Abstract
Partial solutions are obtained to Halmos’ problem, whether or not any polynomially bounded operator on a Hilbert spaceH is similar to a contraction. Central use is made of Paulsen’s necessary and sufficient condition, which permits one to obtain bounds on ‖S‖ ‖S −1‖, whereS is the similarity. A natural example of a polynomially bounded operator appears in the theory of Hankel matrices, defining
onl 2 ⊕l 2, whereS is the shift and Γ f the Hankel operator determined byf withf′ ∈ BMOA. Using Paulsen’s condition, we prove thatR f is similar to a contraction. In the general case, combining Grothendieck’s theorem and techniques from complex function theory, we are able to get in the finite dimensional case the estimate
whereSTS −1 is a contraction and assuming\(\left\| {p\left( T \right)} \right\| \leqq M\left\| p \right\|_\infty \) wheneverp is an analytic polynomial on the disc.
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Bourgain, J. On the similarity problem for polynomially bounded operators on hilbert space. Israel J. Math. 54, 227–241 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02764943
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02764943