Limiting interpolation spaces via extrapolation

We give a complete characterization of limiting interpolation spa\-ces for the real method of interpolation using extrapolation theory. For this purpose the usual tools (e.g., Boyd indices or the boundedness of Hardy type operators) are not appropriate. Instead, our characterization hinges upon the boundedness of some simple operators (e.g. $f\mapsto f(t^{2})/t$, or $f\mapsto f(t^{1/2}$) acting on the underlying lattices that are used to control the $K$- and $J$-functionals. Reiteration formulae, extending Holmstedt's classical reiteration theorem to limiting spaces, are also proved and characterized in this fashion. The resulting theory gives a unified roof to a large body of literature that, using ad-hoc methods, had covered only special cases of the results obtained here. Applications to Matsaev ideals, Grand Lebesgue spaces, Bourgain-Brezis-Mironescu-Maz'ya-Shaposhnikova limits, as well as a new vector valued extrapolation theorems, are provided.