Operators with numerical range in a given closed half plane (Q2455365)

A bounded linear operator \(A\) on a complex Hilbert space \(H\) is said to be weakly sectorial if its numerical range \(W(A)\) \((=\{\langle Ax,x: x\in H,\| x\|= 1\}\) is contained in the half-plane \(\{z\in\mathbb{C}: a\,\text{Re\,}z+ b\text{\,Im\,}z\geq 0\}\) for some real \(a\) and \(b\) which are not both zero. Here, \(\text{Re\,}z\) and \(\text{Im\,}z\) denote the real and imaginary parts of \(z\), respectively. Such operators are easily seen to be also characterized by the condition: \(a\text{\,Re\,} A+ b\text{\,Im\,}A\geq 0\). In the present paper, the authors give other characterizations. For example, it is shown in the main theorem, Theorem 2, that \(A\) is weakly sectorial if and only if all compressions of \(A\) to two-dimensional spaces are. The latter means that \(X*AX\) is weakly sectorial for every operator \(X\) from \(\mathbb{C}^2\) to \(H\) satisfying \(X*X= I_2\). In the second half of the paper, they also prove the analogue of Theorem 2 for operators on a real Hilbert space.