Jumping flatness and Aluthge transform of recursive weighted shifts (Q2084891)

The paper under review aims to study the subnormality of the Aluthge transform of Hamburger-type weighted shifts. Recall that a unilateral weighted shift \(W_\alpha\) with positive weights \(\alpha=\{\alpha_k\}_{k=0}^\infty\) is called Hamburger-type if for all nonnegative integers \(n\) and all nonnegative even integers \(k\) the following matrix induces a positive operator on \(\mathbb{C}^{n+1}\) \[ \begin{pmatrix} \gamma_{k}&\gamma_{k+1}&\cdots&\gamma_{k+n}\\ \gamma_{k+1}&\gamma_{k+2}&\cdots&\gamma_{k+n+1}\\ \vdots & \vdots&\ddots& \vdots\\ \gamma_{k+n}&\gamma_{k+n+1}&\ldots &\gamma_{k+2n } \end{pmatrix}, \] where \(\gamma_0=1\) and \(\gamma_{k}=\alpha_0^2\alpha_1^2\cdots\alpha_{k-1}^2\) for \(k\geq 1\). Recall that if \(T\) is a bounded linear Hilbert space operator with \(T=U|T|\) being its polar decomposition, then the Aluthge transform of \(T\) is defined as \(\tilde{T}=|T|^{\frac{1}{2}}U|T|^{\frac{1}{2}}\). The authors prove that if \(W_\alpha\) is a weighted shift with associated representing measure \(\mu:=a\delta_{-p}+b\delta_r+c\delta_q\) for some \(p>0\), \(-p<r <q\) with \(a,b,c>0\), where \(\delta_x\) denotes the standard Dirac measure at \(x\), then \(\tilde{W_\alpha}\) is subnormal if and only if \(r=0\), \(p=q\) and \(c>a\). This gives an affirmative answer to a problem raised by \textit{G. R. Exner} et al. [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 494, No. 1, Article ID 124592, 16 p. (2021; Zbl 07309698)]. Also the author consider the preserving problem of Hamburger-type property under the Aluthge transform. It is proved that if \(W_\alpha\) is a Hamburger-type weighted shift such that the associated representing measure has four atoms, then \(\tilde{W_\alpha}\) is a Hamburger-type weighted shift if and only if \(\tilde{W_\alpha}\) is subnormal.