On strictly singular operators between separable Banach spaces

Let $X$ and $Y$ be separable Banach spaces and denote by $\sss\sss(X,Y)$ the subset of $\llll(X,Y)$ consisting of all strictly singular operators. We study various ordinal ranks on the set $\sss\sss(X,Y)$. Our main results are summarized as follows. Firstly, we define a new rank $\rs$ on $\sss\sss(X,Y)$. We show that $\rs$ is a co-analytic rank and that dominates the rank $\varrho$ introduced by Androulakis, Dodos, Sirotkin and Troitsky [Israel J. Math., 169 (2009), 221-250]. Secondly, for every $1\leq p<+\infty$ we construct a Banach space $Y_p$ with an unconditional basis such that $\sss\sss(\ell_p, Y_p)$ is a co-analytic non-Borel subset of $\llll(\ell_p,Y_p)$ yet every strictly singular operator $T:\ell_p\to Y_p$ satisfies $\varrho(T)\leq 2$. This answers a question of Argyros.