A Bohl-Bohr-Kadets type theorem characterizing Banach spaces not containing c0

Abstract: We prove that a separable Banach space $E$ does not contain a copy of the space $\co$ of null-sequences if and only if for every doubly power-bounded operator $T$ on $E$ and for every vector $x\in E$ the relative compactness of the sets ${T^{n+m}x-T^nx: n\in \NN}$ (for some/all $m\in\NN$, $m\geq 1$) and ${T^nx:n\in \NN}$ are equivalent. With the help of the Jacobs--de Leeuw--Glicksberg decomposition of strongly compact semigroups the case of (not necessarily invertible) power-bounded operators is also handled.