Similarity orbits in the Calkin algebra (Q657282)

Let \(\mathcal H\) be a complex separable infinite-dimensional Hilbert space and let \(\mathcal B( \mathcal H)\) denote the algebra of all bounded linear operators on \(\mathcal H\). Let \(\pi: \mathcal B (\mathcal H) \to \mathcal A (\mathcal H)\) be the quotient map, where \(\mathcal A (\mathcal H)\) denotes the Calkin algebra. The similarity orbit of \(T \in \mathcal B( \mathcal H)\) (resp., \( \mathcal A(\mathcal H)\)) is the set \(S(T)\) of all elements of the form \(X^{-1}TX\) with \(X\) an invertible element of \(\mathcal B( \mathcal H)\) (resp., \(\mathcal A(\mathcal H)\)). It was shown by \textit{C. Apostol} et al. [Approximation of Hilbert space operators. II. Research Notes in Mathematics 102. Boston-London-Melbourne: Pitman (1984; Zbl 0572.47001)] that, if \(T\) is not similar to a compact perturbation of a Jordan operator, then the norm closures satisfy \(\overline{S(\pi (T))}= \overline{\pi (S(T))}\), and they conjectured that \(S(\pi (T))= \pi (S(T))\). In the present paper, the authors investigate the structure of similarity orbits in the Calkin algebra. Moreover, using a new class \(ES(H)\) of operators introduced in [\textit{Y.-Q. Ji}, \textit{P.-H. Wang} and \textit{X.-J. Xu jun.}, Acta Math. Sin. 48, No.~2, 259--266 (2005; Zbl 1126.47300)], they give a negative answer to the conjecture by Apostol et al.