7.

Operator Theory on Hilbert spaces

In this section we take a closer look at linear continuous maps between Hilbert
spaces. These are often called bounded operators, and the branch of Functional
Analysis that studies these objects is called Operator Theory. The standard
notations in Operator Theory are as follows.
Notations. If H
1
and H
2
are Hilbert spaces, the Banach space
L(H
1
, H
2
) = T : H
1
H
2
: T linear continuous
will be denoted by B(H
1
, H
2
). In the case of one Hilbert space H, the space
L(H, H) is simply denoted by B(H).
Given T B(H
1
, H
2
) and S B(H
2
, H
3
), their composition ST B(H
1
, H
3
)
will be simply denoted by ST.
We know that B(H) is a unital Banach algebra. This Banach algebra will
be our main tool used for investigating bounded operators. The general theme of
this section is to study the interplay between the operator theoretic properties of
a bounded linear operator, say T : H H, and the algebraic properties of T as
an element of the Banach algebra B(H). Some of the various concepts associated
with bounded linear operators are actually dened using this Banach algebra. For
example, for T B(H), we denote its spectrum in B(H) by Spec
H
(T), that is,
Spec
H
(T) = C : T I : H H not invertible,
and we dene its spectral radius
rad
H
(T) = max
_
[[ : Spec
H
(T)
_
.
We start with an important technical result, for which we need the following.
Lemma 7.1. Let X and Y be normed vector spaces. Equip XY with the product
topology. For a sesquilinear map : X Y C, the following are equivalent:
(i) is continuous;
(ii) is continuous at (0, 0);
(iii) sup
_
[(x, y)[ : (x, y) X Y, |x|, |y| 1
_
< ;
(iv) there exists some constant C 0, such that
[(x, y)[ C |x| |y|, (x, y) X Y.
Moreover, the number in (iii) is equal to
(1) min
_
C 0 : [(x, y)[ C |x| |y|, (x, y) X Y
_
.
Proof. The implication (i) (ii) is trivial.
(ii) (iii). Assume is continuous at (0, 0). We prove (iii) by contra-
diction. Assume, for each integer n 1 there are vectors x
n
X and y
n
Y
with |x
n
|, |y
n
| 1, but such that [(x
n
, y
n
)[ n
2
. If we take v
n
=
1
n
x
n
and
w
n
=
1
n
y
n
, then on the one hand we have |v
n
|, |w
n
|
1
n
, n 1, which forces
lim
n
(v
n
, w
n
) = (0, 0) in X Y, so by (iii) we have lim
n
(v
n
, w
n
) = 0. On
the other hand, we also have
[(v
n
, w
n
)[ =
[(x
n
, y
n
)[
n
2
1, n 1,
300
7. Operator Theory on Hilbert spaces 301
which is impossible.
(iii) (iv). Assume has property (iii), and denote the number
sup
_
[(x, y)[ : (x, y) X Y, |x|, |y| 1
_
simply by M. In order to prove (iv) we are going to prove the inequality
(2) [(x, y)[ M |x| |y|, (x, y) X Y.
Fix (x, y) XY. If either x = 0 or y = 0, the above inequality is trivial, so we can
assume both x and y are non-zero. Consider the vectors v =
1
x
x and w =
1
y
y.
We clearly have
[(x, y)[ =

(|x|v, |y|w)

= |x| |y| [(v, w)[.

Since |v| = |w| = 1, we have [(v, w)[ M, so the above inequality gives (2).
(iv) (i). Assume has property (iv) and let us show that is continuous. Let
C 0 is as in (iv). Let (x
n
)
n
X and (y
n
)
n
Y be convergent sequences
with lim
n
x
n
= x and lim
n
y
n
= y, and let us prove that lim
n
(x
n
, y
n
) =
(x, y). Using (iv) we have
[(x
n
, y
n
) (x, y)[ [(x
n
, y
n
) (x
n
, y)[ +[(x
n
, y) (x, y)[ =
= [(x
n
, y
n
y)[ +[(x
n
x, y)[
C |x
n
| |y
n
y| +C |x
n
x| |y|, n 1,
which clearly forces lim
n
[(x
n
, y
n
) (x, y)[ = 0, and we are done.
To prove the last assertion we observe rst that every C 0 with
[(x, y)[ C |x| |y|, (x, y) X Y,
automatically satises the inequality C M. This is a consequence of the above
inequality, restricted to those (x, y) XY, with |x|, |y| 1. To nish the proof,
all we have to prove is the fact that C = M satises (iv). But this has already been
obtained when we proved the implication (iii) (iv).
Notation. With the notations above, the number dened in (iii), which is
also equal to the quantity (1), is denoted by ||. This is justied by the following.
Exercise 1. Let X and Y be normed vector spaces over C. Prove that the space
S(X, Y) =
_
: X Y C : sesquilinear continuous
_
is a vector space, when equipped with pointwise addition and scalar multiplication.
Prove that the map
S(X, Y) || [0, )
denes a norm.
With this terminology, we have the following technical result.
Theorem 7.1. Let H
1
and H
2
be Hilbert spaces, and let : H
1
H
2
C be
a sesquilinear map. The following are equivalent (equip H
1
H
2
with the product
topology):
(i) is continuous;
(ii) there exists T B(H
1
, H
2
), such that
(
1
,
2
) = (T
1
[
2
)
H2
, (
1
,
2
) H
1
H
2
,
where ( . [ . )
H2
denotes the inner product on H
2
.
302 CHAPTER II: ELEMENTS OF FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
Moreover, the operator T B(H
1
, H
2
) is unique, and has norm |T| = ||.
Proof. (i) (ii). Assume is continuous, so by Lemma 7.1 we have
(3) [(, )[ || || ||, H
1
, H
2
.
Fix for the moment H
1
, and consider the map

: H
2
(, ) C.
Using (3), it is clear that

: H
2
C is linear continuous, and has norm |

|
|| ||. Using Riesz Theorem (see Section 3), it follows that there exists a unique
vector

H
2
, such that

() = (

[)
H2
, H
2
.
Moreover, one has the equality
(4) |

|
H2
= |

| || ||
H1
.
Remark that, if we start with two vectors , H
1
, then we have
(

[)
H2
+ ( [)
H2
= (, ) +(, ) = ( +, ) =
+
(), H
2
,
so by the uniqueness part in Riesz Theorem we get the equality

