 Block averaging compactness counterexample

For $1<p<\infty$, let $q=p/(p-1)$ and partition the coordinates into consecutive finite blocks $B_k$ of lengths $m_k\to \infty$. The displayed map defines a norm-one operator on the l-p sequence space. By Hölder's inequality, $|(Tx{)}_k{|}^p\le {\sum }_{j\in B_k}|x_j{|}^p$, giving the upper norm bound. For the unit vector $e_j$ with $j\in B_k$, $T{e}_j=m_k^{-1/q}{e}_k$, so its norm tends to zero as $j\to \infty$.

Nevertheless, $x^{(k)}=m_k^{-1/p}{1}_{B_k}$ has norm one and maps to $e_k$. Those images are pairwise distance $2^{1/p}$ apart. Thus $T$ is not a compact operator, and has norm exactly one. Vanishing images of a chosen basis do not alone test compactness on ${\ell }^p$ for $p>1$. The map is the adjoint of the isometric block embedding $(Uy{)}_j=m_k^{-1/q}{y}_k$, $j\in B_k$, on ${\ell }^q$.