Polar Decompositions of C 0(N) Contractions

Let A be a bounded linear operator on a complex separable Hilbert space H. We show that A is a C₀(N) contraction if and only if , where U is a singular unitary operator with multiplicity and x₁, . . . , x_d are orthonormal vectors satisfying . For a C₀(N) contraction, this gives a complete characterization of its polar decompositions with unitary factors.     

Dilation to the unilateral shifts

The classical result of Foias says that an operator power dilates to a unilateral shift if and only if it is aC ₀ contraction. In this paper, we consider the corresponding question of dilating to a unilateral shift. We show tht for contractions with at least one defect index finite, dilation and power dilation to some unilateral shift amount to the same thing. The only difference is on the minimum multiplicity of the unilateral shift to which the contraction can be (power) dilated. We also obtain a characterization of contractions which are finite-rank perturbations of a unilateral shift, generalizing the rank-one perturbation result of Nakamura.     

Contractions Satisfying the Absolute Value Property

Let B(H) denote the algebra of operators on a complex Hilbert space H, and let U denote the class of operators which satisfy the absolute value condition . It is proved that if is a contraction, then either A has a nontrivial invariant subspace or A is a proper contraction and the nonnegative operator is strongly stable. A Putnam-Fuglede type commutativity theorem is proved for contractions A in , and it is shown that if normal subspaces of . It is proved that if are reducing, then every compact operator in the intersection of the weak closure of the range of the derivation with the commutant of A* is quasinilpotent.     

Q-functions of Hermitian Contractions of Krein-Ovcharenko Type

In this paper operator-valued Q-functions of Krein-Ovcharenko type are introduced. Such functions arise from the extension theory of Hermitian contractive operators A in a Hilbert space ℌ. The definition is related to the investigations of M.G. Krein and I.E. Ovcharenko of the so-called Q_μ- and Q_M-functions. It turns out that their characterizations of such functions hold true only in the matrix valued case. The present paper extends the corresponding properties for wider classes of selfadjoint contractive extensions of A. For this purpose some peculiar but fundamental properties on the behaviour of operator ranges of positive operators will be used. Also proper characterizations for Q_μ- and Q_M-functions in the general operator-valued case are given. Shorted operators and parallel sums of positive operators will be needed to give a geometric understanding of the function-theoretic properties of the corresponding Q-functions.     

One-dimensional perturbations of the shift

The structure of isometries on a Hilbert space are well studied. In this paper we study contractions which are one-dimensional perturbations of isometries, in particular, perturbations of the shift operator onH ².     

Commutant lifting theorem and interpolation in discrete nest algebras

Ball in [Ba] showed that the commutant lifting theorem for the nest algebras due to Paulsen and Power gives a unified approach to a wide class of interpolation problems for nest algebras. By restricting our attention to the case when nest algebras associated with the problems are discrete we derive a variant of the commutant lifting theorem which avoids language of representation theory and which is sufficient to treat an analog of the generalized Schur-Nevannlinna-Pick (SNP) problem in the setting of upper triangular operators.     

Singular unitary dilations

We study the problem of determining which bounded linear operator on a Hilbert space can be dilated to a singular unitary operator. Some of the partial results we obtained are (1) every strict contraction has a diagonal unitary dilation, (2) everyC ₀ contraction has a singular unitary dilation, and (3) a contraction with one of its defect indices finite has a singular unitary dilation if and only if it is the direct sum of a singular unitary operator and aC ₀(N) contraction. Such results display a scenario which is in marked contrast to that of the classical case where we have the absolute continuity of the minimal unitary power dilation of any completely nonunitary contraction.     

Isometric representations of some quotients ofH ∞ of an annulus

Let denote an annulus,E a finite subset of with at least three elements, and the ideal of functions in which vanish at the points ofE. The quotient does not have a completely isometric representation on a finite dimensional Hilbert space. This complements a result of [11] which implies that the quotient has an isometric representation on a Hilbert space of dimension twice the cardinality ofE.     

Caratheodory interpolation kernels

Kernels over the unit disk for which a version of Carathéodory interpolation is true are characterized in a simple computationally verifiable manner.     

