Generalized Schur complements and oblique projections (Q5957198)

Let \(A\in L(\mathcal{H})\) be a positive operator, and \(\varphi\) be a closed subspace of the Hilbert space \(\mathcal{H}\). The shorted operator of \(A\) by \(\varphi\) is defined by \(A_{/\varphi}=\max\{X\in L(\mathcal{H})\;:\;0\leq X\leq A \text{ and } R(X)\subseteq \varphi^{\perp}\} \). A pair \((A,\varphi)\) is called compatible if the set \(\{Q\in L(\mathcal{H})\;:\;Q^{2}=Q\), \(R(Q)=\varphi\text{ and } AQ=Q^{*}A\}\) is not empty. Generally, for a positive operator \(A\), \(A_{/ \varphi}= \inf\{R^{*}AR\;:\;R^{2}=R\text{ and }\ker R=\varphi\}\), \(R(A)\cap \varphi^{\perp}\subseteq R(A_{/\varphi})\) and \(\overline{\ker A+\varphi}\subseteq \ker A_{/\varphi}\) hold. In the paper under review, the authors discuss the above properties precisely and show that \((A, \varphi)\) is compatible if and only if \(A_{/ \varphi}= \min\{R^{*}AR: R^{2}=R\) and \(\ker R=\varphi\}\) if and only if \(R(A)\cap \varphi^{\perp} = R(A_{/\varphi})\) and \(\ker A+\varphi=\ker A_{/\varphi}\).