Operator linear-fractional relations: main properties and applications (Q2258275)

This is an expository paper. One should mention that the abstract in the printed version of the paper has been misassigned. It belongs to the paper [\textit{E. V. Radkevich}, ibid. 202, No. 5, 735--768 (2014; Zbl 1312.82017); translation from Sovrem. Mat., Fundam. Napravl. 47, 108--139 (2013)]. In the paper under review, the authors discuss the relation between different branches in mathematics, namely, between 1. linear-fractional mappings defined on the unit ball in the space of bounded operators, and its generalization to linear-fractional relations (i.e., linear-fractional multi-valued mappings), 2. the Königs imbedding problem, which addresses the question whether a given holomorphic function can be represented by a family \(\{ F(t)\}_{t\geq 0}\) of holomorphic functions satisfying the semigroup property such that \(F(0)\) is the identity and \(F(1)\) equals the given function, and 3. the functional Schröder (or Abel-Schröder) equation \[ f \circ \varphi = \lambda f, \] where the complex number \(\lambda\) and the holomorphic function \(\varphi\) are given and \(f\) is unknown. It is known (in the scalar case) that the Königs imbedding problem can be solved (locally) with the help of a solution of the functional Schröder equation. Moreover, in order to solve the functional Schröder equation it is sufficient to solve it for linear fractional mappings \(\varphi\). The authors present an overview of existing results for the solution of the functional Schröder equations with operator valued functions and also for a somehow more general class of Schröder equations, where \(\lambda\) is replaced by an (operator valued) function. These solutions are linear-fractional mappings. Furthermore, results for linear-fractional mappings to be solutions of the Königs imbedding problem are presented. Linear-fractional mappings (or, more precisely, linear-fractional relations) play a prominent role in the study of invariant subspaces of operators in spaces with an indefinite metric: e.g., a plus-operator has a maximal nonnegative invariant subspace if and only if a specific linear-fractional relation has a fixed point.