On von Neumann's theory of spectral sets

In this paper spectral sets are studied extensively. They are first characterized in measure theoretic terms as follows. A compact set \(X\) is a spectral set for a (bounded, linear) operator \(T\) (on a Hilbert space, \(H\)) if and only if for every pair \(x, y\) in \(H\), there is a regular Borel measure \(\mu[x,y]\), with support in \(\partial X\) satisfying (i) \(\int f \,d\mu = (f(T)x, y)\) for every \(f\) in \(R(X)\) (the set of rational functions without poles in \(X\)), and (ii) \(\Vert \mu[x,y]\Vert \le \Vert x\Vert \cdot \Vert y\Vert\). (By definition, a subset \(X\) of \(\sigma(T)\), the spectrum of \(T\), is a spectral set for \(T\) if \(\Vert f(T)\Vert \le \Vert f\Vert_X\) for each \(f\in R(X)\).) Further results are given. In another section, the closure of the set of contraction operators in various topologies is considered. It is proved, for example, that this set is already closed in the ``double strong topology, generated by sets of the form \[ N(\varepsilon; x_1,\ldots, x_n) = \{ T: \max (\Vert Tx_i\Vert \Vert T^*x_i\Vert) < \varepsilon,\quad 1\le i\le n\}. \] The last section concerns dilations. It is shown that if \(R(X)\) is a Dirichlet algebra and \(X\) is a spectral set for \(T\), then there is a normal operator \(N\) with spectrum in \(\partial X\), which is the \(X\)-dilation of \(T\) (i. e., \(f(N)\) is a dilation of \(f(T)\) for every \(f\in R(X))\). Sz.-Nagy's well known result that if \(T\) is a contraction then there is a unitary \(U\) such that \(U^n\) is a dilation of \(T^n\), \(n = 1, 2, \ldots,\) is obtained as a corollary.

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