Ordinary differential operators in Hilbert spaces and Fredholm pairs (Q1566362)

Let \(E\) be a real Hilbert space and \({\mathcal L}(E)\) denote the Banach algebra of bounded linear operators on \(E\). An operator \(T\in{\mathcal L}(E)\) is said to be hyperbolic if its spectrum does not meet the imaginary axis. An asymptotically hyperbolic path of operators on \(\overline{\mathbb{R}}:= \mathbb{R}\cup \{-\infty, \infty\}\) is a piecewise continuous map \(A: \overline{\mathbb{R}}\to {\mathcal L}(E)\) such that \(A(\pm \infty)\) are hyperbolic. Let \(A\) be an asymptotically hyperbolic path of operators on \(\overline {\mathbb{R}}\) and \(X_A\) be the path of operators solving the Cauchy problem \(X_A'(t)= A(t) X_A(t)\), \(X_A(0)= I\). Set \[ W_A^s= \Bigl\{x\in E: \lim_{t\to +\infty} X_A(t) x=0\Bigr\}, \qquad W_A^u= \Bigl\{x\in E: \lim_{t\to -\infty} X_A(t) x=0\Bigr\}. \] The authors prove that \(W_A^s\) and \(W_A^u\) are closed subspaces of \(E\), the operator \(F_A= d/dt- A(t)\) has closed image if and only if \(W_A^s+ W_A^u\) is closed, and \(F_A\) is Fredholm if and only if \((W_A^s, W_A^u)\) is a Fredholm pair (i.e., \(W_A^s\), \(W_A^u\) are closed subspaces, \(W_A^s+ W_A^u\) is closed and finite codimensional and \(W_A^s\cap W_A^u\) is finite dimensional), in which case \(\operatorname {ind} F_A= \dim(W_A^s\cap W_A^u)- \operatorname {codim} (W_A^s+ W_A^u)\). Also, the asymptotically hyperbolic path \(A\) of the form \(A(t)= A_0(t)+ K(t)\) where the operators \(K(t)\) are compact and \(A(\pm \infty)\) are hyperbolic is considered. Several examples are included to point out the differences with respect to the finite dimensional case.