1 Introduction and main results

Let T be a multilinear operator initially defined on the m-fold product of Schwartz spaces and taking values in the space of tempered distributions,

T:S ( R n ) ××S ( R n ) S ( R n ) .

Following [1], we say that T is a multilinear Calderón-Zygmund operator if, for some 1 q j <, it extends to a bounded multilinear operator from L q 1 ×× L q m to L q , where 1 q = 1 q 1 ++ 1 q m , and if there exists a function K, defined off the diagonal x= y 1 == y m in ( R n ) m + 1 , satisfying

T ( f ) (x)=T( f 1 ,, f m )(x)= ( R n ) m K(x, y 1 ,, y m ) f 1 ( y 1 ) f m ( y m )d y 1 d y m ,
(1.1)

for all x j = 1 m supp f j ;

| K ( y 0 , y 1 , , y m ) | A ( k , l = 0 m | y k y l | ) m n ;
(1.2)

and

| K ( y 0 , y 1 , , y j , , y m ) K ( y 0 , y 1 , , y j , , y m ) | A | y j y j | ϵ ( k , l = 0 m | y k y l | ) m n + ϵ
(1.3)

for some ϵ>0 and all 0jm, whenever 2| y j y j | max 0 k m | y j y k |. Such kernels are called m-linear Calderón-Zygmund kernels, and the collection of such functions is denoted by m-CZK(A,ϵ) in [1]. As in [2], we define the maximal multilinear operator by

T ( f )(x)= sup δ > 0 | T δ ( f 1 , , f m ) ( x ) | ,

where T δ is the smooth truncation of T given by

T δ ( f )(x)= | x y 1 | 2 + + | x y m | 2 > δ 2 K(x, y 1 ,, y m ) f 1 ( y 1 ) f m ( y m )d y 1 d y m .

The vector-valued multilinear Calderón-Zygmund operator T q and vector-valued maximal multilinear operator T q associated with T are defined and studied in [3, 4].

T q ( f ) ( x ) = | T ( f 1 , , f m ) ( x ) | q = T ( f 1 , , f m ) ( x ) l q = ( k = 1 | T ( f 1 k , , f m k ) ( x ) | q ) 1 / q , T q ( f ) ( x ) = | T ( f 1 , , f m ) ( x ) | q = T ( f 1 , , f m ) ( x ) l q = ( k = 1 | T ( f 1 k , , f m k ) ( x ) | q ) 1 / q ,

where f i = { f i k } k = 1 for i=1,,m.

Theorem A [3]

Assume that T is a multilinear Calderón-Zygmund operator. Let 1< p 1 ,, p m <, 1< q 1 ,, q m < and 1/m<p,q< such that 1 p = 1 p 1 ++ 1 p m , 1 q = 1 q 1 ++ 1 q m . If ( ω 1 p 1 ,, ω m p m )( A p 1 ,, A p m ), then there exists a constant C>0 such that

T q ( f ) L p ( ω 1 p ω m p ) C j = 1 m | f j | q j L p j ( ω j p j ) .

Theorem B [4]

Assume that T is a multilinear Calderón-Zygmund operator. Let 1 p 1 ,, p m <, 1< q 1 ,, q m < and 0<p,q< such that 1 p = 1 p 1 ++ 1 p m , 1 q = 1 q 1 ++ 1 q m .

  1. (i)

    If 1< p 1 ,, p m < and ω A p 1 A p m , then there exists a constant C>0 such that

    T q ( f ) L p ( ω ) C j = 1 m | f j | q j L p j ( ω ) .
  2. (ii)

    If at least one p j =1 and ω A 1 , then there exists a constant C>0 such that

    T q ( f ) L p , ( ω ) C j = 1 m | f j | q j L p j ( ω ) .

It is worth noting that similar results hold for T in Theorems A and B.

We will replace (1.3) by a weaker regularity condition on the kernel K. Assume that operators A t are associated with kernels a t (x,y) in the sense that

A t f(x)= R n a t (x,y)f(y)dy

for every function f L p ( R n ), 1p, and a t (x,y) satisfy the following size condition:

| a t ( x , y ) | h t (x,y)= t n / s h ( | x y | s t ) ,
(1.4)

where s is a positive fixed constant and h is a positive, bounded, decreasing function satisfying that for some η>0,

lim r r n + η h ( r s ) =0.
(1.5)

The j th transpose T , j of T is defined via

T , j ( f 1 , , f m ) , g = T ( f 1 , , f j 1 , g , f j + 1 , , f m ) , f j

for all f 1 ,, f m , g in S( R n ). It is easy to check that the kernel K , j of T , j is related to the kernel K of T via the identity

K , j (x, y 1 ,, y j 1 , y j , y j + 1 ,, y m )=K( y j , y 1 ,, y j 1 ,x, y j + 1 ,, y m ).

To maintain uniform notation, we may occasionally denote T= T , 0 and K= K , 0 .