+ =

+ .
Likewise, if H
1
, and C, we have
(

[)
H2
=

(

[)
H2
=

(, ) = (, ) =

(), H
2
,
which forces

=

. This way we have dened a linear map

T : H
1


H
2
,
with
(, ) = (T[)
H2
, (, ) H
1
H
2
.
Using (4) we also have
|T|
H2
|| ||
H1
, x H
1
,
so T is indeed continuous, and it has norm |T| ||. The uniqueness of T is
obvious.
(ii) (i). Assume has property (ii), and let us prove that is continuous.
This is pretty clear, because if we take T B(H
1
, H
2
) as in (ii), then using the
Cauchy-Bunyakovski-Schwartz inequality we have
[(
1
,
2
)[ = [(T
1
[
2
)
H2
[ |T
1
| |
2
| |T| |
1
| |
2
|, (
1
,
2
) H
1
H
2
,
so we can apply Lemma 7.1. Notice that this also proves the inequality || |T|.
Since by the proof of the implication (i) (ii) we already know that |T| ||,
it follows that in fact we have equality |T| = ||.
Remark 7.1. For a sesquilinear map : H
1
H
2
C, the conditions (i), (ii)
are also equivalent to
(ii) there exists S B(H
2
, H
1
), such that
(
1
,
2
) = (
1
[S
2
)
H1
, (
1
,
2
) H
1
H
2
.
7. Operator Theory on Hilbert spaces 303
Moreover, S B(H
2
, H
1
) is unique, and satises |S| = |T|. This follows from
the Theorem, applied to the sesquilinear map : H
2
H
1
C, dened by
(
2
,
1
) = (
1
,
2
), (
2
,
1
) H
2
H
1
.
Notice that one clearly has || = ||, so we also get |T| = |S|.
In particular, if we start with an operator T B(H
1
, H
2
) and we consider the
continuous sesquilinear map
H
1
H
2
(
1
,
2
) (T
1
[
2
)
H2
C,
then there exists a unique operator S B(H
2
, H
1
), such that
(5) (T
1
[
2
)
H2
= (
1
[S
2
)
H1
, (
1
,
2
) H
1
H
2
.
This operator will satisfy |S| = |T|.
Definition. Given an operator T B(H
1
, H
2
), the unique operator S
B(H
2
, H
1
) that satises (5) is called the adjoint of T, and is denoted by T

. By
the above Remark, for any two vectors
1
H
1
,
2
H
2
, we have the identities
(T
1
[
2
)
H2
= (
1
[T

2
)
H1
,
(
2
[T
1
)
H2
= (T

2
[
1
)
H1
.
(The second identity follows from the rst one by taking complex conjugates.)
The following result collects a rst set of properties of the adjoint operation.
Proposition 7.1. A. For two Hilbert spaces H
1
, H
2
, one has
|T

| = |T|, T B(H
1
, H
2
); (6)
(T

= T, T B(H
1
, H
2
); (7)
(S +T)

= S

+T

S, T B(H
1
, H
2
); (8)
(T)

=

T

T B(H
1
, H
2
), C. (9)
B. Given three Hilbert spaces H
1
, H
2
, and H
3
, one has
(10) (ST)

= T

T B(H
1
, H
2
), S B(H
2
, H
3
)
Proof. The equality (6) has already been discussed in Remark 7.1 The identity
(7) is obvious. To prove the other identities we employ the following strategy. We
denote by X the operator whose adjoint is the left hand side, we denote by Y
the operator in the right hand side, so we must show X

= Y , and we prove this

equality by proving the equality
(X[) = ([Y ), , .
For example, to prove (8) we put X = S + T and Y = S

+ T

, and it is pretty
obvious that
(X[) = (S +T[) = (S[) + (T[) = ([S

) + ([T

) =
= ([S

+T

) = ([Y ), H
1
, H
2
.
The other identities are proven the exact same way.
Comment. If we work with one Hilbert space H, then the above result gives
the fact that B(H) is a unital involutive Banach algebra. (See Section 5 for the
terminology.) This will be crucial for the development of the theory.
Another important set of results deals with the kernel and the range.
304 CHAPTER II: ELEMENTS OF FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
Proposition 7.2 (Kernel-Range Identities). Let H
1
and H
2
be Hilbert spaces.
For any operator T B(H
1
, H
2
), one has the equalities
(i) Ker T

= (Ran T)

;
(ii) Ran T

= (Ker T)

.
Proof. (i). If we start with some vector Ker T

, then for every H

1
,
we have
([T)
H2
= (T

[)
H1
= 0,
thus proving that T, H
1
, i.e. (Ran T)

. This proves the inclusion

Ker T

= (Ran T)

.
To prove the inclusion in the other direction, we start with some vector
Ker T

= (Ran T)

, and we prove that T

= 0. This is however pretty clear

since we have (TT

), i.e.
0 = ([TT

)
H2
= (T

[T

)
H1
= |T

|
2
,
which forces T

= 0.
(ii). This follows immediately from part (i) applied to T

:
Ran T

=
_
[Ran T

= (Ker T)

.
Example 7.1. Let n 1 be some integer, and consider the Hilbert space C
n
,
whose inner product is the standard one:
([) =
n

k=1

k
, = (
1
, . . . ,
n
), = (
1
, . . . ,
n
) C
n
.
The Banach algebra B(C
n
) is obviously identied with the algebra Mat
nn
(C) of
n n matrices with complex coecients. The adjoint operation then corresponds
to a (familiar) operation in linear algebra. For A Mat
nn
(C), say A = [a
jk
]
n
j,k=1
,
one takes A

= [b
jk
]
n
j,k=1
to be the conjugate transpose of A, i.e. the bs are
dened as b
jk
= a
kj
. A similar identication works with B(C
m
, C
n
), identied
with Mat
nm
(C).
The adjoint operation is used for dening certain types of operators.
Definitions. Let H be a Hilbert space.
A. We say that an operator T B(H) is normal, if T

T = TT

.
B. We say that an operator T B(H) is self-adjoint, if T

= T.
C. We say that an operator T B(H) is positive, if
(T[)
H
0, H.
Remarks 7.2. A. Every self-adjoint operator T B(H) is normal.
B. The set T B(H) : T normal is closed in B(H), in the norm topology.
Indeed, if we start with a sequence (T
n
)

n=1
of normal operators, which converges
(in norm) to some T B(H), then (T

n
)

n=1
converges to T

, and since the multi-

plication map
B(H) B(H) (X, Y ) XY B(H)
is continuous, have T

T = lim
n
T

n
T
n
and TT

= lim
n
T
n
T

n
, so we imme-
diately get T

T = TT

.
C. For T B(H), the following are equivalent (see Remark 3.1):
T is self-adjoint;
7. Operator Theory on Hilbert spaces 305
the sesquilinear map

T
: HH (, ) (T[)
H
C
is sesqui-symmetric, i.e. (T[) = (T[), , H;
(T[) R, H.
In particular, we see that every positive operator T is self-adjoint.
Using the terminology from Section 3, the condition that T is positive is equiv-
alent to the condition that
T
is positive denite.
D. The sets:
B(H)
sa
= T B(H) : T

= T,
B(H)
+
= T B(H) : T positive
are also closed in B(H), in the norm topology. This follows from the observation
that, if (T
n
)

n=1
converges to some T, then we have
(T[) = lim
n
(T
n
[), H.
So if for example all T
n
s are self-adjoint, then this proves that (T[) R, , H,
so T is selfadjoint. Likewise, if all T
n
s are positive, then (T[) 0, H, so T
is positive.
E. Given Hilbert spaces H
1
and H
2
, and an operator T B(H
1
, H
2
), it follows
that the operators T

T B(H
1
) and TT

B(H
2
) are positive. This is quite
obvious, since
(T

T[) = (T[T) = |T|

2
0, H
1
,
(TT

[) = (T

[T

) = |T

|
2
0, H
2
.
F. The space B(H)
sa
is a real linear subspace of B(H).
G. The space B(H)
+
is a convex cone in B(H)
sa
, in the sense that
if S, T B(H)
+
, then S +T B(H)
+
;
if S B(H)
+
and [0, ), then S B(H)
+
.
H. Using G, one can dene a order relation on the real vector space B(H)
sa
by
S T S T B(H)
+
.
This is equivalent to the inequality
(S[) (T[), H.
The transitivity and reexivity properties are clear. For the antisymmetry, one
must show that if T S and S T, then S = T. This is however clear, because
the dierence X = S T is self-adjoint, and satises
(11) (X[) = 0, H.
Using polarization (see Section 3), we have
(X[) =
1
4
3

k=0
i
k
_
X( +i
k
)

