Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
The purpose of this paper is to characterize the Orlicz vector-valued function spaces containing a copy or a complemented copy of l1. Pisier proved in [13] that if a Banach space E contains no copy of l1, then the space Lp(S, Σ, μ, E) does not contain it either, for 1 < p < ∞. We extend this result to the case of Orlicz vector valued function spaces, by reducing the problem to the situation considered by Pisier. Next, we pass to study the problem of embedding l1 as a complemented subspace of LΦ(E). We obtain a complete characterization when E is a Banach lattice and only partial results in case of a general Banach space. We use here in a crucial way a result of E. Saab and P. Saab concerning the embedding of l1 as a complemented subspace of C(K, E), the Banach space of all the E-valued continuous functions on the compact Hausdorff space K (see [14]). Finally, we use these results to characterize several classes of Banach spaces for which LΦ(E) has some Banach space properties, namely the reciprocal Dunford-Pettis property and Pelczyński's V property.