Intertwining liftings and Schur contractions

In their paper [5], C. Foias and A. Frazho have found explicit formulas for the Schur contraction associated with a given contractive intertwining lifting. In this Note we give a more direct and probably the simplest way to find the Schur contraction for a given contractive intertwining lifting.     

Asymptotic Behavior of One-Parameter Semigroups and Rigidity of Holomorphic Generators

We study the asymptotic behavior of one-parameter continuous semigroups of holomorphic mappings. We present angular characteristics of their trajectories at their Denjoy–Wolff points, as well as at their regular repelling points (whenever they exist). This enables us to establish new rigidity properties of holomorphic generators via the asymptotic behavior of the semigroups they generate. Received: May 11, 2007. Accepted: July 22, 2007.     

Extensions of bitriangular operators

We prove that every one-dimensional extension of a bitriangular operator has a cyclic commutant. We also prove that ifT is an extension of a bitriangular operator by an algebraic operator, then the weakly closed algebraW(T) generated byT has a separating vector.This work was partially supported by NSF Grant DMS-9401544.Participant, Workshop in Linear Analysis and Probability, Texas A&M University     

Commutant lifting and interpolation: The time-varying case

We show how the commutant lifting theorem for nest algebras due to Paulsen and Power can be used to give a unified framework for the treatment of a variety of interpolation problems for nest algebras which have been considered recently in the literature. Applications include the treatment of robust control for time-varying systems.Partially supported by NSF grant DMS-9500912     

Bounded characteristic functions and models for noncontractive sequences of operators

The Sz.-Nagy-FoiaŞ functional model for completely non-unitary contractions is extended to completely non-coisometric sequences of bounded operatorsT = (T₁,...,T _d) (d finite or infinite) on a Hilbert space, with bounded characteristic functions. For this class of sequences, it is shown that the characteristic function θ_T is a complete unitary invariant. We obtain, as the main result, necessary and sufficient conditions for a bounded multi-analytic operator on Fock spaces to coincide with the characteristic function associated with a completely non-coisometric sequence of bounded operators on a Hilbert space. Research supported in part by a COBASE grant from the National Research Council. The first author was partially supported by a grant from Ministerul Educaţiei Şi Cercetarii. The second author was partially supported by a National Science Foundation grant.     

Normal boundary dilations and rationally invariant subspaces

The first named author was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation.     

On the Isolated Points of the Spectrum of Paranormal Operators

For paranormal operator T on a separable complex Hilbert space we show that (1) Weyl’s theorem holds for T, i.e., σ(T) \ w(T) = π₀₀(T) and (2) every Riesz idempotent E with respect to a non-zero isolated point λ of σ(T) is self-adjoint (i.e., it is an orthogonal projection) and satisfies that ranE = ker(T − λ) = ker(T − λ)^*.     

On an Inverse Spectral Problem for a Convolution Integro-differential Operator

The operator of double differentiation perturbed by the composition of a Volterra convolution operator and the differentiation one on a finite interval with Dirichlet boundary conditions is considered. It is proved that the standard asymptotics is necessary and sufficient for an arbitrary sequence of complex numbers to be the spectrum of such an operator, which is determined uniquely. A constructive procedure for solving the inverse problem is given. Received: March 5, 2007.     

Hypercyclic Pairs of Coanalytic Toeplitz Operators

A pair of commuting operators, (A,B), on a Hilbert space is said to be hypercyclic if there exists a vector such that {A ⁿ B ^k x : n, k ≥ 0} is dense in . If f, g ∈H ^∞(G) where G is an open set with finitely many components in the complex plane, then we show that the pair (M ^* _f , M ^* _g ) of adjoints of multiplcation operators on a Hilbert space of analytic functions on G is hypercyclic if and only if the semigroup they generate contains a hypercyclic operator. However, if G has infinitely many components, then we show that there exists f, g ∈H ^∞(G) such that the pair (M ^* _f , M ^* _g ) is hypercyclic but the semigroup they generate does not contain a hypercyclic operator. We also consider hypercyclic n-tuples.