Assumption (H0) We always assume that there exist some 1 q 1 ,, q m < and some 0<q< with 1 q = 1 q 1 ++ 1 q m such that both T and T map L q 1 ×× L q m to L q , .

Assumption (H1) Assume that there exist operators { A t ( i ) } t > 0 with kernels a t ( i ) (x,y) that satisfy the conditions (1.4) and (1.5) with constants s and η for each i=1,,m and that for every j=0,1,2,,m, there exists kernel K t , j , ( i ) (x, y 1 ,, y m ) such that

T , j ( f 1 , , A t ( i ) f i , , f m ) , g = R n ( R n ) m K t , j , ( i ) ( x , y 1 , , y m ) f 1 ( y 1 ) f m ( y m ) g ( x ) d y 1 d y m d x ,

for all f 1 ,, f m in S( R n ) with k = 1 m supp f k suppg=ϕ. Also assume that there exist a non-negative function ϕC(R) with suppϕ[1,1] and a constant ϵ>0 so that for every j{0,1,,m} and every i{1,2,,m}, all t>0 and all x, y 1 ,, y n R n , we have

| K , j ( x , y 1 , , y m ) K t , j , ( i ) ( x , y 1 , , y m ) | A ( | x y 1 | + + | x y m | ) m n k = 1 , k i m ϕ ( | y i y k | t 1 / s ) + A t ϵ / s ( | x y 1 | + + | x y m | ) m n + ϵ ,

whenever 2 t 1 / s |x y i |.

Kernels K that satisfy the size estimate (1.2) and Assumption (H1) with parameters m, A, s, η, ε are called generalized Calderón-Zygmund kernels, and their collection is denoted by m-GCZK(A,s,η,ε). We say that T is of class m-GCZO(A,s,η,ε) if T has an associated kernel K in m-GCZK(A,s,η,ε).

Assumption (H2) Assume that there exist operators { A t } t > 0 with kernels a t (x,y) that satisfy conditions (1.4) and (1.5) with constants s and η, and there exist kernels K t ( 0 ) (x, y 1 ,, y m )such that the representation is valid

K t ( 0 ) (x, y 1 ,, y m )= R n K(z, y 1 ,, y m ) a t (x,z)dz

and that there exist a non-negative function ϕC(R) and suppϕ[1,1] and a positive constant ε such that

| K ( x , y 1 , , y m ) K t ( 0 ) ( x , y 1 , , y m ) | A ( k = 1 m | x y k | ) m n k j k = 1 m ϕ ( | x y k | t 1 / s ) + A t ε / s ( k = 1 m | x y k | ) m n + ε
(1.6)

for some A>0, whenever 2 t 1 / s max 1 j m |x y j |. Moreover, assume that for all x, y 1 ,, y m R n ,

| K t ( 0 ) ( x , y 1 , , y m ) | A ( k = 1 m | x y k | ) m n ,

whenever 2 t 1 / s min 1 j m |x y j |, and for all x, x , y 1 ,, y m R n ,

| K ( x , y 1 , , y m ) K t ( 0 ) ( x , y 1 , , y m ) | A t ε / s ( k = 1 m | x y k | ) m n + ε ,

whenever 2 t 1 / s min 1 j m |x y j | and 2|x x | t 1 / s .

The commutators associated with T and T are defined respectively by

T Π b ( f ) ( x ) = [ b 1 , [ b 2 , [ b l 1 , [ b l , T ] l ] l 1 ] 2 ] 1 ( f ) ( x ) = ( R n ) m j = 1 l ( b j ( x ) b j ( y j ) ) K ( x , y 1 , , y m ) i = 1 m f i ( y i ) d y ,

and

T Π b ( f ) ( x ) = sup δ > 0 | [ b 1 , [ b 2 , [ b l 1 , [ b l , T δ ] l ] l 1 ] 2 ] 1 ( f ) ( x ) | = sup δ > 0 | | x y 1 | 2 + + | x y m | 2 > δ 2 j = 1 l ( b j ( x ) b j ( y j ) ) K ( x , y 1 , , y m ) i = 1 m f i ( y i ) d y | .

Here and subsequently, we often write y =( y 1 ,, y m ) and d y =d y 1 d y m .

For simplicity of notation, we often write f =( f 1 ,, f m ) with f j = { f j k } k = 1 . For the sequence { f k } k = 1 = { f 1 k , , f m k } k = 1 of vector functions, the commutators associated with vector-valued T q and T q can be defined by

T Π b , q ( f ) ( x ) = | T Π b ( f ) ( x ) | q = T Π b ( f 1 , , f m ) ( x ) l q = ( k = 1 | T Π b ( f k ) ( x ) | q ) 1 / q , T Π b , q ( f ) ( x ) = | T Π b ( f ) ( x ) | q = T Π b ( f 1 , , f m ) ( x ) l q = ( k = 1 | T Π b ( f k ) ( x ) | q ) 1 / q .

From now on, we always assume that T is a multilinear operator in m-GCZO(A,s,η,ε) and its kernel satisfies Assumption (H2). Recently, if l=m, Peng et al. [5] obtained the following weighted strong type estimates for T Π b and T Π b with multiple weights (see Definition 2.1).

