Factoring absolutely summing operators through Hilbert-Schmidt operators

Let K be a compact Hausdorff space, and let C(K) be the corresponding Banach space of continuous functions on K. It is well-known that every 1-summing operator S:C(K)→l2 is also nuclear, and therefore factors S = S1S2, with S1:l2→l2 a Hilbert-Schmidt operator and S1:C(K)→l2 a bounded operator. It is easily seen that this latter property is preserved when C(K) is replaced by any quotient, and that a Banach space X enjoys this property if and only if its second dual, X**, does. This led A. Pełczyński [15] to ask if the second dual of a Banach space X must be isomorphic to a quotient of a C(K)-space if X has the property that every 1-summing operator X-→l2 factors through a Hilbert-Schmidt operator. In this paper, we shall first of all reformulate the question in an appropriate manner and then show that counter-examples are available among super-reflexive Tsirelson-like spaces as well as among quasi-reflexive Banach space