Nonlinearity in \(H^ \infty\)-control theory, causality in the commutant lifting theorem, and extension of intertwining operators (Q1900713)

The authors present the operator theoretical background of their work on an implementable nonlinear extension of the powerful linear \(H^\infty\)-design methodology [``On a causal linear optimization theorem'', to appear in J. Math. Anal. and Appl.]. The general method which is explained here is based on a causal extension of the commutant lifting theorem, when considering operators and spaces which appear in control theory. The authors give a direct simple method for finding the optimal causal compensators. They show that the computation of an optimal causal nonlinear compensator can be reduced to a known interpolation problem. This paper deals only with discrete-time systems.