Hermitian algebra on the ellipse (Q372167)

The paper under review can be viewed as a continuation of an earlier paper by the authors (see [Math. Res. Lett. 17, No. 6, 1047--1053 (2010; Zbl 1230.14086)]). Let \(\alpha \in [0, 1/2)\) be a parameter and let \(X \subset \mathbb R ^ 2 = \mathbb C\) be the ellipse of equation \(\phi (z, \bar z) = | z| ^ 2 - \alpha z ^ 2 - \alpha \bar z ^ 2 - 1 = 0\), or in real coordinates, \((1 - 2\alpha )x ^ 2 + (1 + 2\alpha )y ^ 2 = 1\). Fix a Hilbert space \(H\) and a \(d\)-tuple \(T = (T _ 1, \dots , T _ d)\) of commuting linear bounded operators in \(H\). The tuple \(T\) is called subnormal, if \(H\) is a closed subspace of a larger Hilbert space \(K\) and there is a tuple \(N = (N _ 1, \dots , N _ d)\) of commuting normal operators on \(K\), such that \(H\) is an \(N _ j\)-invariant subspace of \(K\), and \(T _ j\) equals the operator of \(H\) induced by \(N _ j\), for each index \(j\). The paper under review shows that if \(T\) is a linear bounded operator on \(H\) satisfying the noncommutative ellipse equation \(T ^ {\ast }T - \alpha T ^ 2 - \alpha T ^ {\ast 2} = 1\), where \(T ^ {\ast }\) is the linear operator of \(H\) conjugate to \(T\), then \(T\) is subnormal. In addition, it proves that if \(\alpha \neq 0\), \(P _ +(X)\) is the set of nonnegative polynomials on \(X\), and \(\Sigma _ h\) is the convex cone of sums of Hermitian squares \(| p(z)| ^ 2\), where \(p(z) \in \mathbb C[z]\), then the convex cone \((\phi ) + \Sigma _ h\) is dense in \(P _ +(X)\)with respect to the finest locally convex topology of \(\mathbb R[x, y]/(\phi )\).