Theorem C [5]

Let b BMO m , 1 p = 1 p 1 ++ 1 p m with 1< p j <, j=1,,m. Then we have

  1. (i)

    There exists a constant C such that

    T Π b ( f ) L p ( ν ω ) C i = 1 m b i BMO i = 1 m f i L p i ( M ω i ) .
  2. (ii)

    If each ω i A p j , then there exists a constant C such that

    T Π b ( f ) L p ( ν ω ) C i = 1 m b i BMO i = 1 m f i L p i ( ω i ) ,

where ν ω = i = 1 m ω i p / p j . Similar results still hold for T Π b , which extend the results in [6]significantly.

In this work, we first pursue results parallel to Theorems A and B, then extend Theorem C to a vector-valued version. The main results can be stated as follows.

Theorem 1.1 Let 1< p 1 ,, p m <, 1< q 1 ,, q m < and 1/m<p,q< such that 1 p = 1 p 1 ++ 1 p m , 1 q = 1 q 1 ++ 1 q m . If ( ω 1 p 1 ,, ω m p m )( A p 1 ,, A p m ), then there exists a constant C>0 such that

T q ( f ) L p ( ω 1 p ω m p ) C j = 1 m | f j | q j L p j ( ω j p j ) .

Moreover, similar estimates hold for T .

Theorem 1.2 Let 1 p 1 ,, p m <, 1< q 1 ,, q m < and 0<p,q< such that 1 p = 1 p 1 ++ 1 p m , 1 q = 1 q 1 ++ 1 q m .

  1. (i)

    If 1< p 1 ,, p m < and ω A p 1 A p m , then there exists a constant C>0 such that

    T q ( f ) L p ( ω ) C j = 1 m | f j | q j L p j ( ω ) .
  2. (ii)

    If at least one p j =1 and ω A 1 , then there exists a constant C>0 such that

    T q ( f ) L p , ( ω ) C j = 1 m | f j | q j L p j ( ω ) .

Moreover, similar estimates hold for T .

Theorem 1.3 Let 1/m<p<, 1 p = 1 p 1 ++ 1 p m with 1< p 1 ,, p m <, 1/m<q<, and 1 q 1 ++ 1 q m = 1 q with 1< q 1 ,, q m <. Suppose that ω A p , ν ω = i = 1 m ω i p p i and b ( BMO ) l . Then we have

  1. (i)

    There then exists a constant C>0 such that

    T Π b , q ( f ) L p ( ν ω ) j = 1 l b j BMO j = 1 m | f j | q j L p j ( M w j ) .
  2. (ii)

    If ω j A p j , then there exists a constant C>0 such that

    T Π b , q ( f ) L p ( ν ω ) j = 1 l b j BMO j = 1 m | f j | q j L p j ( w j ) .

Moreover, similar estimates hold for T .

Remark 1.4 If l=1 and l=m, Theorem 1.3 can be seen as the vector-valued extension of Theorem 4.5 in [6] and Theorem C, respectively.

2 Proofs of Theorem 1.1 and Theorem 1.2

Let us begin with the definition of Hardy-Littlewood maximal operator, that is

Mf(x)= sup Q x 1 | Q | Q | f ( y ) | dy.

The sharp maximal function is defined by

M f(x)= sup Q x inf c 1 | Q | Q | f ( y ) c | dy sup Q x 1 | Q | Q | f ( y ) f Q | dy.

For δ>0, we also need the maximal function M δ f=M ( | f | δ ) 1 δ and M δ f= M ( | f | δ ) 1 δ .

The new maximal function ℳ can be defined by

M( f )(x)= sup Q x j = 1 m 1 | Q | Q | f j ( y j ) | d y j .

For 1lm, as in [7], a modified maximal function M l is given by

M l ( f )(x)= sup Q x k = 0 2 k n l ( j = 1 l 1 | Q | Q | f j ( y j ) | d y j ) ( j = l + 1 m 1 | 2 k Q | 2 k Q | f j ( y j ) | d y j ) .

For exponents p 1 ,, p m , we will often write p for the number given by 1/p=1/ p 1 ++1/ p m , and p for the vector p =( p 1 ,, p m ). Let us recall the definition of A p weights.

Definition 2.1 Let 1 p 1 ,, p m <. Given ω =( ω 1 ,, ω m ), set ν ω = i = 1 m ω i p / p i . We say that ω satisfies the A p condition if

sup Q ( 1 | Q | Q i = 1 m ω i p p i ) 1 p i = 1 m ( 1 | Q | Q ω i 1 p i ) 1 p i <,

when p i =1, ( 1 | Q | Q ω i 1 p i ) 1 p i is understood as ( inf Q ω i ) 1 .

We will use the following lemmas in the proof of Theorem 1.1 and Theorem 1.2.

