Classes of linear operators. Vol. I (Q1188805)

This book is the first of two volumes. It is intended as a source for graduate courses in linear operator theory and its applications (the applications concern mostly integral and differential operators). Many of the topics are traditional ( functional calculus, trace class and Hilbert-Schmidt operators, Fredholm operators and Index), but some are new in a textbook publication and reflect the research done by the authors themselves ( Wiener-Hopf integral equations with rational symbols). The traditional topics are presented with applications not usually found in textbooks (analytic equivalence, integral equations with semi-separable kernels), again reflecting the authors' research. Used as a graduate textbook, the book allows the instructor several good selections of topics to build a course. The prerequisites include real analysis, complex function theory, and familiarity with basic operator theory and functional analysis; geometry of Hilbert spaces, bounded linear operators (on particular, compact and selfadjoint operators), Banach spaces (in particular \(L_ p\)-spaces), the three principles of functional analysis, as found, for example, in \textit{I. Gohberg, S. Goldberg}, Basic Operator Theory, Birkhäuser-Verlag, Boston (1981; Zbl 0458.47001) or in \textit{L. W. Baggett}, Functional Analysis. A Primer, Marcel Dekker, New York, etc., (1992). In fact, the authors consider this book as a continuation of the Gohberg-Goldberg book. Other than the prerequisites mentioned above, the exposition is essentially self- contained. A number of more advanced topics (such as Sobolev spaces) are introduced and explained to the minimal necessary extent where they are needed. The authors took great care to polish and simplify the exposition; as a result, the book can serve also as an excellent basis for reading courses or for self-study. In contains 132 exercises. Besides being a textbook, the book is valuable reference source for a wide audience of mathematicians, physicists and engineers. The specialists in functional analysis and operator theory will find most of the topics familiar, although the exposition is often novel or non- traditional, making the material more accessible. The book consists of four parts divided into nineteen chapters, the titles of which are listed below, with a concise description of some major special features (when appropriate). Part I: General Spectral Theory. The chapters in Part I are: Riesz Projections and Functional Calculus; Eigenvalues of Finite Type (including a section on continuity of spectra and eigenvalues), Analytic Equivalence (this chapter contains some results concerning the relationships between similarity of operators \(A\) and \(B\) and local and global analytic equivalence of operator functions \(\lambda I-A\) and \(\lambda I-B\)), Linear Operator Pencils (generalization of the Riesz functional calculus, using the more general operator pencil \(\lambda G-A\) rather than \(\lambda I-A\)), Spectral Theory for Bounded Selfadjoint Operators. Part II: Classes of Compact Operators. The chapters in Part II are: Singular Values of Compact Operators, Trace and Determinant (including the full proof of Lidskii's theorem on traces), Hilbert-Schmidt Operators, Integral Operators with Semi-separable Kernels, The Growth of the Resolvent Operator and Applications to Completeness (this chapter contains, in particular, Keldysh's theorem on completeness of eigenvectors and generalized eigenvectors of certain compact operators, with full proof. Part III: Fredholm Operators: General Theory and Wiener-Hopf Integral Operators. The chapters in Part III are: Fredholm Operators (two less traditional sections here concern analytic Fredholm operator valued functions), Wiener-Hopf Integral Operators, Wiener-Hopf Integral Operators with Rational Symbols. In the latter chapter a theory of such operators (matrix valued) is presented, including Wiener-Hopf factorization, inversion, Fredholm characteristics and generalized inverses, expressed in terms of the realizations of the symbol. The theory is illustrated with a transport theory example, and a section concerning convolution operators on a finite interval is included as well. Part IV: Classes of Unbounded Linear Operators. Chapters in Part IV are: Unbounded Linear Operators, Functional calculus for Unbounded Operators (two sections here contain a generalization of the Riesz decomposition theorem to certain cases when the parts of the spectrum are not disjoint), Unbounded Selfadjoint Operators, Unbounded Fredholm Operators and Perturbation Theorems, A Class of Ordinary Differential Operators on a Half Line, Strongly Continuous Semigroups (with applications to transport theory). The last but one chapter contains new results on invertibility, spectrum, Fredholm properties and the index of certain differential operators associated with half-line boundary value problems. Throughout Part IV many constructions and theorems are illustrated with ordinary and partial differential operators.