Lectures on hyponormal operators (Q1187658)

The theory of hyponormal operators (i.e. the bounded linear operators T on a Hilbert space \({\mathcal H}\) such that \(\| T^*\xi \| \leq \| T\xi \|\) for any \(\xi\in {\mathcal H})\) has developed in the last thirty years to an extensive generalization of the theory of normal operators with deep relations to spectral and perturbation theory of Hilbert space operators as well as to singular integral equations and scattering theory. Any access to this subject is complicated by the necessity of a rather large amount of different mathematical resources, and the problem of presenting the material as straightforward as possible is solved in this book excellently. Without claiming completeness most of all known important aspects of hyponormal operators are covered. As a starting point some basic facts about the narrower class of subnormal oprators - the restrictions of normal operators to invariant subspaces - are treated, which gave the pattern for developments in the theory of hyponormal operators. After the introduction of the elementary properties of hyponormal operators - including the description of some complete unitary invariants, spectral properties, the representation as subscalar operators, and an analytic functional calculus - the invariant subspace problem is treated. Then operations preserving hyponormality together with spectral mapping properties are discussed. Profound informations arise from the investigation of the self-commutator, its norm as well as its trace-norm, and corresponding estimates, which relate them with the spectrum. Now the singular-integral model and other functional models can be implemented, which open the connections to the methods of singular- integral equations and perturbation and scattering theories. The presentation culminates in the definition and the study of the mosaic of a pure hyponormal operator with trace-class self-commutator - an operator valued \({\mathcal L}^{\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^ 2)\)-function, which is a refined complete unitary invariant - and its trace, the principal function, which yields deep insights in the structure of hyponormal operators. A chapter about hyponormal operators with one dimensional self-commutator is added, where the most extensive results are known, and finally among the numerous applications to other areas three specific, completely different topics are selected. The theory of hyponormal operators is shaped by many mathematicians, and the great deal of material cannot be carried out in a textbook of warrantable size in all details. Nevertheless the authors managed to present all main results completely; the technique of shortening and stressing is optimally balanced when introductions are desirable or adjacent topics are described. The always appropriate connecting explanations provide the reader with basic facilities to work through the text effectively. Additional facts are presented in the exercises and are made available by pertinent hints or references to the literature. The authors themselves have contributed mainly to the theory of hyponormal operators, and moreover many of the proofs presented in the text are simplified with respect to the original ones. For the expert this carefully written book is a far-reaching unified reference for any aspect of this area of operator theory, and for the graduate student with some acquaintance with operator theory including theory of functions it makes it possible to go into an interesting field of research, where still a lot of open questions are to be solved and with many connections to other disciplines.