Lemma 2.2 [3]

Let T be an m-linear operator, and let 1< q 1 ,, q m < and 1 m <q< be fixed indices such that 1 q = 1 q 1 ++ 1 q m . For ( ω 1 q 1 ,, ω m q m )( A q 1 ,, A q m ), the following estimate holds:

T ( f ) L q ( ω 1 q ω m q ) C j = 1 m f j L q j ( ω j q j ) .

Then, for all indices, 1< p 1 ,, p m < and 1 m <p< satisfy 1 p = 1 p 1 ++ 1 p m , 1< s 1 ,, s m < and 1 m <s< such that 1 s = 1 s 1 ++ 1 s m , and all ( ω 1 p 1 ,, ω m p m )( A p 1 ,, A p m ). Then the following inequality holds:

( k | T ( f 1 k , , f m k ) | s ) 1 s L p ( ω 1 p ω m p ) C j = 1 m ( k | f j k | s j ) 1 s j L p j ( ω j p j ) .

Lemma 2.3 [7]

Suppose that for some 1 q 1 , q 2 ,, q m 1 , q m (1,) and q(0,) satisfying 1 q = 1 q 1 ++ 1 q m , T maps L q 1 ×× L q m to L q . Let 1 p 1 ,, p m <, 1 p = 1 p 1 ++ 1 p m , ω =( ω 1 ,, ω m ) A p and p =( p 1 ,, p m ). Then

  1. (i)

    T can be extended to a bounded operator from L p 1 ( ω 1 )×× L p m ( ω m ) to L p ( ν ω ) if all the exponents p j are strictly greater than 1.

  2. (ii)

    T can be extended to a bounded operator from L p 1 ( ω 1 )×× L p m ( ω m ) to L p , ( ν ω ) if some exponents p j equal 1.

Similar results hold for T.

Note that if each ω j A p j , then j = 1 m A p j A p and this inclusion is strict (see [8] for details). This fact together with Lemma 2.3 yields the following weighted estimates.

Lemma 2.4 Consider an m-tuple ( ω 1 p 1 ,, ω m p m )( A p 1 ,, A p m ), where 1< p 1 ,, p m < and 1 m <p< satisfy 1 p = 1 p 1 ++ 1 p m . Then there exists a constant C such that

T ( f ) L p ( ω 1 p ω m p ) C j = 1 m f j L p j ( ω j p j ) ,

and

T ( f ) L p ( ω 1 p ω m p ) C j = 1 m f j L p j ( ω j p j ) .

Proof of Theorem 1.1 and Theorem 1.2 As a consequence of Lemma 2.2 and Lemma 2.4, we obtain Theorem 1.1 (see the proof of Corollary 3 in [3]). From [7] we know that for all 1lm, f =( f 1 ,, f m ) and x R n , the following two inequalities hold:

M ( f ) ( x ) M l ( f ) ( x ) 2 j = 1 m M ( f j ) ( x ) , T f L p ( ν ω ) C l = 1 m M l ( f ) L p ( ν ω ) .

So, we get T f L p ( ν ω ) C j = 1 m M ( f j ) L p ( ν ω ) . A similar inequality still holds for T . Theorem 1.2 follows by repeating the same steps as in Corollary 3.3 in [4]. In fact, we apply Theorem 2.1 in [4] to the families

F ( T ( f 1 , , f m ) , j = 1 m M f j ) ,F ( T ( f 1 , , f m ) , j = 1 m M f j ) .

Hölder’s inequality and the normal inequalities for the maximal operator yield the desired results. □

3 Proof of Theorem 1.3

We begin with some lemmas which will be used in the proof of Theorem 1.3.

Lemma 3.1 [9]

Let 0<p,δ< and let ω be a weight in A . Then there exists C>0 (depending upon the A condition of ω) such that

R n ( M δ f ( x ) ) p ω(x)dxC R n ( M δ f ( x ) ) p ω(x)dx
(3.1)

for every function such that the left-hand side is finite.

Lemma 3.2 Let 0<δ<1/m, 1/m<q< and 1/q=1/ q 1 ++1/ q m with 1< q 1 ,, q m <. Then there exists a constant C>0 such that

M δ ( T q ( f ) ) (x)C j = 1 m M ( | f j | q j ) (x)

for any smooth vector function { f k } k = 1 for any x R n .

Proof Fix a point x R n and a cube Q centered at x. Set f j = f j 0 + f j , where f j 0 = f j χ Q . Let f α = f 1 α 1 f m α m and Q =(8 n +4)Q. It is easy to see

| T q ( f ) ( z ) C | | T q ( f 0 ) ( z ) | + α 1 , , α m | T ( f α ) ( z ) T ( f α ) ( x ) | q ,

where C= α 1 , , α m | T ( f 1 α 1 f m α m ) ( x ) | q and in the last sum each α j =0 or ∞ and in each term there is at least one α j =. Since 0<δ<1/m<1, it follows that

( 1 | Q | Q | | T q ( f ) ( z ) | δ | C | δ | d z ) 1 / δ C ( 1 | Q | Q | T ( f ) ( z ) c | q δ d z ) 1 / δ C ( 1 | Q | Q | T ( f 0 ) ( z ) | q δ d z ) 1 / δ + C α 1 , , α m ( 1 | Q | Q | T ( f α ) ( z ) c | q δ d z ) 1 / δ P 1 + P 2 ,

where C= | c | q = ( k 1 | c k | q ) 1 / q .

