Symmetrization and norm of the Hardy-Littlewood maximal operator on Lorentz and Marcinkiewicz spaces

We prove that when a function on the real line is symmetricallyrearranged, the distribution function of its uncentered Hardy–Littlewoodmaximal function increases pointwise, while it remains unchangedonly when the function is already symmetric. Equivalently, if is the maximal operator and the symmetrization, then f(x)f(x)for every x, and equality holds for all x if and only if, upto translations, f(x) = f(x) almost everywhere. Using theseresults, we then compute the exact norms of the maximal operatoracting on Lorentz and Marcinkiewicz spaces, and we determineextremal functions that realize these norms.