Lower semi-frames, frames, and metric operators (Q2222386)

Let \((X,\mu)\) be a locally compact space with a Radon measure \(\mu\) and \(\mathcal H\) a separable Hilbert space. One of the main questions studied in this paper is concerned with the possibility of transforming a weakly measurable function \(\phi:X\to\mathcal H\) into a continuous frame by a metric operator (i.e., a strictly positive self-adjoint operator). The authors find some necessary and some sufficient conditions on \(\phi\) for the existence of such an operator. An important role in the study is played by the generalized frame operator \(\textsf{T}_{\phi}\), which is the operator associated with the sesquilinear form \[\Omega_{\phi}(f,g)=\int_{X}\langle f|\phi_x\rangle\langle \phi_x|g\rangle d\mu(x), \quad f,g\in D(C_{\phi}),\] via Kato's representation theorem. Here, \(D(C_{\phi})\) denotes the domain of the analysis operator, \(D(C_{\phi})=\{f\in \mathcal H: \int_{X}|\langle f|\phi_x\rangle|^2d\mu(x)<\infty\}\). Sesquilinear forms defined by sequences in Hilbert spaces and operators associated with them by means of representation theorems have been previously analyzed by one of the authors [\textit{R. Corso}, Monatsh. Math. 189, No. 4, 625--650 (2019; Zbl 1418.42046); ``Generalized frame operator, lower semi-frames and sequences of translates'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1912.03261}]. In this paper, most of the results are extended to the continuous setting. If \(\phi\) is a lower semi-frame, with \(D(C_{\phi})\) dense in \(\mathcal H\), it is shown that \(\phi\) can be transformed into a Parseval frame by the metric operator \(\textsf{T}_{\phi}^{-1/2}\). This is a consequence of a more general result which, for a given lower semi-frame \(\phi:X\to\mathcal H\), with \(D(C_{\phi})\) dense in \(\mathcal H\), provides necessary and sufficient conditions for \(\textsf{T}_{\phi}^{-k}\phi\) (with \(k\geqslant 0\)) to be Bessel mappings, frames or lower semi-frames for \(\mathcal H(\textsf{T}_{\phi}^m)\) (\(m\geqslant 0\)), expressed in terms of the simple relations between \(k\) and \(m\).