+i
k

_
,
and then (11) forces
(X[) = 0 , H,
we must have X = 0.
From now on, we are going to write T 0 to mean that T is positive.
306 CHAPTER II: ELEMENTS OF FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
Exercise 2

. Prove that for an operator T B(H) the following are equivalent:

T is normal;
|T| = |T

|, H.
Exercise 3*. For a self-adjoint operator, Theorem 7.1 has a slightly improved
version. Prove that if T B(H) be self-adjoint, then one has the equality
|T| = sup
_
[(T[)[ : H, || 1
_
.
Hints: Denote the right hand side of the above equality by M. Use the Cauchy-Bunyakovski-
Schwartz inequality, to get the inequality T M. To prove the inequality T M, show rst
that
() |(T|) M
2
, H.
Use Theorem 7.1 which gives
T = sup

|(T|)| : , H, , 1

.
This reduces the problem to proving that, whenever , 1, one has the inequality
|(T|)| M.
Prove this inequality, under the extra assumption that (T|) R, using (), polarization, and
the Parallelogram Law.
Exercise 4. A. Prove that, if T B(H) is self-adjoint, then one has the in-
equalities |T|I T |T|I.
B. Prove that, if S, T B(H) are such that S T 0, then |S| |T|.
Example 7.2. Let H be a Hilbert space, and let X H be a closed linear
subspace. Then the orthogonal projection P
X
: H H is a positive bounded
operator. Indeed, if one starts with some H, using the fact that P
X
X

,
it follows that ( P
X
) P
X
, so we have
0 = (P
X
[ P
X
) = (P[) (P
X
[P
X
),
which proves that
(P
X
[) = (P
X
[P
X
) = |P
X
|
2
0, H.
It turns out that orthogonal projections can be completely characterized alge-
braically. More explicitly one has the following.
Proposition 7.3. Let H be a Hilbert space. For a bounded operator Q B(H),
the following are equivalent:
(i) there exists a closed subspace X H, such that Q = P
X
- the orthogonal
projection onto X;
(ii) Q = Q

= Q
2
.
Proof. The implication (i) (ii) is trivial.
(ii) (i). Assume Q = Q

= Q
2
, and let us prove that Q is the orthogonal
projection onto some closed subspace X H. We dene X = Ran Q. First of all,
we must show that X is closed. This is pretty obvious, since the equality Q
2
= Q
gives the equality X = Ker(I Q). To prove that Q = P
X
, we must prove two
things:
(a) Q = , X;
(b) Q = 0, , X

.
7. Operator Theory on Hilbert spaces 307
The rst property is clear, since X = Ker(I Q), To prove the second property, we
use Proposition 7.2 to get
X

= (Ran Q)

= Ker Q

= Ker Q.
Convention. An operator Q B(H) with Q
2
= Q = Q

will be simply called

a projection.
The above example illustrates the basic idea that spatial (i.e. operator theo-
retic) properties of bounded operators can often be translated into algebraic prop-
erties, stated in terms of the involutive Banach algebra B(H). The types normal
and self-adjoint are already described in algebraic terms. Besides these, there are
other types of operators whose spatial properties can be characterized algebraically
(see Proposition 7.4 below), and these are introduced below.
Definitions. Let H
1
and H
2
be Hilbert spaces.
A. An operator T B(H
1
, H
2
) is called an isometry, if |T| = ||, H
1
.
B. An operator T B(H
1
, H
2
) is said to be a coisometry, if its adjoint T

B(H
2
, H
1
) is an isometry.
C. An operator U B(H
1
, H
2
) is called a unitary, if U is a bijective isometry.
The algebraic characterizations for these types of operators are as follows.
Proposition 7.4. Let H
1
and H
2
be Hilbert spaces.
A. For an operator T B(H
1
, H
2
), the following are equivalent:
(i) T is an isometry;
(ii) T

T = I
H1
.
B. For an operator T B(H
1
, H
2
), the following are equivalent:
(i) T is a coisometry;
(ii) TT

= I
H2
.
C. For an operator U B(H
1
, H
2
), the following are equivalent:
(i) U is unitary;
(ii) U

U = I
H1
and UU

= I
H2
.
Proof. A. (i) (ii). Using polarization, applied to the sesquilinear form
: H
1
H
1
(, ) (T

T[) C,
it follows that, for every , H, one has the equalities
(, ) =
1
4
3

k=0
i
k
( +i
k
, +i
k
) =
1
4
3

k=0
i
k
_
T

T( +i
k
)

+i
k

_
=
=
1
4
3

k=0
i
k
_
T( +i
k
)

T( +i
k
)
_
=
1
4
3

k=0
i
k
|T( +i
k
)|
2
.
Using the fact that T is an isometry, and polarization again (for the inner product),
the above computation continues with
(, ) =
1
4
3

k=0
i
k
|T( +i
k
)|
2
=
1
4
3

k=0
i
k
| +i
k
|
2
=
=
1
4
3

k=0
i
k
_
+i
k

+i
k

_
= ([).
308 CHAPTER II: ELEMENTS OF FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
Since we now have
(T

T[) = ([), , H
1
,
by Lemma 7.1 (the uniqueness part) we get T

T = I
H1
.
The implication (ii) (i) is trivial, since the equality T

T = I
H1
gives
|T|
2
= (T[T) = (T

T[) = ([) = ||
2
, xi H
1
.
B. This is immediate, by applying part A to T

.
C. (i) (ii). Assume U is unitary. On the one hand, since U is an isometry,
by part A we get U

U = I
H1
. On the other hand, since U is bijective, the above
equality actually forces U
1
= U

, so we also get UU

= UU
1
= I
H2
.
(ii) (i). Assume U

U = I
H1
and UU

= I
H2
, and let us prove that U is a
unitary. On the one hand, these two equalities prove that U is both left and right
invertible, so U is bijective. On the other hand, by part A, it follows that U is an
isometry, so U is indeed unitary.
In the study of bounded linear operators, positivity is an essential tool. This
is illustrated by the following technical result.
Lemma 7.2. Let H
1
and H
2
be Hilbert spaces. For an operator T B(H
1
, H
2
),
the following are equivalent:
(i) T is invertible;
(ii) there exists a constant > 0, such that T

T I
H1
and TT

I
H2
.
Proof. (i) (ii). Assume T is invertible. Then T

: H
2
H
1
is also
invertible, with inverse (T

)
1
= (T
1
)

. Dene the number = |T

1
|
2
. Using
Proposition 7.1, we also have = |(T

)
1
|
2
. Remark now that if one starts with
some H
1
, then the norm inequality
|| = |T
1
(T)| |T
1
| |T|
gives |T| |T
1
|
1
||, so taking squares we get
(T

T[)
H1
= (T[T)
H2
= |T|
2
|T
1
|
2
||
2
= ([)
H1
.
This proves precisely that
_
(T

T I
H1
)

_
H1
0, H
1
,
so T

T I
H1
B(H
1
) is positive. The positivity of TT

I
H2
B(H
2
) is
proven the exact same way.
(ii) (i). Assume there exists > 0 such that T

T I
H1
and TT

I
H2
,
and let us show that T is invertible. First of all, using the inequality T

T I
H1
,
we have
|T|
2
= (T[T) = (T

[) ([) = ||
2
,
so we get
|T|

||, H
1
.
On the one hand, this shows that T is injective. On the other hand, by Proposition
2.1, this also proves that Ran T is a Banach space, when equipped with the norm
coming from H
2
, i.e. Ran T is closed in H
2
. In particular, by Proposition 7.2 we
have
(12) Ran T = Ran T = (Ker T

