We prove that an almost diagonal condition on the (m + 1)-linear tensor associated to an m-linear operator implies boundedness of the operator on products of classical function spaces. We then provide applications to the study of certain singular integral operators.

Given Banach spaces  $X$, $Y$ and a compact Hausdorff space  $K$, we use polymeasures to give necessary conditions for a multilinear operator from $C(K,X)$ into  $Y$ to be completely continuous (resp.  unconditionally converging). We deduce necessary and sufficient conditions for  $X$ to have the Schur property (resp.  to contain no copy of  $c_0$), and for  $K$ to be scattered. This extends results concerning linear operators.

We use the Maurey-Rosenthal factorization theorem to obtain a new characterization of multiple 2-summing operators on a product of $l_p$ spaces. This characterization is used to show that multiple s-summing operators on a product of $l_p$ spaces with values in a Hilbert space are characterized by the boundedness of a natural multilinear functional (1 ≤ s ≤ 2). We use these results to show that there exist many natural multiple s-summing operators $T:l_{4/3}\times l_{4/3}\to l₂$ such that none of the associated linear operators is s-summing...