Representations of compact linear operators in Banach spaces and nonlinear eigenvalue problems

Let X and Y be reflexive Banach spaces with strictly convexduals, and let T be a compact linear map from X to Y. It isshown that a certain nonlinear equation, involving T and itsadjoint, has a normalised solution (an ‘eigenvector’)corresponding to an ‘eigenvalue’, and that the sameis true for each member of a countable family of similar equationsinvolving the restrictions of T to certain subspaces of X. Theaction of T can be described in terms of these ‘eigenvectors’.There are applications to the p-Laplacian, the p-biharmonicoperator and integral operators of Hardy type.