A canonical model, analogous to the one for contraction operators, is introduced for bi-isometries, two commuting isometries on a Hilbert space. This model involves a contractive analytic operator-valued function on the unit disk. Various pureness conditions are considered as well as bi-isometries for which both isometries are shifts. Several families of examples are introduced and classified.
We study the generalization of $m$-isometries and $m$-contractions (for positive integers $m$) to what we call $a$-isometries and $a$-contractions for positive real numbers $a$. We show that any Hilbert space operator, satisfying an inequality of certain class (in hereditary form), is similar to $a$-contractions. This result is based on some Banach algebras techniques and is an improvement of a recent result by the last two authors. We also prove that any $a$-contraction $T$ is a $b$-contraction, if $b<a$ and one imposes an additional condition on the growth of the norms of $T^n x$, where $x$ …
We investigate some bounded linear operators T on a Hilbert space which satisfy the condition |T | less or equal to |ReT |. We describe the maximum invariant subspace for a contraction T on which T is a partial isometry to obtain that, in certain cases, the above condition ensures that T is self-adjoint. In other words we show that the Fong-Tsui conjecture holds for partial isometries, contractive quasi-isometries, or 2-quasi-isometries, and Brownian isometries of positive covariance, or even for a more general class of operators.
We study the behavior of some classes of Hilbert space contractions with respect to Harnack and Shmul'yan pre-orders and the corresponding equivalence relations. We give some conditions under which the Harnack equivalence of two given contractions is equivalent to their Shmul'yan equivalence and to the existence of an arc joining the two contractions in the class of operator-valued contractive analytic functions on the unit disc. We apply some of these results to quasi-isometries and quasi-normal contractions, as well as to partial isometries for which we show that their Harnack and Shmul'yan …
An order relation for contractions on a Hilbert space can be introduced by stating that $A\preccurlyeq B$ if and only $A$ is unitarily equivalent to the restriction of $B$ to an invariant subspace. We discuss the equivalence classes associated to this relation, and identify cases in which they coincide with classes of unitary equivalence. The results extend those for completely nonunitary partial isometries obtained by Garcia, Martin, and Ross.
We define four 3x3 commuting contractions which do not dilate to commuting isometries. However they do satisfy the scalar von Neumann inequality. These matrices are all nilpotent of order 2. We also show that any three $3\times3$ commuting contractions which are scalar plus nilpotent of order 2 do dilate to commuting isometries.
Several properties of the Harnack domination of linear operators acting on Hilbert space with norm less or equal than one are studied. Thus, the maximal elements for this relation are identified as precisely the singular unitary operators, while the minimal elements are shown to be the isometries and the adjoints of isometries. We also show how a large range of properties (e.g. convergence of iterates, peripheral spectrum, ergodic properties) are transfered from a contraction to one that Harnack dominates it.
Given a row contraction of operators on Hilbert space and a family of projections on the space which stabilize the operators, we show there is a unique minimal joint dilation to a row contraction of partial isometries which satisfy natural relations. For a fixed row contraction the set of all dilations forms a partially ordered set with a largest and smallest element. A key technical device in our analysis is a connection with directed graphs. We use a Wold Decomposition for partial isometries to describe the models for these dilations, and discuss how the basic properties of a dilation depend…
A tuple of commuting operators $(S_1,\dots,S_{n-1},P)$ for which the closed symmetrized polydisc $Γ_n$ is a spectral set is called a $Γ_n$-contraction. We show that every $Γ_n$-contraction admits a decomposition into a $Γ_n$-unitary and a completely non-unitary $Γ_n$-contraction. This decomposition is an analogue to the canonical decomposition of a contraction into a unitary and a completely non-unitary contraction. We also find new characterizations for the set $Γ_n$ and $Γ_n$-contractions.