Applying Kolmogorov’s inequality and Theorem 1.2 to P 1 , we have

( 1 | Q | Q | T q ( f 0 ) ( z ) | δ d z ) 1 / δ C T q ( f 0 ) L 1 / m , ( Q , d z | Q | ) C j = 1 m 1 | Q | Q | f j ( z ) | q j d z C j = 1 m M ( | f j | q j ) ( x ) .

We proceed to the estimate for P 2 . We can take t= [ 2 n l ( Q ) ] s . If α 1 == α m =, we have

( 1 | Q | Q | T ( f ) ( z ) c | q δ d z ) 1 / δ C | Q | Q | T ( f ) ( z ) c | q d z C | Q | Q ( k = 1 | T ( f k ) ( z ) T ( f k ) ( x ) | q ) 1 / q d z C | Q | Q ( k = 1 | ( R n Q ) m | K ( z , y ) K ( x , y ) | | f 1 k f m k | d y | q ) 1 / q d z C | Q | Q ( k = 1 | ( R n Q ) m | K ( z , y ) K t ( 0 ) ( z , y ) | | f 1 k f m k | d y | q ) 1 / q d z + C | Q | Q ( k = 1 | ( R n Q ) m | K t ( 0 ) ( z , y ) K ( x , y ) | | f 1 k f m k | d y | q ) 1 / q d z = P 21 + P 22 .

Since zQ and y j R n (8 n +4)Q, we get | y j z|>(4 n +1)l(Q)>2 t 1 / s for all j=1,,m. Applying Assumption (H2), we obtain

P 21 C | Q | Q ( R n Q ) m A t ε / s ( | z y 1 | + + | z y m | ) m n + ε | f 1 | q 1 | f m | q m d y d z k = 1 1 2 k ε j = 1 m 1 2 ( k + 1 ) n | Q | 2 k + 1 Q | f j | q j d y j C j = 1 m M ( | f j | q j ) ( x ) .

Since x,zQ, |zx| n l(Q) 1 2 t 1 / s . Note that | y j z|>(4 n +1)l(Q)>2 t 1 / s , for all j=1,,m, hence ϕ( | y j z | t 1 / s )=0. Similarly, we get P 22 j = 1 m M( | f j | q j )(x).

Now we estimate the typical representative of P 2 , that is, α 1 == α l = and α l + 1 == α m =0.

| T ( f 1 , , f l , f l + 1 0 , , f m 0 ) ( z ) T ( f 1 , , f l , f l + 1 0 , , f m 0 ) ( x ) | q ( R n ) m | K ( z , y ) K t ( 0 ) ( z , y ) | + | K t ( 0 ) ( z , y ) K ( x , y ) | | f 1 | q 1 | f m | q m d y = ( R n ) m | K ( z , y ) K t ( 0 ) ( z , y ) | | f 1 | q 1 | f m | q m d y + ( R n ) m | K t ( 0 ) ( z , y ) K ( x , y ) | | f 1 | q 1 | f m | q m d y .

Thus, we get

( 1 | Q | Q | T ( f 1 , , f l , f l + 1 0 , , f m 0 ) ( z ) c | q δ d z ) 1 / δ C | Q | Q | T ( f 1 , , f l , f l + 1 0 , , f m 0 ) ( z ) T ( f 1 , , f l , f l + 1 0 , , f m 0 ) ( x ) | q d z C | Q | Q ( R n ) m | K ( z , y ) K t ( 0 ) ( z , y ) | | f 1 | q 1 | f m | q m d y d z + C | Q | Q ( R n ) m | K t ( 0 ) ( z , y ) K ( x , y ) | | f 1 | q 1 | f m | q m d y d z = P 23 + P 24 .

For P 23 , by Assumption (H2), we have

P 23 C | Q | Q ( ( R n Q ) l t ε / s j = 1 l | f j ( y j ) | q j d y j ( j { 1 , 2 , , l } | z y j | ) m n + ε + ( R n Q ) l j = 1 l | f j ( y j ) | q j d y j ( j { 1 , 2 , , l } | z y j | ) m n ) j = l + 1 m Q | f j ( y j ) | q j d y j d z ( k = 1 | Q | ε / n ( 2 k | Q | 1 / n ) m n + ε ( R n Q ) l j = 1 l | f j ( y j ) | q j d y j + k = 1 1 ( 2 k | Q | 1 / n ) m n ( 2 k + 1 Q 2 k Q ) l j = 1 l | f j ( y j ) | q j d y j ) j = l + 1 m Q | f j ( y j ) | q j d y j C j = 1 m M ( | f j | q j ) ( x ) .

