Double operator integral methods applied to continuity of spectral shift functions (Q516571)

Summary: We derive two principal results in this note. To describe the first, assume that \(A\), \(B\), \(A_n\), \(B_n\), \(n \in \mathbb{N}\), are self-adjoint operators in a complex, separable Hilbert space \(\mathcal{H}\), and suppose that \[ \mathrm{s-lim}_{n \to \infty}(A_n - z_0 I_{\mathcal{H}})^{-1} = (A - z_0 I_{\mathcal{H}})^{-1} \] and \[ \mathrm {s-lim}_{n \to \infty}(B_n - z_0 I_{\mathcal{H}})^{-1} = (B - z_0 I_{\mathcal{H}})^{-1} \] for some \(z_0 \in \mathbb{C} \;\mathbb{R}\). Fix \(m \in \mathbb{N}\), \(m\) odd, \(p \in [1,\infty)\), and assume that for all \(a \in \mathbb{R} \backslash \{0\}\), \[ \begin{aligned} T(a):= [( A -aiI_{\mathcal{H}})^{-m} - & ( B -ai I_{\mathcal{H}})^{-m}] \mathcal{B}_p(\mathcal{H}), \\ T_n(a) := [( A_n -aiI_{\mathcal{H}})^{-m} - & ( B_n -aiI_{\mathcal{H}})^{-m}] \mathcal{B}_p(\mathcal{H}), \\ \lim_{n \to \infty} \|T_n(a) - & T(a)\|_{\mathcal{B}_p(\mathcal{H})} =0. \end{aligned} \] Then for any function \(f\) in the class \(\mathfrak F_{m}(\mathbb{R}) \supset C_0^{\infty}(\mathbb{R})\) (cf.(1.1)for details), \[ \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \| [f(A_n) - f(B_n)] - [f(A)- f(B)]\|_{\mathcal{B}_p(\mathcal{H})}=0. \] Moreover, for each \(f\in \mathfrak{F}_m(\mathbb R)\), \(p\in [1,\infty)\), we prove the existence of constants \(a_1,a_2 \in \mathbb{R} \;\{0\}\) and \(C=C(f,m, a_1, a_2) \in (0,\infty)\) such that \[ \begin{aligned} \|f(A)-f(B)\|_{\mathcal B_p(\mathcal H)} C(\|(A-a_1iI_{\mathcal H})^{-m} - (B-a_1iI_{\mathcal H})^{-m}\|_{\mathcal B_p(\mathcal H)} \\ +\|(A-a_2iI_{\mathcal H})^{-m} - (B-a_2iI_{\mathcal H})^{-m}\|_{\mathcal B_p(\mathcal H)}), \end{aligned} \] which permits the use of differences of higher powers \(m \in \mathbb{N}\) of resolvents to control the \(\| \cdot \|_{\mathcal{B}_p(\mathcal{H})}\)-norm of the left-hand side \([f(A)-f(B)]\) for \(f \in \mathfrak{F}_{m}(\mathbb{R})\). Our second result is concerned with the continuity of spectral shift functions \(\xi(\, \cdot \,; B,B_0)\) associated with a pair of self-adjoint operators \((B,B_0)\) in \(\mathcal{H}\) with respect to the operator parameter \(B\). For brevity, we only describe one of the consequences of our continuity results. Assume that \(A_0\) and \(B_0\) are fixed self-adjoint operators in \(\mathcal{H}\), and there exists \(m \in \mathbb{N}\), \(m\) odd, such that, \([(B_0 - z I_{\mathcal{H}})^{-m} - (A_0 - z I_{\mathcal{H}})^{-m}] \in \mathcal{B}_1(\mathcal{H})\), \(z \in \mathbb{C} \;\mathbb{R}\). For \(T\) self-adjoint in \(\mathcal{H}\) we denote by \(\Gamma_m(T)\) the set of all self-adjoint operators \(S\) in \(\mathcal{H}\) for which the containment \([(S - z I_{\mathcal{H}})^{-m} - (T - z I_{\mathcal{H}})^{-m}] \in \mathcal{B}_1(\mathcal{H})\), \(z \in \mathbb{C}\;\mathbb{R}\), holds. Suppose that \(B_1\in \Gamma_m(B_0)\) and let \(\{B_{\tau}\}_{\tau\in [0,1]}\subset \Gamma_m(B_0)\) denote a continuous path (in a suitable topology on \(\Gamma_m(B_0)\), from \(B_0\) to \(B_1\) in \(\Gamma_m(B_0)\). If \(f \in L^{\infty}(\mathbb{R})\), then \[ \lim_{\tau\rightarrow 0^+} \|\xi(\, \cdot \, ; B_{\tau}, A_0) f - \xi(\, \cdot \, ; B_0, A_0) f\|_{L^1(\mathbb{R}; (|\nu|^{m+1} + 1)^{-1}d\nu)} = 0. \] The fact that higher powers \(m\in\mathbb{N}\), \(m \geqslant 2\), of resolvents are involved, permits applications of this circle of ideas to elliptic partial differential operators in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), \(n \in \mathbb{N}\). The methods employed in this note rest on double operator integral (DOI) techniques.