Approximation by generalized commutators (Q4386980)

Two bounded operators \(A\), \(B\) in \({\mathcal L}(H)\), the algebra of bounded operators on a Hilbert space \(H\), are said to have the Fuglede-Putnam property \((F,P)_{C_p}\) if \(AT=TB\) and \(T\) in \(C_p\) implies \(A^*T=TB^*\), where \(C_p\) is the von Neumann-Schatten class. For an operator \(X\) one defines \[ \delta _{A,B}(X)=AX-XB. \] The author proves that if \(A\), \(B\) have the property \((F,P)_{C_p}\) (\(1\leq p<\infty )\), and if \(T\in C_p\) is such that \(AT=TB\), then, for all \(X\in {\mathcal L}(H)\), \[ \| T-\delta _{A,B}(X)\| _p\geq \| T\| _p, \] where \(\| \cdot \| _p\) denotes the norm of the class \(C_p\). Furthermore the author studies the critical points of the functional \(\phi _p\), \[ \phi _p(X)=\| T-\delta _{A,B}(X)\| _p^p. \]