On bounds between all s-numbers and widths of convex sets

Abstract

We prove $a_n(S) \le e\,(n+1)\, s_n(S)$ for every s-number sequence $(s_n)$, every bounded linear operator $S$ between normed spaces, and every $n \in \mathbb{N}_0$, where $a_n$ are the approximation numbers, which are the largest s-numbers. This is sharp up to the constant and settles conjectures of Mityagin, Henkin, Carl and Pietsch dating back to 1963. We also extend it to widths of convex sets and discuss optimality there. The proof is elementary.