.
7. Operator Theory on Hilbert spaces 309
Notice that exactly as above, we also have
|T

||, H
2
,
so T

is injective as well, which means that Ker T

= 0, so the equality (12) gives

Ran T = H
2
, so T is also surjective.
Remark 7.3. With the notations above, the condition that T is invertible is
also equivalent to the condition
(iii) both operators T

T B(H
1
) and TT

B(H
2
) are invertible.
Indeed, if T is invertible, then so is T

, so the products T

T and TT

are also
invertible. Conversely, if both T

T and TT

are invertible, and if we put X =

(T

T)
1
and Y = (TT

)
1
, then we have the equalities
(XT

)T = I
H1
and T(T

Y ) = I
H2
,
so T is both left and right invertible.
Proposition 7.5. Let H be a Hilbert space.
(i) Every self-adjoint operator T B(H) has real spectrum, i.e. one has the
inclusion Spec
H
(T) R.
(ii) Every positive operator T B(H) has non-negative spectrum, i.e. one
has the inclusion Spec
H
(T) [0, ).
Proof. (i). Let T B(H) be self-adjoint. We wish to prove that for every
complex number CR, the operator X = I T is invertible. Write = a+ib,
with a, b R with b ,= 0. We are going to apply Lemma 7.2, so we need to consider
the operators X

X and XX

. It turns out that

X

X = XX

= [[
2
I 2(Re )T +T
2
,
so all we need is the existence of a constant > 0, such that X

X I. But this
is clear, since
X

X = (a
2
+b
2
)I 2aT +T
2
= b
2
I + (aI T)
2
,
and the positivity of (aI T)
2
= (aI T)

(aI T) (see Remark 7.2.E) immediately

gives X

X b
2
I.
(ii). By part (i) we only need to prove that, for every number a (, 0), the
operator X = aI T is invertible. As before, we have
X

X = XX

= a
2
I 2aT +T
2
,
and then the positivity of 2aT and of T
2
= T

T (see Remark 7.2.F), forces

X

X a
2
I. Since a ,= 0, by Lemma 7.2, it follows that X is indeed invertible.
The above result can be nicely complemented with the one below.
Proposition 7.6 (Spectral Radius Formula for self-adjoint operators). Let H
be a Hilbert space. For every self-adjoint operator T B(H), one has the equality
rad
H
(T) = |T|.
Proof. It T = 0, there is nothing to prove, so without any loss of generality
we can assume that |T| = 1. Since rad
H
(T) |T| = 1 (see Section 5), all we have
to prove is the fact that Spec
H
(T) contains one of the numbers 1. Equivalently,
310 CHAPTER II: ELEMENTS OF FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
we must prove that either I T or I T is non-invertible. Consider (see Remark
7.2.D) the positive operator X = T
2
, so that we have
X I = (I T)(I T) = (I T)(I T),
which means that we must prove that X I is non-invertible. We prove this fact
by contradiction. Assume that X I is invertible, so by Lemma 7.2 there exists
some constant (0, 1) such that
(13) I (X I)

(X I) = (X I)
2
.
Remark that, since |T| = 1, we have the inequality
0 (T
4
[) = |T
2
|
2
(|T| |T|)
2
|T|
2
= (T
2
[), H,
which reads:
X X
2
0.
In particular this gives (I X) (X I)
2
= X X
2
0, so we also have
(I X) (X I)
2
.
Using (13) this forces the inequality I X I, which can be re-written as
(1 )I X.
In other words, we have
(1 )||
2
= (1 )([) (X[) = (T
2
[) = |T|
2
, H,
which gives
|T|

1 ||, H.
This forces |T|

1 , which contradicts the assumption that |T| = 1.

Although the following result may look quite innocent, it is crucial for the
development of the theory.
Proposition 7.7. Let H
1
and H
2
be Hilbert spaces. For every operator T
B(H
1
, H
2
), one has the identity
(14) |T

T| = |T|
2
.
Proof. Fix T B(H
1
, H
2
). Consider the sesquilinear map
: H
1
H
1
(, ) (T

T[)
H1
C.
By Theorem 7.1, we know that |T

T| = ||. Notice however that, for every

H
1
with || 1, one has
|| [(, )[ = [(T

T[)[ = [(T[T)[ = |T|

2
,
so we get
_
|| sup
_
|T| : H
1
, || 1
_
= |T|,
thus proving the inequality |T

T| = || |T|
2
. The other inequality is immedi-
ate, since |T

T| |T

| |T| = |T|
2
.
Corollary 7.1. Let H be a Hilbert space, and let / be an involutive Banach
algebra. Then every -homomorphism : / B(H) is contractive, in the sense
that one has the inequality
(15) |(a)| |a|, a /.
7. Operator Theory on Hilbert spaces 311
Proof. Fix a -homomorphism : / B(H). We can assume that / is
unital, and (1) = I. (If not, we work with the unitized algebra

/, which is
again an involutive Banach algebra, and with the map

:

/ B(H) dened
by

(a, ) = (a) + I, a /, C, which clearly denes a -homomorphism
satisfying

(1) = I.)
To prove (15) we start with an arbitrary element a /, and we consider the
element b = a

a. On the one hand, the operator (b) = (a)

(a) B(H) is
obviously self-adjoint, so by Proposition 7.6, we know that
(16) |(b)| = rad
H
_
(b)
_
.
Since is an algebra homomorphism with (1) = 1, we have the inclusion
Spec
H
_
(b)
_
Spec
A
(b),
which then gives the inequality
rad
H
_
(b)
_
rad
A
(b).
Using the inequality rad
A
(b) |b|, the above inequality, combined with (16), yields
(17) |(b)| |b|.
On the other hand, using Proposition 7.7, we know that
|(b)| = |(a)

(a)| = |(a)|
2
,
so (17) reads
(18) |(a)|
2
|b|.
Finally, since / is an involutive Banch algebra, we have
|b| = |a

a| |a

| |a| = |a|
2
,
and then (18) clearly gives (15).
The identity (14) is referred to as the C

-norm condition. The above result

suggests that this property has interesting applications. As shall see a little later,
this condition is at the heart of the entire theory. It turns out that one can develop
an entire machinery, which enables one to do algebraic Operator Theory. At the
core of this development is the following concept.
Definition. An involutive Banach algebra / is called a C

-algebra, if its norm

satises the C

-norm property, i.e. one has

|a

a| = |a|
2
, a /.
Remark that if / is unital, with unit 1 ,= 0, then 1

= 1, and the above condition

forces |1| = 1.
Remark that, given a C

-algebra /, then any closed subalgebra B /, with

b

B, b B,
is a C

-algebra. In this situation, we say that B is a C

-subalgebra of /.
Examples 7.3. A. Using the above terminology, Proposition 7.7 gives the fact
that, if H is a Hilbert space, then B(H) is a unital C

-algebra.
B. If is a locally compact space, then C
0
() is a C

-algebra, when equipped

with the natural involution f

=

f.
312 CHAPTER II: ELEMENTS OF FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
Remarks 7.4. A. The types normal and self-adjoint make sense for elements
in a C

-algebra.
B. The type projection also makes sense for an element in a C

-algebra. Pro-
jections are dened as those elements satisying condition (ii) from Proposition 7.3.
C. The types (co)isometry and unitary make sense for elements in a unital C

-
algebra. For these types one uses conditions A.(ii), B.(ii), C.(ii) from Proposition
7.4 as denitions.
D. The characterization of invertible elements given in Remark 7.3 is valid if
B(H) is replaced with an arbitrary unital C