These are the notes of a lecture given at the university of Wroclaw in 1996. We present results of semigroups of (sub)positive contractions on L^p-spaces. The dilation theorem of Akcoglue and sucheston is considered as a starting point. We construct a dilation of a strongly continuous semigroup of (sub)positive contractions on L^p-space, 1<p<infinity by a strongly continuous group of invertible isometries acting on some larger L^p-space. The transference results, for functions of the generators, are established as well as some square and maximal functions. This applies especially to sub-markov…
We show that (for the weak operator topology) the set of unitary operators on a separable infinite-dimensional Hilbert space is residual in the set of all contractions. The analogous result holds for isometries and the strong operator topology as well. These results are applied to the problem of embedding operators into strongly continuous semigroups.
The closed symmetrized tridisc $Γ_3$ and its distinguished boundary $bΓ_3$ are the sets $Γ_3=\{ (z_1+z_2+z_3,z_1z_2+z_2z_3+z_3z_1,z_1z_2z_3): \,|z_i|\leq 1, i=1,2,3 \}\subseteq \mathbb C^3$ $bΓ_3=\{ (z_1+z_2+z_3,z_1z_2+z_2z_3+z_3z_1,z_1z_2z_3): \,|z_i|= 1, i=1,2,3 \}\subseteq Γ_3.$ A triple of commuting operators $(S_1,S_2,P)$ defined on a Hilbert space $\mathcal H$ for which $Γ_3$ is a spectral set is called a $Γ_3$-contraction. In this article we show by a counter example that there are $Γ_3$-contractions which do not dilate. It is also shown that under certain conditions a $Γ_3$-contraction…
Given a closed linear relation $T$ between two Hilbert spaces $\mathcal H$ and $\mathcal K$, the corresponding first and second coordinate projections $P_T$ and $Q_T$ are both linear contractions from $T$ to $\mathcal H$, and to $\mathcal K$, respectively. In this paper we investigate the features of these graph contractions. We show among others that $P_T^{}P_T^*=(I+T^*T)^{-1}$, and that $Q_T^{}Q_T^*=I-(I+TT^*)^{-1}$. The ranges $\operatorname{ran} P_T^{*}$ and $\operatorname{ran} Q_T^{*}$ are proved to be closely related to the so called `regular part' of $T$. The connection of the graph pro…
We develop a $d$-variable analog of the two-component de Bran-ges-Rovnyak reproducing kernel Hilbert space associated with a Schur-class function on the unit disk. In this generalization, the unit disk is replaced by the unit ball in $d$-dimensional complex Euclidean space, and the Schur class becomes the class of contractive multipliers on the Drury-Arveson space over the ball. We also develop some results on a model theory for commutative row contractions which are not necessarily completely noncoisometric (the case considered in earlier work of Bhattacharyya, Eschmeier and Sarkar)
A classical result of Sz.-Nagy asserts that a Hilbert space contraction operator $T$ can be dilated to a unitary $\cU$. A more general multivariable setting for these ideas is the setup where (i) the unit disk is replaced by a domain $Ω$ contained in ${\mathbb C}^d$, (ii) the contraction operator $T$ is replaced by a commuting tuple $\bfT = (T_1, \dots, T_d)$ such that $\| r(T_1, \dots, T_d) \|_{\cL(\cH)} \le \sup_{\lam \in Ω} | r(\lam) |$ for all rational functions with no singularities in $\overlineΩ$ and the unitary operator $\cU$ is replaced by an $Ω$-unitary operator tuple, i.e., a commut…
A triple of commuting operators for which the closed tetrablock $\overline{\mathbb E}$ is a spectral set is called a tetrablock contraction or an $\mathbb E$-contraction. The set $\mathbb E$ is defined as \[ \mathbb E = \{ (x_1,x_2,x_3)\in\mathbb C^3\,:\, 1-zx_1-wx_2+zwx_3\neq 0 \textup{ whenever } |z|\leq 1, |w|\leq 1 \}. \] We show that every $\mathbb E$-contraction can be uniquely written as a direct sum of an $\mathbb E$-unitary and a completely non-unitary $\mathbb E$-contraction. It is analogous to the canonical decomposition of a contraction operator into a unitary and a completely non-…
