Decomposition of Analysis Operators and Frame Ranges for Continuous Frames

In this article, the measure space associated with a continuous frame is supposed to be σ-finite and positive, and a frame range is the range of the analysis operator for a continuous frame. Gabardo and Han in 2003 asked whether two frame ranges can both be contained in another one. To solve this problem, we give two decompositions of analysis operators and frame ranges for continuous frames respectively, which essentially establish a relationship between continuous frames and Hilbert-Schmidt operator valued frames. As applications, it follows that only separable Hilbert space can have a continuous frame, that there exists a continuous frame of Riesz-type if and only if the associated measure space is purely atomic, and that the sum of two frame ranges is still a frame range when the sum is closed. Finally, we construct a counterexample which shows that the Gabardo-Han problem is not necessarily true in general.