We establish the existence and uniqueness of finite free resolutions - and their attendant Betti numbers - for graded commuting d-tuples of Hilbert space operators. Our approach is based on the notion of free cover of a (perhaps noncommutative) row contraction. Free covers provide a flexible replacement for minimal dilations that is better suited for higher-dimensional operator theory.
For example, every graded d-contraction that is finitely multi-cyclic has a unique free cover of finite type - whose kernel is a Hilbert module inheriting the same properties. This contrasts sharply with what can be achieved by way of dilation theory (see Remark 2.4).
Absolutely continuous commuting row contractions admit a weak-$*$ continuous functional calculus. Building on recent work describing the first and second dual spaces of the closure of the polynomial multipliers on the Drury-Arveson space, we give a complete characterization of these commuting row contractions in measure theoretic terms. We also establish that completely non-unitary row contractions are necessarily absolutely continuous, in direct parallel with the case of a single contraction. Finally, we consider refinements of this question for row contractions that are annihilated by a give…
It is known that pure row contractions with one-dimensional defect spaces can be classified up to unitary equivalence by compressions of the standard $d$-shift acting on the full Fock space. Upon settling for a softer relation than unitary equivalence, we relax the defect condition and simply require the row contraction to admit a cyclic vector. We show that cyclic pure row contractions can be "transformed" (in a precise technical sense) into compressions of the standard $d$-shift. Cyclic decompositions of the underlying Hilbert spaces are the natural tool to extend this fact to higher multipl…
If $T= \big[ T_1 ... T_n\big]$ is a row contraction with commuting entries, and the Arveson dilation is $\tilde T= \big[ \tilde T_1 ... \tilde T_n\big]$, then any operator $X$ commuting with each $T_i$ dilates to an operator $Z$ of the same norm which commutes with each $\tilde T_i$.
We develop a dilation theory for row contractions subject to constraints determined by sets of noncommutative polynomials. Under natural conditions on the constraints, we have uniqueness for the minimal dilation. A characteristic function is associated with any (constrained) row contraction. For pure constrained row contraction, we show that the characteristic function is a complete unitary invariant and provide a model. We also show that the curvature invariant and Euler characteristic asssociated with a Hilbert module generated by an arbitrary (resp. commuting) row contraction can be express…
We study similarity classes of commuting row contractions annihilated by what we call higher order vanishing ideals of interpolating sequences. Our main result exhibits a Jordan-type direct sum decomposition for these row contractions. We illustrate how the family of ideals to which our theorem applies is very rich, especially in several variables. We also give two applications of the main result. First, we obtain a purely operator theoretic characterization of interpolating sequences. Second, we classify certain classes of cyclic commuting row contractions up to quasi-similarity in terms of t…
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…
We review how some multianalytic inner functions of the Beurling type theorem are associated to row contractions following works of G.Popescu. Motivated by a result on weak Markov dilations, we define a notion of characteristic function for ergodic and coisometric row contractions with a one-dimensional invariant subspace for the adjoints. Our characteristic function is a complete unitary invariant for such tuples. Thereafter we extend the analysis of characteristic functions to contractive liftings of row contractions. We apply our theory to completely positive maps and explore applications t…
We show that the constrained characteristic function is a complete unitary invariant for J-constrained completely non-coisometric (c.n.c.) row contractions, where J is a WOT-closed two-sided ideal of the noncommutative analytic Toeplitz algebra. We provide a model for this class of row contractions in terms of the constrained characteristic functions. In particular, we obtain a model theory for q-commuting c.n.c. row contractions.
Based on a Wold decomposition for families of partial isometries and projections of Cuntz-Krieger-Toeplitz-type, we extend several fundamental theorems from the case of single vertex graphs to the general case of countable directed graphs with no sinks. We prove a Szego-type factorization theorem for CKT families, which leads to information on the structure of the unit ball in free semigroupoid algebras, and show that joint similarity implies joint unitary equivalence for such families. For each graph we prove a generalization of von Neumann's inequality which applies to row contractions of op…
The theory of characteristic functions for row contractions is used to determine the group $Aut(B(H)^n_1)$ of all free holomorphic automorphisms of the unit ball of $B(H)^n$. We show that the noncommutative Poisson transform commutes with the action of the automorphism group $Aut(B(H)^n_1)$. This leads to a characterization of the unitarily implemented automorphisms of the Cuntz-Toeplitz algebra $C^*(S_1,..., S_n)$, which leave invariant the noncommutative disc algebra $\cA_n$. This result provides new insight into Voiculescu's group of automorphisms of the Cuntz-Toeplitz algebra and reveals n…
Based on a careful analysis of functional models for contractive multi-analytic operators we establish a one-to-one correspondence between unitary equivalence classes of minimal contractive liftings of a row contraction and injective symbols of contractive multi-analytic operators. This allows an effective construction and classification of all such liftings with given defects. Popescu's theory of characteristic functions of completely non-coisometric row contractions is obtained as a special case satisfying a Szegö condition. In another special case of single contractions and defects equal to…