A commuting pair of operators (S, P) on a Hilbert space H is said to be a Gamma-contraction if the symmetrized bidisc is a spectral set of the tuple (S, P). In this paper we develop some operator theory inspired by Agler and Young's results on a model theory for Gamma-contractions. We prove a Beurling-Lax-Halmos type theorem for Gamma-isometries. Along the way we solve a problem in the classical one-variable operator theory. We use a "pull back" technique to prove that a completely non-unitary Gamma-contraction (S, P) can be dilated to a direct sum of a Gamma-isometry and a Gamma-unitary on th…
The study of a pair $(V_1,V_2)$ of commuting isometries is a classical theme. We shine new light on it by using the defect operator. In the cases when the defect operator is zero or positive or negative, or the difference of two mutually orthogonal projections with ranges adding up to $\ker (V_1V_2)^*$, we write down structure theorems for $(V_1,V_2)$. The structure theorems allow us to compute the joint spectrum in each of the cases above. Moreover, in each case, we also point out at which stage of the Koszul complex the exactness breaks. A pair of operator valued functions $(φ_1,φ_2)$ is can…
The celebrated theorem of Berger, Coburn and Lebow on pairs of commuting isometries can be formulated as follows: a pure isometry $V$ on a Hilbert space $\mathcal{H}$ is a product of two commuting isometries $V_1$ and $V_2$ in $\mathcal{B}(\mathcal{H})$ if and only if there exists a Hilbert space $\mathcal{E}$, a unitary $U$ in $\mathcal{B}(\mathcal{E})$ and an orthogonal projection $P$ in $\mathcal{B}(\mathcal{E})$ such that $(V, V_1, V_2)$ and $(M_z, M_Φ, M_Ψ)$ on $H^2_{\mathcal{E}}(\mathbb{D})$ are unitarily equivalent, where \[ Φ(z)=(P+zP^{\perp})U^*\;\text{and}\; Ψ(z)=U(P^{\perp}+zP) \;;(…
There are three main results in this paper. First, we find an easily computable and simple condition which is necessary and sufficient for a commuting tuple of contractions to possess a non-zero Toeplitz operator. This condition is just that the adjoint of the product of the contractions is not pure. On one hand this brings out the importance of the product of the contractions and on the other hand, the non-pureness turns out to be equivalent to the existence of a pseudo-extension to a tuple of commuting unitaries. The second main result is a commutant pseudo-extension theorem obtained by stud…
A bounded linear Hilbert space operator $S$ is said to be a $2$-isometry if the operator $S$ and its adjoint $S^*$ satisfy the relation $S^{*2}S^{2} - 2 S^{*}S + I = 0$. In this paper, we study Hilbert space operators having liftings or dilations to $2$-isometries. The adjoint of an operator which admits such liftings is characterized as the restriction of a backward shift on a Hilbert space of vector-valued analytic functions. These results are applied to concave operators (i.e., operators $S$ such that $S^{*2}S^{2} - 2 S^{*}S + I \le 0$) and to operators similar to contractions or isometries…
We show by a counter example the failure of rational dilation on the tetrablock, a polynomially convex and non-convex domain in $\mathbb C^3$, defined as $$ \mathbb E = \{ (x_1,x_2,x_3)\in\mathbb C^3\,:\, 1-zx_1-wx_2+zwx_3\neq 0 \textup{ whenever } |z|\leq 1, |w|\leq 1 \}. $$ A commuting triple of operators $(T_1,T_2,T_3)$ for which the closed tetrablock $\overline{\mathbb E}$ is a spectral set, is called an $\mathbb E$-contraction. For an $\mathbb E$-contraction $(T_1,T_2,T_3)$, the two operator equations $$ T_1-T_2^*T_3=D_{T_3}X_1D_{T_3} \textup{ and } T_2-T_1^*T_3= D_{T_3}X_2D_{T_3}, \quad …
A well-known theorem of Paulsen says that if $\mathcal{A}$ is a unital operator algebra and $ϕ:\mathcal{A}\to B(\mathcal{H})$ is a unital completely bounded homomorphism, then $ϕ$ is similar to a completely contractive map $ϕ'$. Motivated by classification problems for Hilbert space contractions, we are interested in making the inverse $ϕ'^{-1}$ completely contractive as well whenever the map $ϕ$ has a completely bounded inverse. We show that there exist invertible operators $X$ and $Y$ such that the map $$ XaX^{-1}\mapsto Yϕ(a)Y^{-1} $$ is completely contractive and is "almost" isometric on a…
