Economical finite rank perturbations of semi-Fredholm operators (Q1093149)

It is shown that, if T is a semi-Fredholm operator on a Banach space X, and if n is any natural number, then there exists a finite rank operator F on X, dependent on n, such that, for each non-zero complex number \(\lambda\), \(T+\lambda F\) is bounded below or surjective, depending on whether the index of T is non-positive or non-negative, and, furthermore, \[ [T,F]q(T,F)[T,F]=0 \] for all polynomials q(T,F) in T and F in which the exponent of T does not exceed n. This result is an improvement on a similar one given by \textit{?. Laffey} and \textit{?. West} for Fredholm operators [Proc. R. Ir. Acad. 82A, 129-140 (1982)], though the method of proof differs considerably.