Linear versus lattice embeddings between Banach lattices

Abstract

A well-known classical result states that $c_0$ is linearly embeddable in a Banach lattice if and only if it is lattice embeddable. Improving results of H.P.~Lotz, H.P.~Rosenthal and N.~Ghoussoub, we prove that $C[0,1]$ shares this property with $c_0$. Furthermore, we show that any infinite-dimensional sublattice of $C[0,1]$ is either lattice isomorphic to $c_0$ or contains a sublattice isomorphic to $C[0,1]$. As a consequence, it is proved that for a separable Banach lattice $X$ the following conditions are equivalent: (1) $X$ is linearly embeddable in a Banach lattice if and only if it is lattice embeddable; (2) $X$ is lattice embeddable into $C[0,1]$.