-algebra. More explicitly, if / is a

unital C

-algebra, then for an element a /, the conditions

a is invertible in /,
both a

a and aa

are invertible in /,
are equivalent. The proof is identical to the one given in Remark 7.3. (In fact this
is true even when / is only a unital -algebra.)
The following result analyzes the Gelfand correspondence discussed in Section
5, in an important particular case.
Theorem 7.2. Let H be a Hilbert space, and let T B(H) be a normal
operator. Consider the closed subalgebra T = alg(I, T, T

).
A. T is a commutative C

-subalgebra of B(H).
B. One has the equality Spec
T
(T) = Spec
H
(T).
C. Every character of T is involutive, i.e. one has the equality
Char(T) = Char

(T).
D. The Gelfand correspondence
T
: T C
_
Char(T)
_
is an isometric -
isomorphism.
E. The map F
T
: Char(T) (T) C establishes a homeomorphism
F
T
: Char(T)

Spec
T
(T).
Proof. A. We begin with an explicit description of the algebra
T
0
= alg(I, T, T

),
which by construction is dense in T. For this puprose we introduce the following
notation. If P(s, t) is a polynomial in two variables, say
P(s, t) =
N

m,n=0

mn
s
m
t
n
,
with complex coecients, we dene the operator
(19) P(T

, T) =
N

m,n=0

mn
(T

)
m
T
n
,
with the convention that (T

)
0
= T
0
= I. We denote by C[s, t] the algebra of
polynomials in two variables. With these notations we have the following.
Claim 1: The correspondence
(20) : C[s, t] P P(T

, T) B(H)
gives rise to a surjective unital algebra homomorphism : C[s, t] T
0
.
7. Operator Theory on Hilbert spaces 313
It is obvious that is linear, and satises (1) = I, where 1 denotes the con-
stant polynomial 1. Remark that, if P(s, t) =

N
m,n=0

mn
s
m
t
n
and Q(s, t) =

K
k,=0

k
s
k
t

, are polynomials in two variables, then using the fact that T

commutes with T

(i.e. TT

= T

T), we get
P(T

, T)Q(T

, T) =
N

m,n=0
K

k,=0

mn

k
(T

)
m
T
n
(T

)
k
T

=
=
N

m,n=0
K

k,=0

mn

k
(T

)
m+k
T
n+
,
so if we consider the polynomial PQ, we have
P(T

, T)Q(T

, T) = (PQ)(T

, T).
This proves that : C[s, t] B(H) is indeed a unital algebra homomorphism.
On the one hand, it is obvious that Ran T
0
. On the other hand, since is
an algebra homomorphism, it follows that Ran is a subalgebra of T
0
. Finally,
since Ran I, T, T

, it follows that we have in fact the equality Ran =

alg(I, T, T

) = T
0
.
Having proven Claim 1, let us observe that this already gives the fact that T
0
is
commutative (being a quotient of the commutative algebra C[s, t]). In particular,
the closure T of T
0
is also commutative. Remark also that the algebra C[s, t] also
carries an involution dened as follows. If P C[s, t] is a polynomial, say P(s, t) =

N
m,n=0

mn
s
m
t
n
, then one denes the polynomial P
#
(s, t) =

N
m,n=0

mn
s
n
t
m
.
It is clear that the homomorphism (20) is in fact a -homomorphism, i.e. it satises
(P
#
)(T

, T) = [P(T

, T)]

, P C[s, t],
so in fact T
0
= Ran is a -subalgebra of B(H). Taking the closure, it follows that
T is a C

-subalgebra of B(H).
B-E. In order to prove these statements, we are going to consider rst a larger
C

-subalgebra, which will have properties A-E, and we will eventually prove that
this larger algebra in fact coincides with T. Consider the set
M=
_
Q C[s, t] : P(T

, T) invertible in B(H)
_
,
and dene
/
0
=
_
P(T

, T)[Q(T

, T)]
1
: P C[s, t], Q M
_
.
Remark that, if Q
1
, Q
2
M, then Q
1
Q
2
M. One also has the implication Q
M Q
#
M. A simple computation shows that if X
1
, X
2
/
0
are represented
as X
k
= P
k
(T

, T)[Q
k
(T

, T)]
1
with P
k
C[s, t] and Q
k
M, k = 1, 2, then one
has the equalities
X
1
X
2
= (P
1
P
2
)(T

, T)[(Q
1
Q
2
)(T

, T)]
1
,
X
1
+X
2
= (P
1
Q
2
+P
2
Q
1
)(T

, T)[(Q
1
Q
2
)(T

, T)]
1
,
so it follows that /
0
is a subalgebra of B(H). If X /
0
is represented as X =
P(T

, T)[Q(T

, T)]
1
with P C[s, t] and Q M, then one also has the equality
X

= (P
#
)(T

, T)[(Q
#
)(T

, T)]
1
,
so in fact /
0
is a -subalgebra of B(H).
314 CHAPTER II: ELEMENTS OF FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
We take / = /
0
(the closure of /
0
in the norm topology). By construction,
it follows that / is a C

-subalgebra of B(H). Notice that one obviously has the

inclusion / T.
Claim 2: One has the equality
(21) Spec
H
(X) = Spec
A
(X), X /
0
.
First of all (see Section 5), since / is a closed subalgebra of B(H), which contains
I, we always have the inclusion
Spec
H
(X) Spec
A
(X), X A.
Secondly we observe that, if we start with some operator X /
0
, written as
X = P(T

, T)[Q(T

, T)]
1
, with P C[s, t] and Q M, then / contains all
operators of the form (I X)
1
, with CSpec
H
(X). This is due to the fact
that for every C we can write
I X = P

(T

, T)[Q(T

, T)]
1
= [Q(T

, T)]
1
P

(T

, T),
where P

(s, t) = Q(s, t) P(s, t), so if I X is invertible, it follows that P

M
and consequently (I X)
1
= Q(T

, T)[P

(T

, T)]
1
belongs to /
0
/ by
construction. In particular this means that I X is invertible in /, for every
C Spec
H
(X), so we have the inclusion
C Spec
H
(X) C Spec
A
(X),
which is equivalent to the inclusion
Spec
H
(X) Spec
A
(X).
In particular, using Claim 2, we immediately see that / has property B, i.e.
one has the equality
Spec
A
(T) = Spec
H
(T).
Claim 3: Every character of / is involutive, i.e. one has the equality
Char(/) = Char

(/).
Fix a character Char(/). What we need to prove is the fact that we have the
equality
(22) (X

) = (X), X /.
Using continuity, it suces to prove that (22) holds only for X /
0
. Start with
some arbitrary operator X /
0
, and consider the operators X
1
=
1
2
(X +X

) and
X
2
=
1
2i
(X X

). Since /
0
is a -subalgebra of B(H(, we know that both X
1
and
X
2
belong to /
0
. On the one hand, by Claim 2, we have the equalities
Spec
A
(X
k
) = Spec
H
(X
k
), k = 1, 2.
On the other hand, X
1
and X
2
are se-adjoint, so by Proposition 7.5, combined
with Corollary 3.5, the above equality gives
(X
k
) Spec
A
(X
k
) = Spec
H
(X
k
) R, k = 1, 2.
Finally, since we clearly have X = X
1
+ iX
2
and X

= X
1
iX
2
, the fact that
(X
1
) and (X
2
) are real gives
(X

) = (X
1
) i(X
2
) = (X
1
) +i(X
2
) = (X).
Let us consider now the Gelfand correspondence
A
: / C
_
Char(/)
_
.
Claim 4:
A
is an isometric -homorphism.
7. Operator Theory on Hilbert spaces 315
Recall that the Gelfand correspondence is dened by

A
(X) =

X, X /,
where

X : Char(/) C is the Gelfand transform of X, dened by

X() = (X), Char(/).

