Every completely polynomially bounded operator is similar to a contraction

It is proved that a bounded operator on a Hilbert space is similar to a contraction if and only if it is completely polynomially bounded. This gives a partial answer to Problem 6 of Halmos (Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.76 (1970). 877–933). The set of completely bounded maps between C¹-algebras is studied to obtain some structure, representation, and extension theorems for this class of maps. These allow a characterization of the completely bounded representations, on a Hilbert space, of any subalgebra of a C¹-algebra to be obtained. The result in the title follows by applying this characterization to the disk algebra.