Distance formulas in the generalized spectrum and the semi-Fredholm spectrum. (Q1865300)

Let \(T\) be a bounded linear operator on a complex Hilbert space. The generalized spectrum of \(T\) is the set \(\sigma_g(T)\subseteq{\mathbb{C}}\) having the following property: \(\lambda\in{\mathbb{C}}\setminus\sigma_g(T)\) if and only if there exists an open neighborhood \(U\) of \(\lambda\) and a holomorphic function \(R\colon U\to B(H)\), such that \((T-\mu)R(\mu)(T-\mu)=T-\mu\) and \(R(\mu)(T-\mu)R(\mu)=R(\mu)\) whenever \(\mu\in U\). Moreover, denote \(\gamma(T)=\inf\{\|Tx\|\mid x\in H,\|x\|=1, x\in(\text{Ker} T)^\perp\}\). With this notation, one of the main results of the paper under review (Theorem~2.1) says that \[ \text{dist}(0,\sigma_g(T))=\sup\{\gamma(XTX^{-1})\mid 0\leq X\in B(H), X \text{invertible}\} \] provided \(0\not\in\sigma_g(T)\). A similar formula for the semi-Fredholm spectrum is proved in the case when \(T\) is a semi-Fredholm operator (Theorem~3.3). The paper is concluded by a section including seven open problems related to computing distances from 0 to various spectra of an operator.