By Claim 3, it follows that
A
is a -homomorphism. To prove that
A
is isometric,
by density it suces to check the equality
(23) |

X| = |X|, X /
0
.
Fix X /
0
. Since / is a C

-algebra, we have the equality |X|

2
= |X

X|. Notice
that the element Y = X

X still belongs to /
0
. On the one hand, by Claim 3 we
have the equality
(24) Spec
A
(Y ) = Spec
H
(Y ).
On the other hand, since Y

= Y , by Proposition 7.6, we have

|Y | = rad
H
(Y ) = max
_
[[ : Spec
H
(Y )
_
,
so using (24) we get the equality |X|
2
= rad
A
(Y ) - the spectral radius of Y in /.
By Corollary 5.4 we know however that rad
A
(Y ) = |

Y |, so we now have
(25) |X|
2
= |

Y |.
Since
A
is a -homomorphism, we have

Y =

X

X = (

X)

X. Since C
_
Char(/)
_
is a C

-algebra, the equality (25) nally gives

|X|
2
= |(

X)

X| = |

X|
2
,
and then (23) is clear.
Let us show now that / has property E. We consider the Gelfand transform
G
T
=

T of T, which denes a function G
T
C
_
Char(/)
_
, given by
G
T
: Char(/) (T) C.
Claim 5: The map G
T
is a homeomorphism G
T
: Char(/)

Spec
A
(T).
We already know that G
T
is continuous, and we have Ran G
T
= Spec
A
(T), so the
only other thing to prove is the fact that G
T
is injective. (We use here the fact
that Char(/) is compact.) What we have to prove is the fact that if two characters

1
,
2
Char(/) have the property that
1
(T) =
2
(T), then
1
=
2
. By Claim
3, we know that

1
(T

) =
1
(T) =
2
(T) =
2
(T

),
so we also get

1
_
P(T

, T)
_
=
2
_
P(T

, T)
_
, P C[s, t].
Using the above equality we also get

1
_
P(T

, T)[Q(T

, T)]
1
_
=

1
_
P(T

, T)
_

1
_
Q(T

, T)
_ =

2
_
P(T

, T)
_

2
_
Q(T

, T)
_ =
=
2
_
P(T

, T)[Q(T

, T)]
1
_
, P C[s, t], Q M.
In other words we have the equality

1
(X) =
2
(X), X /
0
.
Since /
0
is dense in /, and
1
and
2
are continuous, this nally forces
1
=
2
.
316 CHAPTER II: ELEMENTS OF FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
We now proceed with the proof of the fact that the old C

-algebra T has
properties B-E. As mentioned before this will be done by comparing it with /. We
know that T is a C

-subalgebra of /.
Claim 6: One has the equality
A
(T) = C
_
Char(/)
_
.
Denote for simplicity the compact space Char(/) by K, and the space
A
(T) by
A. On the one hand, since
A
is an isometric -homomorphism, it follows that A
is a C

-subalgebra of C(K). On the other hand, it is clear that A contains the

constant function 1 =
A
(I). Finally, A separates the points of K, which means
that whenever
1
,
2
K are such that
1
,=
2
, then there exists f A with
f(
1
) ,= f(
2
). This is however clear, because if we take G
T
=
A
(T) A, then
by Claim 4, we know that we must have G
T
(
1
) ,= G
T
(
2
). We now use the
Stone-Weierstrass Theorem (see Section 6) to conclude that A = C(K).
Using Claim 6 we now see that the equality
A
(T) = C
_
Char(/)
_
forces on the
the one hand the equality
A
(/) = C
_
Char(/)
_
. In particular, by Claim 5, we see
that
A
: / C
_
Char(/)
_
is an isometric -isomorphism. On the other hand the
injectivity of
A
, combined with the equality
A
(T) =
A
(/) forces T = /. Now
we are done, since / has properties B-E.
Theorem 7.2 has a multitude of applications. The rst one is a generalization
of Proposition 7.6.
Corollary 7.2 (Spectral Radius Formula for normal operators). Let H be a
Hilbert space, and let T B(H) be a normal operator. Then one has the equality
rad
H
(T) = |T|.
Proof. Put T = alg(I, T, T

). On the one hand, by Theorem 7.2, we know

that Spec
H
(T) = Spec
T
(T). In particular we also have the equality
rad
H
(T) = rad
T
(T).
On the other hand, from the properties of the Gelfand transform (see Section 5),
it follows that rad
T
(T) = |
T
(T)|. Now we are done, because
T
is isometric, so
we have |
T
(T)| = |T|.
A particularly interesting consequence of Theorem 7.2 is the following.
Corollary 7.3 (Spectral Permanence Property). Let H be a Hilbert space,
and let / be a C

-aubalgebra of B(H) with / I. Then one has the equality

Spec
A
(X) = Spec
H
(X), X /.
Proof. We already know from Section 5 that one always has the inclusion
Spec
A
(X) Spec
H
(X), X /.
To prove the inclusion in the other direction, we x for the moment an operator
X / and some number Spec
A
(X), and we prove that Spec
H
(X).
Consider the operators T
1
= (I X)

(I X) and T
2
= (I X)(I X)

.
Obviosuly both T
1
and T
2
belong to /. By Remark 7.4.D it follows that one of the
operators T
1
and T
2
is non-invertible in /. One way to rewrite this is:
(26) 0 Spec
A
(T
1
) Spec
A
(T
2
).
7. Operator Theory on Hilbert spaces 317
Since T
1
and T
2
are self-adjoint, they are normal. In particular, if one considers
the C

-algebras T
k
= alg(I, T
k
, T

k
), k = 1, 2, then by Theorem 7.2 we have the
equalities
(27) Spec
T
k
(T
k
) = Spec
H
(T
k
), k = 1, 2.
Notice that, since we have the inclusions T
k
/ B(H), again by the results in
Section 5, we have the inclusions
Spec
T
k
(T
k
) Spec
A
(T
k
) Spec
H
(T
k
), k = 1, 2,
and then the equalities (27) will force the equalities
Spec
A
(T
k
) = Spec
H
(T
k
), k = 1, 2.
Using these equalities, combined with (26), we now have
0 Spec
H
(T
1
) Spec
A
(T
2
),
that is, one of the operators T
1
= (I X)

(I X) or T
2
= (I X)(I X)

is non-invertible in B(H). By Remark 7.3 this forces the operator I X to be

non-invertible in B(H), so indeed belongs to Spec
H
(X).
The following result is a generalization of Theorem 7.2.D.
Theorem 7.3 (Gelfand-Naimark). Let H be a Hilbert space, and let / B(H)
be a commutative C

-subalgebra, which is non-trivial, in the sense that it contains

at least one operator X ,= 0.
(i) The character space Char(/) is non-empty;
(ii) The Gelfand correspondence
A
: / C
0
_
Char(/)
_
is an isometric -
isomorphism.
Proof. We start with the following
Particular Case: Assume / contains the identity operator I.
As in the proof of Theorem 7.2, one key step in the proof is contained in the
following.
Claim 1: Every character of / is involutive, i.e. one has the equality
(28) Char(/) = Char

