K-group and similarity classification of operators (Q2566241)

\textit{M. J. Cowen} and \textit{R. G. Douglas} introduced in [Acta Math. 141, 187--261 (1978; Zbl 0427.47016)] a class of operators related to complex geometry and now referred to as Cowen--Douglas operators. Given a positive integer \(n\) and a connected open set \(\Omega\) of complex numbers, a bounded linear operator \(A\) on a complex separable Hilbert space is said to be a Cowen--Douglas operator with index \(n\) if its spectrum contains \(\Omega\), the operators \(A-z\) (\(z\in\Omega\)) are right invertible and their kernels have dimension \(n\) and generate a dense subspace. The Cowen--Douglas operators play an important role in the study of the structure of non-selfadjoint operators [cf. \textit{D.~A.\ Herrero}, ``Approximation of Hilbert space operators'', Vol.~1, 2nd ed.\ (Pitman Research Notes in Mathematics 224, Longman Scientific \& Technical, Harlow and John Wiley \& Sons Ltd, New York) (1990; Zbl 0694.47001), \textit{C. L. Jiang and Z. Y. Wang}, ``Strongly irreducible operators on Hilbert space'' (Pitman Research Notes in Mathematics 389, Longman Scientific \& Technical, Harlow) (1998; Zbl 0946.47011)]. In [Can. J. Math. 56, No.4, 742-775 (2004; Zbl 1068.47044)], \textit{C. L. Jiang} provided a solution to the similarity problem for strongly irreducible Cowen--Douglas operators, using the \(K_0\)-groups of their commutants as invariants. In the paper under review, the authors generalize the results of Jiang by removing the assumption on strong irreducibility. They prove that the ordered \(K\)-group is a complete similarity invariant of the commutant algebras of Cowen--Douglas operators. Using these ordered \(K\)-groups, a similarity classification of the Cowen--Douglas operators is finally obtained.