TITLE: Convergence in $L^p$ of $f_n$ implies convergence in $L^1$ of $|f_n|^p$ and $f_n^p$
QUESTION [15 upvotes]: I have the following question about $L^p$ spaces:

Suppose that $f,f_1,f_2,\ldots$ are functions in $L^p$ for some $p \geq 1$ and the sequence converges in $L^p$ to $f$, i.e. $||f_n-f||_p \to 0$.
Does this imply that the sequence $|f_1|^p,|f_2|^p,\ldots$ converges in $L^1$ to $|f|^p$?
Is it also true if we remove the absolute value? That is, the sequence $f_1^p,f_2^p,...$ converges to $f^p$, in case $p$ doesn't create problem with power (for example $p=3$).

I am using necessary and sufficient condition from the Vitali's convergence theorem and it seems to work.
Do you have some advices or some references for this result?
Many thanks

REPLY [13 votes]: If $a,b\in \mathbb{R}$ and $p\ge1$, then it follows from the mean value theorem that
$$
|a^p-b^p|\le p\max(|a|,|b|)^{p-1}|a-b|\le p(|a|+|b|)^{p-1}|a-b|.
$$
Let $q$ be the conjugate exponent of $p$. Then
$$
\int\bigl|\,|f_n|^p-|f|^p\,\bigr|\le p\int\bigl(|f_n|+|f|\bigr)^{p-1}|f_n-f|\le p\Bigl(\int\bigl(|f_n|+|f|\bigr)^{(p-1)q}\Bigr)^{1/q}\Bigl(\int|f_n-f|^{p}\Bigr)^{1/p},
$$
that is
$$
\||f_n|^p-|f|^p\|_1\le p(\||f_n|+|f|\|_p)^{p/q}\|f_n-f\|_p\le p(\|f_n\|_p+\|f\|_p)^{p/q}\|f_n-f\|_p,
$$
proving that $|f_n|^p\to|f|^p$ in $L^1$.
Observe that we have proved that the operators $T_1, T_2\colon L^p\to L^1$ defined by $T_1(f)=|f|^p$ and $T_2(f)=f^p$( when $T_2$ makes sense)  are locally Lipschitz.