Best constants for tensor products of Bernstein type operators

For the tensor product of k copies of the same one-dimensional Bernstein-type operator L, we consider the problem of finding the best constant in preservation of the usual modulus of continuity for the lp-norm on Rk. Two main results are obtained: the first one gives both necessary and sufficient conditions in order that 1 + k1−1/p is the best uniform constant for a single operator; the second one gives sufficient conditions in order that 1 + k1−1/p is the best uniform constant for a family of operators. The general results are applied to several classical families of operators usually considered in approximation theory. Throughout the paper, probabilistic concepts and methods play an important role.  2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved