An alternative approach to the parallel sum (Q908496)

The parallel sum of two positive operators on a Hilbert space H is \(A:B=\lim_{\epsilon \downarrow 0}A(A+B+\epsilon I)^{-1}B.\) It gives \(A:B=A(A+B+\epsilon I)^{-1}B\) when \((A+B)\) is invertible. In this paper the author obtains a representation for A:B in the general case. In fact, he shows that the restriction of A:B to the subspace \(\ker (A+B)^{\perp}\) coincides with the restriction of \(A^{\sim}(A+B)^{\sim -1}B^{\sim}\) where \(A^{\sim}\) denotes an extension of A to the completion of the inner product space \(H/\ker (A+B)\) with the inner product given by \((x,y)^{\sim}=((A+B)x,y).\)