By a similar argument, we deduce that P 24 C j = 1 m M( | f j | q j )(x). In other case, we can also deduce the same estimate with minor modifications on the above arguments. We have thus proved Lemma 3.2. □

Lemma 3.3 Let 0<δ<ε<1/m, 1/m<q< and 1/q=1/ q 1 ++1/ q m with 1< q 1 ,, q m <. Suppose that b ( BMO ) l . There then exists a constant C>0 depending only on δ and ε such that

M δ ( T Π b , q f ) ( x ) C j = 1 l b j BMO ( j = 1 m M L ( log L ) ( | f j | q j ) ( x ) + M ε ( T q f ) ( x ) ) + C j = 1 l 1 σ C j l i σ b i BMO M ε ( T Π b σ , q f ) ( x )

for any smooth vector function { f k } k = 1 for any x R n , where σ ={1,,l}σ.

Proof For simplicity of notation, we write F( y ) instead of the product of m functions f 1 ( y 1 ) f m ( y m ) and let λ j = 1 | 2 Q | 2 Q b j (z)dz, for j=1,,l. Let x R n and Q be a cube centered at x. Then we have

T Π b ( f ) ( x ) = ( R n ) m ( b 1 ( x ) b 1 ( y 1 ) ) ( b l ( x ) b l ( y l ) ) K ( x , y ) F ( y ) d y = ( R n ) m ( ( b 1 ( x ) λ 1 ) ( b 1 ( y ) λ 1 ) ) ( ( b l ( x ) λ l ) ( b l ( y ) λ l ) ) × K ( x , y ) F ( y ) d y = i = 0 l σ C i l ( 1 ) l j j σ ( b j ( x ) λ j ) ( R n ) m j σ ( b j ( y j ) λ j ) K ( x , y ) F ( y ) d y = ( b 1 ( x ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( x ) λ l ) T ( f ) ( x ) + T ( ( b 1 ( 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( l ) λ l ) f ) ( x ) + i = 1 l 1 σ C i l ( 1 ) l j j σ ( b j ( x ) λ j ) ( R n ) m j σ ( b j ( y j ) λ j ) K ( x , y ) F ( y ) d y .

Noting that j σ ( b j ( y j ) λ j )= j σ [( b j ( y j ) b j (x))( b j (x) λ j )]. Then we get

T Π b , q f ( x ) | ( b 1 ( x ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( x ) λ l ) | T q ( f ) ( x ) + | T ( ( b 1 ( 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( l ) λ l ) f ) ( x ) | q + C i = 1 l 1 σ C i l j σ | b j ( x ) λ j | T Π b σ , q f ( x ) .

Since 0<δ<1/m<1, it follows that

( 1 | Q | Q | | T Π b , q ( f ) ( z ) | δ | C | δ | d z ) 1 / δ C ( 1 | Q | Q | T Π b ( f ) ( z ) c | q δ d z ) 1 / δ C ( 1 | Q | Q | ( b 1 ( z ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( z ) λ l ) | T ( f ) ( z ) | q δ | d z ) 1 / δ + C i = 1 l 1 σ C i l ( 1 | Q | Q j σ ( | b j ( z ) λ j | T Π b σ , q f ( z ) ) δ d z ) 1 / δ + C ( 1 | Q | Q | T ( ( b 1 ( 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( l ) λ l ) f ) ( z ) c | q δ d z ) 1 / δ I + II + III ,

where C= | c | q = ( k 1 | c k | q ) 1 / q . We can choose 1< p 1 ,, p l < with 1 p 1 ++ 1 p l + 1 ε = 1 δ . Since 0<δ<ε<1/m, Hölder’s inequality gives

I C j = 1 l b j BMO M ε ( T q f ) ( x ) , II C i = 1 l 1 σ C i l j σ b j BMO M ε ( T Π b σ , q f ) ( x ) .

Let us estimate term III. Set f j = f j 0 + f j , where f j 0 = f j χ Q . Let f α = f 1 α 1 f m α m and Q =(8 n +4)Q. Taking C= α 1 , , α m | T ( ( b 1 ( 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( l ) λ l ) f 1 α 1 f m α m ) ( x ) | q , we have

| T Π b , q ( f ) ( z ) C | T q ( ( b 1 ( 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( l ) λ l ) f 0 ) ( z ) + C α 1 , , α m | ( T ( ( b 1 ( 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( l ) λ l ) f α ) ) ( z ) ( T ( ( b 1 ( 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( l ) λ l ) f α ) ) ( x ) | q ,

where in the last sum each α j =0 or ∞ and in each term there is at least one α j =.

If α 1 == α m =0, applying Kolmogorov’s inequality and Theorem 1.2, we get

( 1 | Q | Q | T q ( ( b 1 ( 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( l ) λ l ) f 0 ) ( z ) | δ d z ) 1 / δ C T q ( ( b 1 ( 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( l ) λ l ) f 0 ) L 1 / m , ( Q , d z | Q | ) C j = 1 l 1 | Q | Q | b j ( y j ) λ j | | f j ( z ) | q j d z j = l + 1 m 1 | Q | Q | f j ( z ) | q j d z C j = 1 l b j BMO | f j | q j L ( log L ) , Q j = l + 1 m 1 | Q | Q | f j ( z ) | q j d z C j = 1 l b j BMO j = 1 m M L ( log L ) ( | f j | q j ) ( x ) .