(/).
To prove this fact we use Proposition 5.4, which states that the equality (28) is
equivalent to the fact that every self-adjoint element X / has real spectrum, i.e.
Spec
A
(X) R. But this is clear, because by Corollary 7.3 we have the equality
Spec
A
(X) = Spec
H
(X), and everything follows from Propoistion 7.5.(i).
Claim 2: The space A = Ran
A
is dense in C
_
Char(/)
_
.
We already know that, since
A
is a unital algebra homomorphism, A is a subalge-
bra of C
_
Char(/)
_
, which contains the unit 1. By Claim 1, we know that in fact A
is a -subalgebra of C
_
Char(/)
_
, so using the Stone-Weierstrass Theorem, we only
need to show that A separates the points of Char(/). But this is obvious, for if one
starts with two characters
1
,=
2
, then there exists X / with
1
(X) ,=
2
(X),
so if we put f =

X =
A
(X) A, we have
f(
1
) =
1
(X) ,=
2
(X) = f(
2
).
Using Claims 1 and 2, we see now that the proof will be nished once we
show that
A
is isometric. (Among other things this will force A to be closed in
318 CHAPTER II: ELEMENTS OF FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
C
_
Char(/)
_
, so by Claim 2, this will force the equality C
_
Char(/)
_
= A.) But
this is obvious, since by Corollary 7.3 we have
|
A
(X)| = rad
A
(X) = rad
H
(X), X /
and every X / is normal, so by Corollary 7.2 the above equalities yield
|
A
(X)| = |X|, X /.
Having proven the Theorem in the above particular case, we now proceed with
the general case. By excluding the particular case, we assume here that / does not
contain the indentity operator I. Consider then the space
T = /+CI = X +I : X /, C.
Since / B(H) is a closed linear subspace, it follows (see Proposition 2.1) that T
is also closed. In fact, T is also a -subalgebra, so we get the fact that T is a C

-
subalgebra of B(H). Since T contains I, by the above particular case it follows that
its Gelfand correspondence
D
: T C
_
Char(T)
_
is an isometric -isomorphism.
Notice that, since I , /, the correspondence
:

/ (X, ) X +I T
is a -isomorphism. On the one hand, this -isomorphism gives rise to a homeo-
morphism Char(T) Char(

/). On the other hand, we also know (see Section 5)
that Char(

/) is identied with Char(/) 0 (this space regarded as a subset in
(/

)
1
), so we now have a homeomorphism
: Char(/) 0 Char(T).
Explicitly, the map is given as follows. One starts with some Char(/) 0
(so either : / C is a character, or the zero map), and one denes the character
() = : T C by
(X +I) = (X) +, X /, C.
Furthermore, if we denote the compact space Char(/) 0 simply by T, the
homeomorphism : T Char(T) gives rise to an isometric -isomorphism
: C
_
Char(T)
_
f f C(T).
Note now that the composition
(29) =
D
: T C(T)
is an isometric -isomorphism. Since / is non-trivial, we have dimT 2, which
among other things forces dimC(T) 2. In particular the space T = Char(/)0
cannot be a singleton, so Char(/) is indeed non-empty.
Claim 3: If we identify C
0
_
Char(/)
_
=
_
f C(T) : f(0) = 0
_
, as a closed
sub-algebra of C(T), then we have the equality

A
=

A
: / C
0
_
Char(/)
_
.
Indeed, if we start with some element X /, and we take f =
D
C
_
Char(T)
_
,
then the function h = (X) = f C
0
_
Char(/)
_
C(T) is dened by
h() = (f )() = f( ) = (X) = (X), Char(/),
i.e. h =
A
(X).
Since is an isometric -isomorphism, by Claim 3, it follows that
A
is an
isometric -homomorphism. To nish the proof, all we need to prove now is the
7. Operator Theory on Hilbert spaces 319
fact that
A
is surjective. Start with some f C
0
_
Char(/)
_
. When we view f as
an element in C(T), using the isomorphism (29), there exists some element Z T
with (Z) = f. Of course, when we write Z = X +I, with X / and C, by
Claim 3 we have
f = (X) +(I) =
A
(X) +1,
where 1 C(T) is the constant function 1. Since both f and
A
(X) belong to
C
0
_
Char(/)
_
, i.e. f(0) = 0 = [
A
(X)](0), the above equality forces = 0, so we
actually get f =
A
(X), and we are done.
Definition. Let Hbe a Hilbert space, and let T B(H) be a normal operator.
Let T = alg(I, T, T

) and let F
T
: Char(T) Spec
H
(T) be the homeomorphism
described in Theorem 7.2. This gives rise to an isometric -isomorpism

T
: C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
f f F
T
C
_
Char(T)
_
.
When we compose this -isomorphism with the inverse of the Gelfand correspon-
dence
1
T
: C
_
Char(T)
_
T, we get an isometric -isomorphism

T
=
1
T

T
: C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
T.
The map
T
is called the Continuous Functional Calculus correspondence associated
with T. The following result summarizes the properties of this construction.
Theorem 7.4 (Properties of Continuous Functional Calculus). Let H be a
Hilbert space, and let T B(H) be a normal operator.
A. The continuous functional calcululus correspondence
T
is the unique map
: C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
B(H) with the following properties.
(i) (f +g) = (f)(g), f, g C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
;
(ii) (f) = (f), f C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
, C;
(iii) (fg) = (f)(g), f, g C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
;
(iv) (

f) = (f)

, f C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
;
(v) (1) = I, where 1 C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
denotes the constant function 1;
(vi) () = T, where : Spec
H
(T) C is the inclusion map.
B. If we denote the C

-algebra alg(I, T, T

) by T, then he continuous func-

tional correspondence
T
also satises
(i) Ran
T
= T;
(ii) |
T
(f)| = |f|, f C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
.
(iii) Spec
H
_

T
(f)
_
= Spec
T
_

T
(f)
_
= Ran f, f C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
.
Proof. Denote for simplicity the compact set Spec
H
(T) by K.
A. First we show that
T
has properties (i)-(vi). The fact that
T
has proper-
ties (i)-(v) is clear. (What these conditions say is simply the fact that
T
: C(K)
B(H) is a unital -homomorphism.) To prove that
T
also has property (vi), we
use the denition. First of all we know that the function h =
T
() : Char(T) C
is dened as
T
() = F
T
, where F
T
is the homeomorphism
F
T
: Char(T) (T) K.
It then follows that we have
h() = (T), Char(T).
320 CHAPTER II: ELEMENTS OF FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
This is, of course, the same as h =

T =
T
(T), the Gelfand transform of T, so we
immediately get

T
() =
1
T
(h) = T.
Next we prove that
T
is the unique map with properties (i)-(vi). Start with
an arbitrary map : C(K) B(H) with properties (i)-(vi). Consider the space
A =
_
f C(K) : (f) =
T
(f)
_
.
On the one hand, since both and
T
are continuous (by Corollary 7.1), it follows
that A is a closed in C(K), in the norm topology. On the other hand, since both
and
T
satisfy (i)-(vi) it follows that in fact A is a C

-subalgebra of C(K), which

contains the constant function 1. By (vi) it follows that A also contains : K C,
so in particular A separates the points of K. By the Stone-Weierstrass Theorem it
follows that A = C(K), so we indeed have =
T
.
B. Properties (i) and (ii) are obvious, since by construction
T
: C(K) T
is an isometric -isomorphism. The rst equality in (iii) is clear, by Corollary 7.2.
The second equality is a consequence of the fact that, since
T
is an isomorphism,
one has the equality
Spec
T
_

