Amenability constants for unconditional sums of Banach algebras

Abstract

We study Johnson amenability for unconditional direct sums of Banach algebras. Given a family $(A_i)_{i\in I}$ of Banach algebras and a Banach sequence lattice $E$ on~$I$, the $E$-sum $\bigl(\bigoplus_{i\in I} A_i\bigr)_{\!E}$ carries a natural Banach algebra structure via coordinatewise multiplication. Under the hypothesis that $C_E := \sup\{\|\chi_F\|_E : F \subseteq I \text{ finite}\} < \infty$, we prove that this $E$-sum is amenable if and only if the amenability constants of the summands are uniformly bounded, and we establish the two-sided estimate \[ \sup_{i\in I}\operatorname{AM}(A_i) \;\le\; \operatorname{AM}\Bigl(\bigl(\textstyle\bigoplus_{i\in I} A_i\bigr)_{\!E}\Bigr) \;\le\; C_E^2 \sup_{i\in I}\operatorname{AM}(A_i). \] We show that the factor $C_E^2$ is sharp by exhibiting finite-dimensional examples where equality holds. We further prove that finiteness of $C_E$ is necessary whenever infinitely many summands are non-zero and the sum admits a bounded approximate identity. Finally, we investigate weak amenability of $E$-sums. We prove that weak amenability passes to summands, that $E$-sums of commutative weakly amenable algebras are weakly amenable, and contrasting sharply with the Johnson amenability picture that for $1 < p < \infty$, the $\ell_p$-sum of infinitely many copies of a non-commutative weakly amenable algebra fails to be weakly amenable. In the $c_0$-type regime ($C_E < \infty$), we establish a two-sided estimate for weak amenability constants analogous to that for Johnson amenability.