Generation and commutation properties of the Volterra operator (Q1925818)

The classical Volterra operator \(V\) is defined on the Hilbert space \(L^2(0,1)\) by the expression \[ (Vf)(t) : \, = \int_0^t f(s)\,ds. \] It is well known that \(V\) is quasinilpotent and compact and that, in fact, \(V\) is a Hilbert-Schmidt operator. Also, \(V\) has the property that the self-commutator \([V^\ast,V]=V^\ast V-V V^\ast\) is a rank-two operator. This is an extremal property, because no compact operator can have a self-commutator of rank one. Even though the self-commutator of \(V\) is as small as it can be, the Volterra operator and its adjoint generate the highly non-commutative algebra of all compact operators in the uniform operator norm. It is natural to ask whether the Volterra operator and its adjoint generate the full algebra of all Hilbert-Schmidt operators in the Hilbert-Schmidt norm. The authors ask a similar question with the operator \(V\) replaced by the operator \(q(V)\), where \(q\) is a nonzero analytic function with \(0\) in its domain and \(q(0) = 0\). The main result of the paper under review is that the algebra generated by \(q(V)\) and \(q(V)^\ast\) is dense in the full algebra of all Hilbert-Schmidt operators in the Hilbert-Schmidt norm. In Section 2, the authors provide an elementary solution when \(q\) is a polynomial. In Section 3, they present a short, non-elementary proof for the more general case where \(q\) is an analytic function, that uses deep results on the structure of invariant subspaces of \(q(V)\) and Lomonosov's lemma. Next, they study the commutative algebra generated by \(q(V)\). In [Integral Equations Oper. Theory 5, 127--130 (1982; Zbl 0473.47015)], \textit{J. A. Erdos} showed that the commutant of \(V\) is the closure in the strong operator topology of the algebra generated by \(V\), that is, the minimal possible. The authors prove that the closure of the algebra generated by \(q(V)\) is independent of \(q\), where the closure can be taken in the Hilbert-Schmidt norm, the operator norm, or the strong operator topology. Hence, the commutant of \(q(V)\) is equal to the commutant of \(V\). It is surprising that the operator \(V\) can be approximated by polynomials in arbitrarily high powers of \(V\), in analogy with the Müntz-Szász theorem. At the end of the paper, the authors provide a list of open questions.