Agler-commutant lifting on an annulus (Q434301)

The purpose of this work is to present a commutant lifting theorem of Agler type for the annulus \(\mathbb{A}=\{z\in\mathbb{C}:q<| z|<1\}\) for some fixed \(q\in(0,1)\). To state the main result of the paper, we introduce some notation and give a few hints. The symbol \(\mathcal{S}(\mathbb{A},\mathcal{B(H)})\) stands for the Schur-Agler class (that is, functions \(F:\mathbb{A}\mapsto\mathcal{B(H)}\) with a transfer function representation). The authors consider on the annulus \(\mathbb{A}\) a special kernel denoted by \(k\). A function \(F:\mathbb{A}\mapsto\mathcal{B(H)}\) defines a contraction operator \(M_F\) on \(H^2(k)\otimes\mathcal{H}\) provided that the kernel \((I-F(z)F(z)^*)k(z,w)\) is positive semi-definite. Let \(\mathcal{M}\) be separable Hilbert space and let \(T,X\in\mathcal{B(M)}\) with \(\sigma(T)\subset \mathbb{A}\). An Agler decomposition for the pair \((T,X)\) is a \(\mathcal{B(M)}\)-valued measure on the Borel subsets \(\mathfrak{B}(\mathbb{T})\) of \(\mathbb{T}\) satisfying some conditions involving \(k(T,T^*)\) (built via Agler's hereditary functional calculus) and \(\frac{1}{k}(T,T^*)(I-X^*X)\). The multiplication by \(z\) on \(H^2(k)\) gives rise to the representation \(M:H^\infty(\mathbb{A})\mapsto\mathcal{B}(H^2(k)))\) given by \(M_fg=fg\). One says that \(M\) on \(H^2(k)\otimes\mathcal{H}\) lifts the representation \(T:H^\infty(\mathbb{A}) \mapsto\mathcal{B(M)}\) (induced by the functional calculus of the operator \(T\)) if there exists an isometry \(V:\mathcal{M}\mapsto H^2(k)\otimes\mathcal{H}\) such that \(VT^*=M^*V\). A certain density condition, when fulfilled, allows us to speak about \(M\) as a minimal lifting of \(T\). The main result of the paper is the following. Theorem. Let \(\mathcal{M}\) be separable Hilbert space and let \(T,X\in\mathcal{B(M)}\) with \(\sigma(T)\subset \mathbb{A}\). Assume that the operator \(M\) on \(H^2(k)\otimes\mathcal{H}\) with \(VT^*=M^*V\) is a minimal lifting, and \(XT_\phi=T_\phi X\) for each \(\phi\in H^\infty(\mathbb{A})\). Then the following properties are equivalent. (i) There is an \(F\in \mathcal{S}(\mathbb{A},\mathcal{H})\) such that \(XV^*=V^*M_F\). (ii) There is an Agler decomposition for the pair \((T,X)\).