Complex Interpolation and Regular Operators Between Banach

We study certain interpolation and extension properties of the space of regular operators between two Banach lattices. Let $R_p$ be the space of all the regular (or equivalently order bounded) operators on $L_p$ equipped with the regular norm. We prove the isometric identity $R_p = (R_\infty,R_1)^\theta$ if $\theta = 1/p$, which shows that the spaces $(R_p)$ form an interpolation scale relative to Calder\'on's interpolation method. We also prove that if $S\subset L_p$ is a subspace, every regular operator $u : S \to L_p$ admits a regular extension $\tilde u : L_p \to L_p$ with the same regular norm. This extends a result due to Mireille L\'evy in the case $p = 1$. Finally, we apply these ideas to the Hardy space $H^p$ viewed as a subspace of $L_p$ on the circle. We show that the space of regular operators from $H^p$ to $L_p$ possesses a similar interpolation property as the spaces $R_p$ defined above.