T
(f)
_
= Spec
C(K)
(f), f C(K).
Then the desired equality follows from the well known equality
Spec
C(K)
(f) = Ran f, f C(K).
Notation. Given a normal operator T B(H), and a continuous function
f : Spec
H
(T) C, the operator
T
(f) T will be denoted simply by f(T).
Using this notation, properties (ii) and (iii) from Theorem 7.4.B state that, for
every continuous function f : Spec
H
(T) C, one has:
|f(T)| = max
_
[f()[ : Spec
H
(T)
_
, (30)
Spec
H
_
f(T)
_
= f
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
. (31)
The equality (31) is referred to as the Spectral Mapping Formula. By Theorem
7.4.B.(i) we also know that
(32) alg(I, T, T

) =
_
f(T) : f C
_
Spec
H
(T)
__
.
Remarks 7.5. Let T B(H) be a normal operator.
A. During the proof of Theorem 7.2, we dened, for every polynomial in two
variables P C[s, t], an operator denoted by P(T

, T). Using the properties of

functional calculus, the same operator can be dened in the following equivalent
way. One considers the continuous function f
P
: Spec
H
(T) C, dened by
f
P
() = P(

, ), Spec
H
(T),
and then one has the equality P(T

, T) = f
P
(T).
B. Conversely, the operators of the form P(T

, T), dened algebraically, as in

(19), can be used for constructing the operators of the formf(T), f C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
.
Indeed, by the Stone-Weierstrass Theorem, it follows that the algebra
P = f
P
: P C[s, t]
7. Operator Theory on Hilbert spaces 321
is dense in C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
. So if one starts with an arbitrary continuous function
f : Spec
H
(T) C, then there exists a sequence (P
n
)

n=1
C[s, t], such that
lim
n
|f
Pn
f| = 0, i.e.
lim
n
_
max[P
n
(

, ) f()[ : Spec
H
(T)

= 0.
Using the properties of functional caluclus, one has lim
n
|f
Pn
(T) f(T)| = 0,
so in fact we can dene f(T) by
f(T) = lim
n
P
n
(T

, T).
C. The continuous functional calculus is an extension of the entire functional
calcululs dened in Section 5. If F : C C is an entire function, i.e. F is dened
by a power series
F() =

n=0

n
, C,
with innite radius of converges, then the operator
F(T) =

n=0

n
T
n
coincides with f(T), where f = F

Spec
H
(T)
. This is a consequence of the fact
that, if one denes the sequence of nite sums, as polynomials (in one variable)
P
n
(t) =

n
k=0

k
t
k
, then we know that
lim
n
_
max
K
[F() P
n
()[

= 0,
for every compact subset K C. In particular if we consider K = Spec
H
(T), we
have lim
n
|f f
Pn
| = 0, so we get
f(T) = lim
n
f
Pn
(T) = lim
n
n

k=0

k
T
k
=

n=0

n
T
n
= F(T).
D. Consider the locally compact space Spec
H
(T) 0, and the commutative
C

-algebra C
0
_
Spec
H
(T) 0
_
. This algebra is identied with a C

-subalgebra
in C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
, according to the two cases below, as follows:
If 0 , Spec
H
(T), then C
0
_
Spec
H
(T) 0
_
= C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
.
If 0 Spec
H
(T), then C
0
_
Spec
H
(T)0
_
=
_
f C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
: f(0) = 0
_
.
Using the Stone-Weierstrass Theorem (for locally compact spaces), it follows
that the algebra
P
0
= f
P
: P C[s, t], P(0, 0) = 0
is dense in C
0
_
Spec
H
(T) 0
_
. This means that the condition that f belongs
to C
0
_
Spec
H
(T) 0
_
is equivalnet to the existence of a sequence of polynomials
(P
n
)

n=1
P
0
(i.e. without constant term), such that
lim
n
_
max[P
n
(

, ) f()[ : Spec
H
(T)

= 0,
and in this case one has f(T) = lim
n
P
n
(T, T

). This argument proves that the

C

-subalgebra C
0
_
Spec
H
(T) 0
_
C
0
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
is equivalently described as
C
0
_
Spec
H
(T) 0
_
= alg(, ),
322 CHAPTER II: ELEMENTS OF FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
where : Spec
H
(T) C is the inclusion map. Consequently one has the equality
alg(T, T

) =
_
f(T) : f C
0
_
Spec
H
(T) 0
__
.
which can be regarded as a non-unital version of (32)
The continuous functional calculus is functorial in the following sense.
Proposition 7.8. Let T B(H) be a normal operator, and let f C
_
Spec
H
(T)
_
.
(i) The operator X = f(T) B(H) is normal.
(ii) For every g C
_
Spec
H
(X)
_
, one has the equality g(X) = (g f)(T).
Proof. (i). This is obvious, since f(T) is an element of the commutative
C

-algebra alg(T, T

).
(ii). Remark that, since Spec
H
(X) = Spec
H
(f(T)) = Ran f, the composition
g f makes sense for every g C
_
Spec
H
(X)
_
. Consider the map
: C
_
Spec
H
(X)
_
g (g f)(T) B(H).
It is trivial that has all properties (i)-(vi) from Theorem 7.4.A, so one has the
equality =
X
, where
X
is the continuous functional calculus correspondence
for X.
Comment. The results of Proposition 7.5.(i) and Proposition 7.6 are true if
B(H) is replaced with a unital C

-algebra.
The following technical result is extremely useful.
Lemma 7.3. Let H be a Hilbert space, and let (T

B(H) be a net with

the following properties:
T

is positive, for each ;

for any , with ~ , the operator T

is positive;
sup

|T

| < .
Then the net (T

also has the following properties.

(i) the net (|T

|)

[0, ) is increasing, in the sense that, whenever

~ , one has |T

| ~ |T

|.
(ii) For every H, the net (T

H is convergent.
(iii) The map T : H H dened by
T = lim

, H,
is a positive bounded operator, with |T| = lim

|T

|.
Definition. Let H
1
and H
2
be Hilbert spaces. An operator T B(H
1
, H
2
)
is said to be a partial isometry, if its restriction T

(Ker T)

: (Ker T)

H
2
is an
isometry.
Proposition 7.9. For an operator V B(H
1
, H
2
), the following are equiva-
lent:
(i) V is a partial isometry;
(i

) V

is a partial isometry;
(ii) V

V B(H
1
) is a projection;
(ii

) V V

B(H
2
) is a projection.
7. Operator Theory on Hilbert spaces 323
Proof. C. Consider the closed subspaces X
1
= (Ker V )

H
1
and X
2
=
(Ker V

H
2
. By Proposition 7.2 we know that X
1
= Ran V

and X
2
= Ran V .
Denote by P
k
B(H
k
) the orthogonal projection on X
k
, k = 1, 2. (i) (i

).
Assume V is a partial isometry, and let us prove that V

is also a partial isometry.

We must prove that V

X2
: X
2
H
1
is an isometry. This is shown indirectly by
examining the operator W = V

X1
: X
1
H
2
. On the one hand, we clearly have
the inclusion Ran W Ran W. On the other hand, we also know that, since for
every vector H
1
we have
P
1
X

1
=
_
(Ker V )

= Ker V = Ker V,
we have
V = V ( P
1
) +V P
1
= V P
1
= WP
1
, H
1
,
so in particular we have Ran V Ran W. This gives the equality
(33) Ran W = Ran V.
Finally, we know that W is an isometry. In particular, it follows that Ran W is
closed, and then the equality (33) gives
Ran W = Ran W = Ran V = (Ker V

= X
2
.
This proves that, when regarded as an operator W : X
1
X
2
, W is unitary.