On the permutative equivalence of squares of unconditional bases

Abstract: We prove that if the squares of two unconditional bases are equivalent up to a permutation, then the bases themselves are permutatively equivalent. This settles a twenty year-old question raised by Casazza and Kalton in [Uniqueness of unconditional bases in Banach spaces, Israel J. Math. 103 (1998), 141--175]. Solving this problem provides a new paradigm to study the uniqueness of unconditional basis in the general framework of quasi-Banach spaces. Multiple examples are given to illustrate how to put in practice this theoretical scheme. Among the main applications of this principle we obtain the uniqueness of unconditional basis up to permutation of finite sums of quasi-Banach spaces with this property.