Contractions satisfying the absolute value property \(| A|^2\leq| A^2|\) (Q1882429)

Let \(B(H)\) denote the algebra of all bounded linear operators on a complex Hilbert space \(H\), and let \(U\) denote the class of operators \(A\) in \(B(H)\) which satisfy the absolute value condition \(| A| ^2\leq| A^2|\). In this note, the authors prove that if \(A\) is a contraction in \(U\), then either \(A\) has a nontrivial invariant subspace or \(A\) is a proper contraction and the nonnegative operator \(D=| A^2| -| A|^2\) is strongly stable. A Putnam-Fuglede type commutativity theorem is proved for contractions \(A\) in \(U\), and it is shown that if normal subspaces of \(A\) are reducing, then every compact operator in the intersection of the weak closure of the range of the derivation \(\delta_{A}(X)=AX-XA\) with the commutant of \(A^{*}\) is quasinilpotent.