Extensions of triangular Hilbert-Schmidt operators (Q762438)

The following two problems serve as prototypes of more general problems which are solved in this paper. Let \({\mathcal A}\) denote the set of all integral operators K on \(L_ 2(a,b)\) of the form \[ (kf)(t)=\int^{b}_{a}k(t,s)f(s)ds, \] where k is in \(L_ 2[(a,b)\times (a,b)]\). The function k is called the kernel function of K. Let \({\mathcal A}_{\pm}\) denote the subspaces of \({\mathcal A}\) consisting of integral operators with kernel functions \(\phi_{\pm}\) with the properties \[ a)\quad \phi_+(t,s)=0\quad for\quad t>s,\quad b)\quad \phi_-(t,s)=0\quad for\quad t\leq s. \] Given kernel functions \(k_{\pm}\) of the type described in a) and b), let \(F_{\pm}\) be the corresponding integral operators. The pair \((F_+,F_-)\) is said to have an extension \(I+K\), \(k\in {\mathcal A}\), with kernel function k, if the following conditions hold. i) \(I+K\) is invertible. ii) \(k(t,s)=k_+(t,s)\) for \(t\leq s\). iii) \(\tilde k(\)t,s)\(=k_-(t,s)\) for \(t>s\), where \(\tilde k\) is the kernel function of \((I-K)^{-1}-I\). iv) There exist \(X_{\pm}\), \(W_{\pm}\) in \({\mathcal A}_{\pm}\) such that \(I+K=(I+X_+)\) \((I+X_-)=(I+W_- )(I+W_+).\) The first problem is to give necessary and sufficient conditions for \((F_+,F_-)\) to have an extension \(I+K\) and to determine K explicitly. The second problem is to give necessary and sufficient conditions for \((F_+,F_-)\) to have a unitary extension. In this paper we give complete solutions to the two problems mentioned above and to more general problems of extensions of Hilbert-Schmidt operators which are triangular with respect to an arbitrary chain of orthogonal projections.