If α 1 == α m =, we have

( 1 | Q | Q | T Π b ( f ) ( z ) c | q δ d z ) 1 / δ C | Q | Q | T Π b ( f ) ( z ) c | q d z C | Q | Q ( k = 1 | T Π b ( f k ) ( z ) T Π b ( f k ) ( x ) | q ) 1 / q d z C | Q | Q ( k = 1 | ( R n Q ) m | K ( z , y ) K ( x , y ) | × | ( b 1 ( y 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( y l ) λ l ) f 1 k f m k | d y | q ) 1 / q d z C | Q | Q ( k = 1 | ( R n Q ) m | K ( z , y ) K t ( 0 ) ( z , y ) | × | ( b 1 ( y 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( y l ) λ l ) f 1 k f m k | d y | q ) 1 / q d z + C | Q | Q ( k = 1 | ( R n Q ) m | K t ( 0 ) ( z , y ) K ( x , y ) | × | ( b 1 ( y 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( y l ) λ l ) f 1 k f m k | d y | q ) 1 / q d z = III 1 + III 2 .

Consider now the term III 1 . Taking t= [ 2 n l ( Q ) ] s , we have by Assumption (H2)

III 1 C | Q | Q ( R n Q ) m k = 1 | Q | ε / n ( 2 k | Q | 1 / n ) m n + ε × | ( b 1 ( y 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( y l ) λ l ) | | f 1 | q 1 | f m | q m d y d z C j = 1 l k = 1 1 2 k ε 1 2 ( k + 1 ) n | Q | × 2 k + 1 Q | b j ( y j ) λ j | | f j | q j d y j j = l + 1 m 1 2 ( k + 1 ) n | Q | 2 k + 1 Q | f j | q j d y j C j = 1 l k = 1 k 2 k ε b j BMO | f j | q j L ( log L ) , 2 k + 1 Q j = l + 1 m 1 2 ( k + 1 ) n | Q | 2 k + 1 Q | f j | q j d y j C j = 1 l b j BMO | f j | q j L ( log L ) , 2 k + 1 Q j = l + 1 m 1 2 ( k + 1 ) n | Q | 2 k + 1 Q | f j | q j d y j C j = 1 l b j BMO j = 1 m M L ( log L ) ( | f j | q j ) ( x ) .

Similarly, we get III 2 j = 1 l b j BMO j = 1 m M L ( log L ) ( | f j | q j )(x). Now we consider only the typical representative of III. Similar to the estimates of P 2 in Lemma 3.2, we have

( 1 | Q | Q | T ( ( b 1 ( 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( l ) λ l ) f 1 , , f l , f l + 1 0 , , f m 0 ) ( z ) c | q δ d z ) 1 / δ C | Q | Q | T ( ( b 1 ( 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( l ) λ l ) f 1 , , f l , f l + 1 0 , , f m 0 ) ( z ) T ( ( b 1 ( 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( l ) λ l ) f 1 , , f l , f l + 1 0 , , f m 0 ) ( x ) | q d z j = 1 l ( ( R n Q ) l t ε / s | ( b 1 ( y 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( y l ) λ l ) | j = 1 l | f j ( y j ) | q j d y j ( j { 1 , 2 , , l } | z y j | ) m n + ε + ( R n Q ) l | ( b 1 ( y 1 ) λ 1 ) ( b l ( y l ) λ l ) | j = 1 l | f j ( y j ) | q j d y j ( j { 1 , 2 , , l } | z y j | ) m n ) j = l + 1 m Q | f j ( y j ) | q j d y j C j = 1 l b j BMO | f j | q j L ( log L ) , 2 k + 1 Q j = l + 1 m 1 | Q | Q | f j ( z ) | q j d z C j = 1 l b j BMO j = 1 m M L ( log L ) ( | f j | q j ) ( x ) .

Then Lemma 3.3 is proved. □

Lemma 3.4 Let 0<p<, 1/m<q<, and 1 q 1 ++ 1 q m = 1 q with 1< q 1 ,, q m < and let w A . Suppose that b ( BMO ) l . Then there exists a constant C>0 such that

R n | T Π b , q f | p w(x)dxC j = 1 l b j BMO p R n ( j = 1 m M L ( log L ) ( | f j | q j ) ( x ) ) p w(x)dx
(3.2)

for any smooth function f with compact support.

