Compact perturbations of nest algebras, index obstructions, and a problem of Arveson (Q1063215)

Let L(H) be the algebra of all bounded linear operators on a complex separable infinite-dimensional Hilbert space H, let \({\mathfrak N}\) be a strongly closed nest of subspaces of H, and let alg \({\mathfrak N}\) denote the set of all A in L(H) leaving invariant each subspace in \({\mathfrak N}\). Define \(\hat {\mathfrak N}=\{UAU^*+K:\quad U\quad is\quad unitary,\quad A\in alg {\mathfrak N},\quad K\in K(H)\},\) where K(H) is the ideal of all compact operators on H, and let \(\widehat{\mathfrak N}^ 0\) denote the set of T in L(H) with the property that, given \(\epsilon >0\), there exist \(U_{\epsilon}\) unitary, \(A_{\epsilon}\in alg {\mathfrak N}\) and \(K_{\epsilon}\) compact with \(\| K_{\epsilon}\| <\epsilon\), such that \(T=U_{\epsilon}AU^*_{\epsilon}+K_{\epsilon}.\) It is known that, if \({\mathfrak N}\) is order-isomorphic to \(\omega +1\) (where \(\omega\) is the first infinite ordinal) and all its gaps are one-dimensional, then \(\widehat{\mathfrak N}=\hat {\mathfrak N}^ 0=(QT)\), the set of all quasitriangular operators on H. Motivated by the fact that an operator T on H belongs to (QT) if and only if there does not exist a complex number \(\lambda\) such that \(\lambda-T\) is semi-Fredholm with negative index, W. B. Arveson conjectured that, unless there is some index obstruction (as in the above case), then \(\hat{\mathfrak N}\) coincides with L(H). The aim of this paper is to show that this is indeed the case. More precisely, it is shown that (i) if \({\mathfrak N}\) is well-ordered and all its gaps are finite-dimensional, then \(\hat{\mathfrak N}=\hat {\mathfrak N}^ 0=(QT);\) (ii) if \({\mathfrak N}\) is well-ordered from above and all its gaps are finite-dimensional, then \(\hat{\mathfrak N}=\hat {\mathfrak N}^ 0=(QT)^*;\) (iii) in any other case, \(\hat{\mathfrak N}=L(H).\) A second result gives a finer description of \(\hat{\mathfrak N}^ 0\) in case (iii), depending on the order structure of \({\mathfrak N}\). To illustrate, it is shown (amongst other things) that, assuming that neither (i) nor (ii) above holds, (a) if \({\mathfrak N}\) has an increasing sequence of gaps, then \(\hat{\mathfrak N}^ 0\supset (QT);\) (b) if \({\mathfrak N}\) has both an increasing sequence and a decreasing sequence of gaps, then \(\hat{\mathfrak N}^ 0=L(H);\) (c) if \({\mathfrak N}\) has an infinite-dimensional gap, then \(\hat{\mathfrak N}^ 0=L(H).\) The proofs of these results are long and complicated, involving a detailed analysis of the structure of compact perturbations of a given \(T\in L(H)\) corresponding to order properties of \({\mathfrak N}\).