A characteristic operator function for the class of n-hypercontractions

We consider a class of bounded linear operators on Hilbert space called n-hypercontractions which relates naturally to adjoint shift operators on certain vector-valued standard weighted Bergman spaces on the unit disc. In the context of n-hypercontractions in the class C0⋅ we introduce a counterpart to the so-called characteristic operator function for a contraction operator. This generalized characteristic operator function Wn,T is an operator-valued analytic function in the unit disc whose values are operators between two Hilbert spaces of defect type. Using an operator-valued function of the form Wn,T, we parametrize the wandering subspace for a general shift invariant subspace of the corresponding vector-valued standard weighted Bergman space. The operator-valued analytic function Wn,T is shown to act as a contractive multiplier from the Hardy space into the associated standard weighted Bergman space.     

Characteristic Function of a Pure Commuting Contractive Tuple

A theorem of Sz.-Nagy and Foias [9] shows that the characteristic function of a completely non-unitary contraction T is a complete unitary invariant for T. In this note we extend this theorem to the case of a pure commuting contractive tuple using a natural generalization of the characteristic function to an operator-valued analytic function defined on the open unit ball of This function is related to the curvature invariant introduced by Arveson [3].     

Harnack and Shmul’yan pre-order relations for Hilbert space contractions

We study the behavior of some classes of Hilbert space contractions with respect to Harnack and Shmul’yan pre-orders and the corresponding equivalence relations. We give some conditions under which the Harnack equivalence of two given contractions is equivalent to their Shmul’yan equivalence and to the existence of an arc joining the two contractions in the class of operator-valued contractive analytic functions on the unit disc. We apply some of these results to quasi-isometries and quasi-normal contractions, as well as to partial isometries for which we show that their Harnack and Shmul’yan parts coincide. We also discuss an extension, recently considered by S. ter Horst (2014), of the Shmul’yan pre-order from contractions to the operator-valued Schur class of functions. In particular, the Shmul’yan–ter Horst part of a given partial isometry, viewed as a constant Schur class function, is explicitly determined.     

m-Isometric Commuting Tuples of Operators on a Hilbert Space

We consider a generalization of isometric Hilbert space operators to the multivariable setting. We study some of the basic properties of these tuples of commuting operators and we explore several examples. In particular, we show that the d-shift, which is important in the dilation theory of d-contractions (or row contractions), is a d-isometry. As an application of our techniques we prove a theorem about cyclic vectors in certain spaces of analytic functions that are properly contained in the Hardy space of the unit ball of .     

Classes of tuples of commuting contractions satisfying the multivariable von Neumann inequality

We obtain a decomposition for multivariable Schur-class functions on the unit polydisk which, to a certain extent, is analogous to Agler's decomposition for functions from the Schur-Agler class. As a consequence, we show that d-tuples of commuting strict contractions obeying an additional positivity constraint satisfy the d-variable von Neumann inequality for an arbitrary operator-valued bounded analytic function on the polydisk. Also, this decomposition yields a necessary condition for solvability of the finite data Nevanlinna-Pick interpolation problem in the Schur class on the unit polydisk.     

Operator algebras of functions

We present some general theorems about operator algebras that are algebras of functions on sets, including theories of local algebras, residually finite-dimensional operator algebras and algebras that can be represented as the scalar multipliers of a vector-valued reproducing kernel Hilbert space. We use these to further develop a quantized function theory for various domains that extends and unifies Agler's theory of commuting contractions and the Arveson-Drury-Popescu theory of commuting row contractions. We obtain analogous factorization theorems, prove that the algebras that we obtain are dual operator algebras and show that for many domains, supremums over all commuting tuples of operators satisfying certain inequalities are obtained over all commuting tuples of matrices.     

Iteration of Analytic Normal Functions of Matrices

In this paper, the author proves that the classical theorem of Wolff in the theory of complex functions may be extended to the class of operator-valued functions f, where f is an analytic function from the open unit disc \Delta in the complex plane into a family of commutative normal operators on a certain n-dimensional complex Hilbert space, and ||f(z)||<1 holds for every z in \Delta.     

Characteristic function for polynomially contractive commuting tuples

In this note, we develop the theory of characteristic function as an invariant for n-tuples of operators. The operator tuple has a certain contractivity condition put on it. This condition and the class of domains in Cn that we consider are intimately related. A typical example of such a domain is the open Euclidean unit ball. Given a polynomial P in C[z₁,z₂,…,zn] whose constant term is zero, all the coefficients are nonnegative and the coefficients of the linear terms are nonzero, one can naturally associate a Reinhardt domain with it, which we call the P-ball (Definition 1.1). Using the reproducing kernel Hilbert space HP(C) associated with this Reinhardt domain in Cn, S. Pott constructed the dilation for a polynomially contractive commuting tuple (Definition 1.2) [S. Pott, Standard models under polynomial positivity conditions, J. Operator Theory 41 (1999) 365-389. MR 2000j:47019]. Given any polynomially contractive commuting tuple T we define its characteristic function θT which is a multiplier. We construct a functional model using the characteristic function. Exploiting the model, we show that the characteristic function is a complete unitary invariant when the tuple is pure. The characteristic function gives newer and simpler proofs of a couple of known results: one of them is the invariance of the curvature invariant and the other is a Beurling theorem for the canonical operator tuple on HP(C). It is natural to study the boundary behaviour of θT in the case when the domain is the Euclidean unit ball. We do that and here essential differences with the single operator situation are brought out.     

