The $(L^1,L^1)$ bilinear Hardy-Littlewood function and Furstenberg averages

Abstract

Let $(X,\mathcal{B},\mu ,T)$ be an ergodic dynamical system on a non-atomic finite measure space. Consider the maximal function

We show that there exist $f$ and $g$ such that $R^{\ast }(f,g)(x)$ is not finite almost everywhere. Two consequences are derived. The bilinear Hardy-Littlewood maximal function fails to be a.e. finite for all functions $(f,g)\in L^1\times L^1$. The Furstenberg averages do not converge for all pairs of $(L^1,L^1)$ functions, while by a result of J. Bourgain these averages converge for all pairs of $(L^p,L^q)$ functions with $\frac{1}{p}+\frac{1}{q}\le 1$.