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This question was previously posted on MSE.

Let $E$ be a Banach lattice such that $E$ is an $M$-space. Assume that $T\colon E\to E$ is a positive bounded non-compact irreducible linear operator with positive spectral radius. And define \begin{align*} T’\colon E’ &\to E'\\ \phi&\mapsto [v\mapsto \phi(Tv)], \end{align*} where $E’$ is the dual of $E$.

Under the above assumptions, I would like to know: Is it possible to guarantee that $T’$ has a positive eigenvector? If not, is there any “mild assumption” that can be added to this setting to ensure the existence of a positive eigenvector of $T’$?

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  • $\begingroup$ Yes, $T'$ has a positive eigenvector. That's part of the classical Krein-Rutman theorem. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 24, 2022 at 10:56
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    $\begingroup$ @JochenGlueck could you please give me a reference to the version of the Krein-Rutman theorem that you are referring to? As far as I know, to apply the Krein-Rutman theorem we need T to be a compact operator. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 24, 2022 at 11:27
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    $\begingroup$ Oh sorry, I read "compact" instead of "non-compact". Without compactness it's not true in general, unless you assume that $E$ has an order unit. Does your space have an order unit? $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 24, 2022 at 12:42
  • $\begingroup$ Sadly we do not have order unity in my case $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 24, 2022 at 16:14
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for your reply! I added an answer with a counterexample. Concerning sufficient conditions, what first comes to my mind is either the above mentioned assumption that $E$ has an order unit, or the Krein-Rutman type assumption that the essential spectral radius of $T$ is strictly smaller than the spectral radius of $T$. But these assumptions might not be considered to be particularly mild. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 24, 2022 at 17:15

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No, the dual operator $T'$ does not have a positive eigenvector, in general. As a counterexample, consider the space $E = c_0(\mathbb{Z})$ if scalar-valued sequences indexed over the integers, endowed with the sup norm and the pointwise order. This is a Banach lattice and an M-space. Its dual space $E'$ can be identified with $\ell^1(\mathbb{Z})$.

Now let $L$ and $R$ denote the left and right shift on $E$, respectively, and define $T := (L+R)/2$. Then $T$ is positive and irreducible and has norm $1$. The spectral radius of $T$ is $1$ (to see this, note that the bi-dual operator $T''$ on $\ell^\infty(\mathbb{Z})$ has the constant sequence with value $1$ as a fixed point).

However, $T' = (L' + R')/2$ does not have positive eigenvector. Indeed, assume to the contrary that $v \in E'$ is an eigenvector of $T'$ with entries $\ge 0$ and associated eigenvalue $\lambda$. Then $\lambda$ is a real number and $\lambda \ge 0$. We distinguish between two cases:

  1. case: $\lambda < 1$. In this case it follows that $T^nv \to 0$ as $n \to \infty$. Thus, the ideal $$ I = \{x \in E': \; T^n |x| \to 0 \text{ as } n \to \infty\} $$ in $E'$ contains the non-zero vector $v$. It is also closed (since $T'$ is power-bounded), and since the operator $T'$ can easily be checked to be irreducible, too, it follows that $I = E'$. But this cannot be true since $T'$ is norm preserving on the positive cone $E'_+$.

  2. case: $\lambda = 1$. In this case, we can use that $T'$ commutes with the right shift $L'$ and the left shift $R'$ on $E'$, and hence every shifted version of $v$ is also an eigenvector for the eigenvalue $1$. Therefore, the eigenspace of $T'$ for the eigenvalue $1$ is infinite-dimensional. However, it follows from infinite-dimensional Perron-Frobenius theory that the fixed space of a power-bounded irreducible operator is either $\{0\}$ or one-dimensional, so was also have a contradiction in this case.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you very much for the answer $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 27, 2022 at 15:05

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