Test Functions, Schur–Agler Classes and Transfer-Function Realizations: The Matrix-Valued Setting

Given a collection of test functions, one defines the associated Schur–Agler class as the intersection of the contractive multipliers over the collection of all positive kernels for which each test function is a contractive multiplier. We indicate extensions of this framework to the case where the test functions, kernel functions, and Schur–Agler-class functions are allowed to be matrix- or operator-valued. We illustrate the general theory with two examples: (1) the matrix-valued Schur class over a finitely-connected planar domain and (2) the matrix-valued version of the constrained Hardy algebra (bounded analytic functions on the unit disk with derivative at the origin constrained to have zero value). Emphasis is on examples where the matrix-valued version is not obtained as a simple tensoring with ${{\mathbb C}^{N}}$ of the scalar-valued version.     

Completely Hyperexpansive Operator Tuples

The notion of a completely hyperexpansive operator on a Hilbert space is generalized to that of a completely hyperexpansive operator tuple, which in some sense turns out to be antithetical to the notion of a subnormal operator tuple with contractive coordinates. The countably many negativity conditions characterizing a completely hyperexpansive operator tuple are closely related to the Levy–Khinchin representation in the theory of harmonic analysis on semigroups. The interplay between the theories of positive and negative definite functions on semigroups forces interesting connections between the classes of subnormal and completely hyperexpansive operator tuples. Further, the several–variable generalization allows for a stimulating interaction with the multiparameter spectral theory.     

On commuting operators solving Gleason's problem

We prove the uniqueness of commuting operators solving Gleason's problem for certain spaces of functions analytic in the unit ball.

     

A Theorem of Beurling-sLax Type for Hilbert Spaces of Functions Analytic in the Unit Ball

Schur multipliers on the unit ball are operator-valued functions for which the N-variable Schwarz-Pick kernel is nonnegative. In this paper, the coefficient spaces are assumed to be Pontryagin spaces having the same negative index. The associated reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces are characterized in terms of generalized difference-quotient transformations. The connection between invariant subspaces and factorization is established.     

Universal commutative operator algebras and transfer function realizations of polynomials

To each finite-dimensional operator space E is associated a commutative operator algebra UC(E), so that E embeds completely isometrically in UC(E) and any completely contractive map from E to bounded operators on Hilbert space extends uniquely to a completely contractive homomorphism out of UC(E). The unit ball of UC(E) is characterized by a Nevanlinna factorization and transfer function realization. Examples related to multivariable von Neumann inequalities are discussed.     

Minimal Cuntz-Krieger dilations and representations of Cuntz-Krieger algebras

Given a contractive tuple of Hilbert space operators satisfying certainA-relations we show that there exists a unique minimal dilation to generators of Cuntz-Krieger algebras or its extension by compact operators. This Cuntz-Krieger dilation can be obtained from the classical minimal isometric dilation as a certain maximalA-relation piece. We define a maximal piece more generally for a finite set of polynomials inn noncommuting variables. We classify all representations of Cuntz-Krieger algebrasO _A obtained from dilations of commuting tuples satisfyingA-relations. The universal properties of the minimal Cuntz-Krieger dilation and the WOT-closed algebra generated by it is studied in terms of invariant subspaces.     

Joint extensions in families of contractive commuting operator tuples

In this paper we systematically study extension questions in families of commuting operator tuples that are associated with the unit ball in Cd.     

Boundedness of Convolution Operators and Input–Output Maps between Weighted Spaces

We ask when convolution operators with scalar- or operator-valued kernel functions map between weighted L² spaces of Hilbert space-valued functions. For a certain class of decreasing weights, including negative powers (t + a)^−m for example, we solve the one-weight problem completely by using Laplace transforms and Bergman-type spaces of vector-valued analytic functions. For a much more general class of decreasing weights, we solve the one-weight problem for all positive real kernels (also for L^p(w) with p > 1), by results on Steklov operators which generalise the weighted Hardy inequality. When the kernel function is a strongly continuous semigroup of bounded linear Hilbert space operators, which arises from input–output maps of certain linear systems, then the most obvious sufficient condition for boundedness, obtained by taking norm signs inside the integrals, is also necessary in many cases, but not in general. Submitted: July 15, 2007.,Revised: November 19, 2007.,Accepted: December 14, 2007.     

The inverse function theorem and the Jacobian conjecture for free analysis

We establish an invertibility criterion for free polynomials and free functions evaluated on some tuples of matrices. We show that if the derivative is nonsingular on some domain closed with respect to direct sums and similarity, the function must be invertible. Thus, as a corollary, we establish the Jacobian conjecture in this context. Furthermore, our result holds for commutative polynomials evaluated on tuples of commuting matrices.     

Riemann-Hilbert problems for poly-Hardy space on the unit ball

In this paper, we focus on a Riemann–Hilbert boundary value problem (BVP) with a constant coefficients for the poly-Hardy space on the real unit ball in higher dimensions. We first discuss the boundary behaviour of functions in the poly-Hardy class. Then we construct the Schwarz kernel and the higher order Schwarz operator to study Riemann–Hilbert BVPs over the unit ball for the poly-Hardy class. Finally, we obtain explicit integral expressions for their solutions. As a special case, monogenic signals as elements in the Hardy space over the unit sphere will be reconstructed in the case of boundary data given in terms of functions having values in a Clifford subalgebra. Such monogenic signals represent the generalization of analytic signals as elements of the Hardy space over the unit circle of the complex plane.