Proof We assume that the right-hand side of (3.2) is finite, since otherwise there is nothing to be proved. For l=1, by using Lemma 3.1 and Lemma 3.3, we obtain

T Π b , q f L p ( ω ) M δ T Π b , q f L p ( ω ) C M δ T Π b , q f L p ( ω ) C b 1 BMO [ M ε ( T q f ) L p ( ω ) + j = 1 m M L ( log L ) ( | f j | q j ) L p ( ω ) ] C b 1 BMO [ T q f L p ( ω ) + j = 1 m M L ( log L ) ( | f j | q j ) L p ( ω ) ] C b 1 BMO [ j = 1 m M ( | f j | q j ) L p ( ω ) + j = 1 m M L ( log L ) ( | f j | q j ) L p ( ω ) ] C b 1 BMO j = 1 m M L ( log L ) ( | f j | q j ) L p ( ω ) .
(3.3)

For the general case l2, similarly to the case for l=1, we have

T Π b , q f L p ( ω ) C j = 1 l b j BMO j = 1 m M L ( log L ) ( | f j | q j ) L p ( ω ) .

To apply the Fefferman-Stein inequality in (3.3), one needs to verify now that T Π b , q f L p ( ω ) < and T q f L p ( ω ) <. We will only show the first one since the proof of another one is very similar but easier.

Suppose that the symbols b j and the weight ω are bounded functions. Since f has compact support, we may assume supp f j B(0,R). Then we have

T Π b , q f L p ( ω ) = | x | 2 R | T Π b , q f ( x ) | p ω ( x ) d x + | x | > 2 R | T Π b , q f ( x ) | p ω ( x ) d x = I 1 + I 2 .

We choose s>p and s 1 ,, s m >1 such that 1/s=1/ s 1 ++1/ s m . Theorem 1.1 and Hölder’s inequality imply

I 1 C | x | 2 R | T Π b , q f | p d x C ( R n | T q f | s d x ) p / s R n ( s p ) / s C ( j = 1 m | f j | q j L s j ) p R n ( s p ) / s < .

Consider now the term I 2 . Since |x|>2R, we have by Assumption (H2)

| T Π b , q f ( x ) | C | ( B ( 0 , 2 R ) ) m | K ( x , y ) | | b 1 ( x ) b 1 ( y 1 ) | | b l ( x ) b l ( y l ) | × | f 1 ( y 1 ) | | f m ( y m ) | d y | q C ( B ( 0 , 2 R ) ) m | K ( x , y ) K t ( 0 ) ( x , y ) | j = 1 m | f j ( y j ) | q j d y + ( B ( 0 , 2 R ) ) m | K t ( 0 ) ( x , y ) | j = 1 m | f j ( y j ) | q j d y C j = 1 m 1 | x | n B ( 0 , | x | ) | f j ( y j ) | q j d y j j = 1 m M L ( log L ) ( | f j | q j ) ( x ) .

Thus, I 2 C R n ( j = 1 m M L ( log L ) ( | f j | q j ) ( x ) ) p w(x)dx<.

For the general case, we can check the limit (see the proof of [10], Theorem 1.1, we omit the details here). Thus, (3.2) is proved. □

Proof of Theorem 1.3 (i) Since ν ω A m p A , Lemma 3.4 gives

R n | T Π b , q ( f ) ( x ) | p ν ω dxC R n j = 1 m M L ( log L ) p ( | f j | q j ) (x) ν ω dx.

It follows from [8] that there exists r>1 such that ν ω A ( p 1 r , , p m r ) . On the other hand, since Φ(t)=t(1+ log + t) t r for all t>1, the generalized Jensen inequality yields that

f j L ( log L ) , Q C ( 1 | Q | Q | f j ( y ) | r d y ) 1 / r

for all j. One sees immediately that

T Π b , q ( f ) L p ( ν ω ) C j = 1 m M r ( | f j | q j ) L p ( ν ω ) .

Since ν ω A ( p 1 r , , p m r ) , it follows from Hölder’s inequality and the well-known inequality of Fefferman-Stein [9] that

j = 1 m M ( | f j | q j ) L p / r ( ν ω ) C j = 1 m | f j | q j L p j / r ( M ω j ) .

We then have

T Π b , q ( f ) L p ( ν ω ) C j = 1 l b j BMO j = 1 m | f j | q j L p j ( M ω j ) .

This is the desired conclusion.

  1. (ii)

    Since ω j A p j , there exists r>0 such that ω j A p j / r . Analysis similar to that in the proof of Theorem 1.3 (i) shows that

    T Π b , q ( f ) L p ( ν ω ) C j = 1 m M r ( | f j | q j ) L p ( ν ω ) .

The Hölder inequality implies

j = 1 m M r ( | f j | q j ) L p ( ν ω ) = ( j = 1 m M ( | f j | q j r ) L p / r ( ν ω ) ) 1 / r ( j = 1 m M ( | f j | q j r ) L p j / r ( ω ) ) 1 / r j = 1 m | f j | q j L p j ( ω j ) .
(3.4)

To prove Theorem 1.3 holds for T , it suffices to prove Lemmas 3.2-3.4 hold for T . The proof follows from similar steps in [11] and combines the argument we used in the above lemmas. The key for tackling the new complexities is a very careful deal with the supremum, we refer the reader to [11]. This concludes the proof of the theorem. □