On higher order selfadjoint operators (Q2174426)

Given a bounded operator \(T\) on a Hilbert space \(\mathcal{H}\), let \[ \alpha_m (T) = \sum_{k=0}^m (-1)^k \binom{m} {k} T^{*k} T^{m-k}. \] The operator \(T\) is called \(m\)-selfadjoint if \(\alpha_m (T)=0\) and strict \(m\)-selfadjoint if \(T\) is \(m\)-selfadjoint but not \((m-1)\)-selfadjoint. Since \(\alpha_{m+1} (T)= T^* \alpha_m(T) -\alpha_m(T) T\), then every \(m\)-selfadjoint operator is \(m+1\)-selfadjoint. This paper deals with \(m\)-selfadjoint operators and several of its properties. The paper is divided into five sections. The introduction gives an overview of the problems addressed and a perspective on previous work on the subject. It also gives a summary of the entire paper. In Section 2, the authors show that every \(m\)-selfadjoint idempotent, diagonal or Toeplitz operator is selfadjoint and every \(m\)-selfadjoint quasinilpotent operator is nilpotent. The main result in this section states a characterization of \(m\)-selfadjoint operators with finite spectrum. Theorem. Let \(T\) be an \(m\)-selfadjoint operator. Then the spectrum of \(T\) satisfies \(\sigma (T)=\{\lambda_1, \lambda_2, \dots , \lambda_n\}\) for some \(n\) if and only if \(T\) is the direct sum of \(n\) operators \(\lambda_i I +N_i\) with \(N_i\) nilpotent. The authors prove several results of interest, including a sufficient condition for the existence of a strict \(m\)-selfadjoint weighted shift on the Hilbert space \(\mathcal{H}\). In Section 3, the authors obtain \(\alpha_m (p(T))\) in terms of \(\alpha_m(T)\) and prove that, if \(T\) is \(m\)-selfadjoint, then so is \(p(T)\) for every polynomial \(p(z)\) with real coefficients. Furthermore, results in Section~2 are extended to certain analytic functions on a neighbourhood of \(\sigma (T)\). In Section~4, several concepts about elementary operators and generalized derivation operators on the Hilbert-Schmidt class \(\mathcal{C}_2 (\mathcal{H})\) are investigated. The last section deals with the dynamical behaviour of \(m\)-selfadjoint operators. It is shown that \(m\)-selfadjoint operators on an infinite dimensional Hilbert space can be \(N\)-supercyclic, for any \(N\geq 1\).