Localized frames and compactness (Q301577)

In this interesting paper, the authors show that for a certain class of operators on a Hilbert space compactness is equivalent to the vanishing, in the limit, of the action of the operator on a frame of vectors. To state the results more precisely requires some additional notation. Let \(\mathcal{H}\) be a separable Hilbert space. Let \((X,d,\lambda)\) be a metric measure space with metric \(d\) and measure \(\lambda\) such that \((X,d)\) is locally compact, complete and a geodesic metric space. The space \((X,d)\) will also be assumed to have finite asymptotic dimension, which means that there is an integer \(N\) such that for any \(r>0\) there is a covering \(\mathcal{D}_r={F_j}\) of \(X\) by disjoint Borel sets satisfying diam \(F_j\leq Kr\) (for some \(K>0\)) and every point of \(X\) belongs to at most \(N\) of the sets \(G_j=\{x\in X: d(x,F_j)<r\}\). Finally, assume that \(D_r=\sup_{x\in X} \lambda (D(x,r))<\infty\) for each \(r\). A family \(\{f_x\}_{x\in X}\) of vectors in a Hilbert space \(\mathcal{H}\) is a continuous frame if the mapping \(x\mapsto f_x\) is bounded and continuous and if there exist positive constants \(c\) and \(C\) so that \[ c\left\| f\right\|_{\mathcal{H}}^2\leq \int_{X} \left| \left\langle f,f_x\right\rangle_{\mathcal{H}}\right|^2 d\lambda(x)\leq C\left\| f\right\|^2_{\mathcal{H}}. \] Let \(\mathcal{F}=\{f_x\}_{x\in X}\) and \(\mathcal{G}=\{g_y\}_{y\in X}\) be two families of vectors in \(\mathcal{H}\) indexed by points in the measure space \((X,d,\lambda)\). The pair \((\mathcal{F},\mathcal{G})\) is \(p\)-weakly localized if \[ \int_{X} \left| \left\langle f_x,g_y\right\rangle_{\mathcal{H}}\right| p(y)d\lambda(y)\lesssim p(x) \] and \[ \lim_{R\to\infty} \sup_{x\in X} \frac{1}{p(x)}\int_{D(x,R)^c} \left| \left\langle f_x,g_y\right\rangle_{\mathcal{H}}\right| p(y)d\lambda(y)=0 \] and symmetric conditions holding when integrating in \(x\). An operator \(T:\mathcal{H}\to \mathcal{H}\) is \(p\)-weakly localized with respect to the pair \((\mathcal{F},\mathcal{G})\) if the pair \((\{Tf_ x\}_{x\in X}, \mathcal{G})\) is \(p\)-weakly localized. Let \(\tilde{\mathcal{F}}\) denote the dual frame associated to \(\mathcal{F}\). The authors then prove that for a continuous frame \(\mathcal{F}\), a metric measure space \((X,d,\lambda)\), and for an operator \(T\) that is \(p\)-weakly localized with respect to the pair \((\tilde{\mathcal{F}},\mathcal{F})\) then \(T\) is compact if and only if \[ \lim_{d(x,e)\to \infty} \left\| T^* f_x\right\|_{\mathcal{H}}=0 \] where \(e\) is some/any point in \(X\). Other results related to the boundedness and the essential norm of a \(p\)-weakly localized operator are also obtained.