Let T:=[T_1,..., T_n] be an n-tuple of operators on a Hilbert space such that T is a completely non-coisometric row contraction. We establish the existence of a "one-to-one" correspondence between the joint invariant subspaces under T_1,..., T_n, and the regular factorizations of the characteristic function associated with T. In particular, we prove that there is a non-trivial joint invariant subspace under the operators T_1,..., T_n, if and only if there is a non-trivial regular factorization of the characteristic function. We also provide a functional model for the joint invariant subspaces …
We say that a contractive Hilbert space operator is universal if there is a natural surjection from its generated C*-algebra to the C*-algebra generated by any other contraction. A universal contraction may be irreducible or a direct sum of (even nilpotent) matrices; we sharpen the latter fact and its proof in several ways, including von Neumann-type inequalities for noncommutative *-polynomials. We also record properties of the unique C*-algebra generated by a universal contraction, and we show that it can be used similarly to C*(F_2) in various Kirchberg-like reformulations of Connes' Embedd…
We introduce characteristic functions for certain contractive liftings of row contractions. These are multi-analytic operators which classify the liftings up to unitary equivalence and provide a kind of functional model. The most important cases are subisometric and coisometric liftings. We also identify the most general setting which we call reduced liftings. We derive properties of these new characteristic functions and discuss the relation to Popescu's definition for completely non-coisometric row contractions. Finally we apply our theory to completely positive maps and prove a one-to-one c…
We present some general theorems about operator algebras that are algebras of functions on sets, including theories of local algebras, residually finite dimensional operator algebras and algebras that can be represented as the scalar multipliers of a vector-valued reproducing kernel Hilbert space. We use these to further develop a quantized function theory for various domains that extends and unifies Agler's theory of commuting contractions and the Arveson-Drury-Popescu theory of commuting row contractions. We obtain analogous factorization theorems, prove that the algebras that we obtain are …
In the theory of row contractions on a Hilbert space, as initiated by Popescu, two important objects are the Poisson kernel and the characteristic function. We determine their behaviour with respect to the action of the group of unitarily implemented automorphisms of the algebra generated by creation operators on the Fock space. The case of noncommutative varieties, introduced recently by Popescu, is also discussed.
We study tensor products and nuclearity-related properties of the operator system $\mathcal S_n$ generated by the Cuntz isometries. By using the nuclearity of the Cuntz algebra, we can show that $\mathcal{S}_n$ is $C^*$-nuclear, and this implies a dual row contraction version of Ando's theorem characterizing operators of numerical radius 1. On the other hand, without using the nuclearity of the Cuntz algebra, we are still able to show directly this Ando type property of dual row contractions and conclude that $\mathcal{S}_n$ is $C^*$-nuclear, which yields a new proof of the nuclearity of the C…
An analysis is given of $*$-representations of rank 2 single vertex graphs. We develop dilation theory for the non-selfadjoint algebras $\A_θ$ and $\A_u$ which are associated with the commutation relation permutation $θ$ of a 2 graph and, more generally, with commutation relations determined by a unitary matrix $u$ in $M_m(\bC) \otimes M_n(\bC)$. We show that a defect free row contractive representation has a unique minimal dilation to a $*$-representation and we provide a new simpler proof of Solel's row isometric dilation of two $u$-commuting row contractions. Furthermore it is shown that th…
We introduce a notion called `maximal commuting piece' for tuples of Hilbert space operators. Given a commuting tuple of operators forming a row contraction there are two commonly used dilations in multivariable operator theory. Firstly there is the minimal isometric dilation consisting of isometries with orthogonal ranges and hence it is a noncommuting tuple. There is also a commuting dilation related with a standard commuting tuple on Boson Fock space. We show that this commuting dilation is the maximal commuting piece of the minimal isometric dilation. We use this result to classify all rep…
We give a characterization of the contraction ratio of bounded linear maps in Banach space with respect to Hopf's oscillation seminorm, which is the infinitesimal distance associated to Hilbert's projective metric, in terms of the extreme points of a certain abstract "simplex". The formula is then applied to abstract Markov operators defined on arbitrary cones, which extend the row stochastic matrices acting on the standard positive cone and the completely positive unital maps acting on the cone of positive semidefinite matrices. When applying our characterization to a stochastic matrix, we re…
The objective of this paper is to study wandering subspaces for commuting tuples of bounded operators on Hilbert spaces. It is shown that, for a large class of analytic functional Hilbert spaces $\mathcal{H}_K$ on the unit ball in $\mathbb C^n$, wandering subspaces for restrictions of the multiplication tuple $M_z = (M_{z_1}, \ldots ,M_{z_n})$ can be described in terms of suitable $\mathcal{H}_K$-inner functions. We prove that $\mathcal{H}_K$-inner functions are contractive multipliers and deduce a result on the multiplier norm of quasi-homogenous polynomials as an application. Along the way w…
Using a scheme involving a lifting of a row contraction we introduce a toy model of repeated interactions between quantum systems. In this model there is an outgoing Cuntz scattering system involving two wandering subspaces. We associate to this model an input/output linear system which leads to a transfer function. This transfer function is a multi-analytic operator, and we show that it is inner if we assume that the system is observable. Finally it is established that transfer functions coincide with characteristic functions of associated liftings.
