Components of the essential spectra of quasisimilar operators (Q1180009)

Bounded linear operators \(A\), \(B\) on a Hilbert space \(H\) are quasi- similar if there exist bounded linear operators \(X\), \(Y\) on \(H\) which are injective, have dense ranges, and \(AX=XB\), \(BY=YA\). This paper investigates intersection properties of the components of various essential spectra of quasi-similar operators \(A\) and \(B\). Let \(\sigma_{\ell e}(T)\), \(\sigma_{re}(T)\) be respectively the left and right essential spectrum of the operator \(T:\sigma_{\ell e}(T)\) (\((\sigma_{re}(T)\)) is the complement in \(\mathbb{C}\) of the set of \(\lambda\in\mathbb{C}\) for which \(T-\lambda\) is semi-Fredholm with finite nullity (deficiency). It is proved that a non-empty clopen subset of \(\sigma_{\ell e}(A)\) (\(\sigma_{re}(A)\)) intersects \((\sigma_{re}(B)\) \((\sigma_{\ell e}(B))\), thus answering a question raised in [\textit{L. Fialkow}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 243, 147-168 (1978; Zbl 0397.47002)]. A necessary and sufficient condition for a component of \(\sigma_{\ell e}(A)\) to intersect \(\sigma_{\ell e}(B)\) is also established.