k}`$. In that case we are done for the moment and do not continue to choose other sequences in $`X`$.

Case 2: There is a smallest $`k_1`$ (necessarily bigger than 1) for which $`a(\overline{x}^{(1)},\alpha _{k_1})<c^{3k_1}`$.

In this case we choose a seminormalized and weakly null sequence (recall (70))

(72)
$$\overline{y}^{(1)}\frac{5}{c}c^{3k_1}B_X\text{ with }a(\overline{y}^{(1)},\alpha _{k_1})5c^{3k_1}$$

and define $`(x^{(2)}(n))=\overline{x}^{(2)}=\overline{x}^{(1)}+\overline{y}^{(1)}`$. Using now Lemma 6.12 we find a subsequence $`(x(2,n_i^{(2)}))_i`$ of $`\overline{x}^{(2)}=(x(2,n))_n`$ so that

(73)
$$a((x(2,n_i^{(2)}))_i,\alpha _{k_1})c^{3k_1}.$$

Once again we can consider two cases, namely

Case 1: For all $`k`$, $`kk_1`$, it follows that $`a((x(2,n_i^{(2)})),\alpha _k)c^{3k}`$.

Case 2: There is a smallest $`k_2`$ (must be bigger than $`k_1`$) for which $`a(\overline{x}(2,n_i^{(2)}),\alpha _{k_2})|<c^{3k_2}`$.

As before we stop in Case 1 and define in Case 2 sequences $`\overline{y}^{(2)}`$, $`\overline{x}^{(3)}`$ and $`n_i^{(3)}`$ as before.

We proceed in that way and eventually find an $`\mathrm{}\{\mathrm{}\}`$, a strictly increasing sequence $`(k_j)_{1j<\mathrm{}+1}`$ and sequences $`\overline{y}^{(j)}\frac{5}{c}c^{3k_j}B_X`$, and $`\overline{x}^{(j)}=\overline{x}(1)+\overline{y}^{(1)}+\mathrm{}\overline{y}^{(j1)}X`$, and subsequences of $`N`$ $`==(n_i^{(1)})(n_i^{(2)})\mathrm{}`$, for $`1j<\mathrm{}+1`$ so that for any $`j`$, $`1j<\mathrm{}+1`$, it follows that

(74)
$$(\overline{y}^{(j)})\frac{5}{c}c^{3k_j}B_X$$

satisfying the conclusions of Lemma 6.4 and

(75)
$$a((x(j,n_i^{(j)})),\alpha _k)c^{3k},\text{ whenever }k_{j1}k<k_j$$

(where $`k_0=1`$ and $`k_{\mathrm{}}=\mathrm{}`$ if $`\mathrm{}<\mathrm{}`$). Moreover (75) holds for all subsequences of $`(x^{(j)},n_i^{(j)}))_i`$.

Now we choose $`\overline{x}`$ to be the diagonal sequence of $`x(j,n_i^{(j)})`$, if $`\mathrm{}=\mathrm{}`$ (i.e. $`x_i=(x(i,n_i^{(i)}))_i`$) or we choose $`\overline{x}=x(\mathrm{},n^{(\mathrm{})_i})`$ if $`\mathrm{}<\mathrm{}`$.

For any $`k`$, there is a $`j`$, $`1j<\mathrm{}+1`$, so that $`k_{j1}k<k_j`$ and we notice from (74) that $`\overline{x}`$ is up to some finitely many elements a subsequence of $`x^{(j1)}`$ and a sequence whose elements are of norm not exceeding $`\frac{5}{c}_{jk_j}c^{3j}`$. Thus, $`\overline{x}`$ is seminormalized and we conclude from (75) that

(76)
$$a(\overline{x},\alpha _k)c^{3k}\frac{5}{c}\underset{ik_j}{}c^{3i}\frac{1}{2}c^{3k},\text{ whenever }j\text{ and }k_{j1}k<k_j.$$

Using Lemma 6.11 again we can assume (by passing to subsequence) that for any $`(a_i)\text{c}_{00}`$

(77)
$$a_ix_i\frac{1}{16}\underset{k,A𝒢_{\alpha _k}}{\mathrm{max}}c^{3k}\underset{iA}{}|a_i|.$$

Combining (71) and (77) we showed that for any $`(a_i)\text{c}_{00}`$ it follows that

$$\frac{c^3}{16}a_iy_i\underset{k,A𝒢_{\alpha _k}}{\mathrm{max}}c^{3k}\underset{iA}{}|a_i|16a_ix_i.$$

Thus the mapping $`x_iy_i`$ extends to a linear bounded operator $`T`$ which factors through a space which is hereditarily $`c_0`$ (by Lemma 6.13). On the other hand we assumed that $`X`$ does not contain $`c_0`$, therefore $`T`$ must be strictly singular. ∎

Thomas Schlumprecht, Texas A&M University, College Station, Tx 77843.

email: schlump@math.tamu.edu