On the similarity of perturbed multiplication operators. (Q1566437)

Consider the Banach space \(L_p(a,b)\) with arbitrary \(-\infty\leq a<b\leq \infty\) and \(p\in[1,\infty)\). Let \(\nu\) be a Lebesgue measurable function on \([a,b]\times [a,b]\) such that \(\nu(x,t)=0\) if \(x<t\), and such that the induced integral operator \(V\) defined by \[ (Vf)(x):=\int^x_0 v(x,t)f(t)dt, \quad f\in L_p(a,b) \] is bounded in \(L_p(a,b)\). The main result of the paper is as follows: Suppose that \(\varphi\) strictly increases on \((a,b)\) and that the kernel \[ w(x,t):= \left | {v(x,t)\over\varphi (x)-\varphi (t)}\right| \] induces a bounded integral operator in \(L_p(a, b)\) of spectral radius less than \(1/2\). Then the operators \(S\) of multiplication by \(\varphi\) and \(T:=S+V\) are similar. In particular, \(S\) and \(T\) are similar if there exists a function \(q\in L_1(a,b)\) such that \(w(x,t)\leq q(x-t)\) for all \(x,t\) with \(0\leq t\leq x\leq 1\).