We establish spherical variants of the Gleason-Kahane-Zelazko and Kowalski-Słodkowski theorems, and we apply them to prove that every weak-2-local isometry between two uniform algebras is a linear map. Among the consequences, we solve a couple of problems posed by O. Hatori, T. Miura, H. Oka and H. Takagi in 2007. Another application is given in the setting of weak-2-local isometries between Lipschitz algebras by showing that given two metric spaces $E$ and $F$ such that the set Iso$((\hbox{Lip}(E),\|.\|),(\hbox{Lip}(F),\|.\|))$ is canonical, then every\hyphenation{every} weak-2-local Iso$((\h…
Isometries played a pivotal role in the development of operator theory, in particular with the theory of contractions and polar decompositions and has been widely studied due to its fundamental importance in the theory of stochastic processes, the intrinsic problem of modeling the general contractive operator via its isometric dilation and many other areas in applied mathematics. In this paper we present some properties of n-quasi-(m;C)-isometric operators. We show that a power of a n-quasi-(m;C)-isometric operator is again a n-quasi-(m;C)-isometric operator and some products and tens
The goal of the present paper is to push Sz.-Nagy--Foias model theory for a completely nonunitary Hilbert-space contraction operator $T$, to the case of a commuting pair of contraction operators $(T_1, T_2)$ having product $T = T_1 T_2$ which is completely nonunitary. The idea is to use the Sz.-Nagy-Foias functional model for $T$ as the model space also for the commutative tuple ($T_1, T_2)$ with $T = T_1 T_2$ equal to the usual Sz.-Nagy--Foias model operator, and identify what added structure is required to classify such commutative contractive factorizations $T = T_1 T_2$ up to unitary equiv…
The symmetrized polydisc of dimension three is the set \[ Γ_3 =\{ (z_1+z_2+z_3, z_1z_2+z_2z_3+z_3z_1, z_1z_2z_3)\,:\, |z_i|\leq 1 \,,\, i=1,2,3 \} \subseteq \mathbb C^3\,. \] A triple of commuting operators for which $Γ_3$ is a spectral set is called a $Γ_3$-contraction. We show that every $Γ_3$-contraction admits a decomposition into a $Γ_3$-unitary and a completely non-unitary $Γ_3$-contraction. This decomposition parallels the canonical decomposition of a contraction into a unitary and a completely non-unitary contraction. We also find new characterizations for the set $Γ_3$ and $Γ_3$-contr…
The main aim of this paper is to establish the connection between well-known criteria for the pseudocontinuability of a non-inner Schur function Theta in the unit disk. In a canonical way we associate a probability measure mu on the unit circle with Theta. One of the two criteria will be reformulated in the face of mu, whereas the other one is drafted in view of a completely non--unitary contraction T having Theta as its corresponding characteristic function. Our main result clarifies an immediate connection between the above-mentioned two criteria. For this reason, we construct a special orth…
In this paper, we establish the one-sided maximal ergodic inequalities for a large subclass of positive operators on noncommutative $L_p$-spaces for a fixed $1<p<\infty$, which particularly applies to positive isometries and general positive Lamperti contractions or power bounded doubly Lamperti operators; moreover, it is known that this subclass recovers all positive contractions on the classical Lebesgue spaces $L_p([0,1])$. Our study falls into neither the category of positive contractions considered by Junge-Xu nor the class of power bounded positive invertible operators considered by Hong…
One can view contraction operators given by a canonical model of Sz.-Nagy and Foias as being defined by a quotient module where the basic building blocks are Hardy spaces. In this note we generalize this framework to allow the Bergman and weighted Bergman spaces as building blocks, but restricting attention to the case in which the operator obtained is in the Cowen-Douglas class and requiring the multiplicity to be one. We view the classification of such operators in the context of complex geometry and obtain a complete classification up to unitary equivalence of them in terms of their associa…