37.1 Topologies on $B(H)$

Let $H$ be a complex Hilbert space. Thanks to its self-duality, there is a natural dual pairing

\[B(H) \times (H \otimes \ol H) \to \complex \quad \dpn{T, \phi \otimes x}{B(H)}= \dpn{Tx, \phi}{H}\]

Depending on the topology placed on $H \otimes H$, and the corresponding completion, a handful of different topologies arise on $B(H)$. In fact, the above duality produces a predual for $B(H)$, being the trace class operators:

Definition 37.1.1 (Ultraweak Topology).label Let $H$ be a complex Hilbert space, then the dual of $H \wh \otimes_{\pi} H$ is $B(H)$, and the $\sigma(B(H), H \wh \otimes_{\pi} H)$-topology is the ultraweak/$\sigma$-weak topology on $B(H)$.

A natural topology consistent with the ultraweak topology would be the ultrastrong topology.

Definition 37.1.2 (Ultrastrong Topology).label Let $H$ be a complex Hilbert space. For each $x = \seq{x_n}\in L^{2}(\natp; H)$, let

\[\Phi_{x}: B(H) \to L^{2}(\natp; H) \quad (\Phi_{x}T)_{n} = Tx_{n}\]

then the ultrastrong/$\sigma$-strong topology on $B(H)$ is the topology generated by the maps $\bracsn{\Phi_x|x \in L^2(\natp; H)}$.

Seeing that $B(H)$ is a dual Banach space, the following fact is immediate:

Proposition 37.1.3.label Let $H$ be a complex Hilbert space, then every bounded subset of $B(H)$ is relatively compact with respect to the ultraweak topology.

Proof. By the Banach-Alaoglu Theorem.$\square$

Now, a few facts about the more familiar operator topologies:

Proposition 37.1.4.label Let $H$ be a complex Hilbert space, then:

  1. (1)

    The dual of $B(H)$ with respect to its strong and weak operator topologies is $H \otimes H$.

  2. (2)

    Every bounded subset of $B(H)$ is relatively compact in the weak operator topology.

  3. (3)

    The composition map $(S, T) \mapsto ST$ is separately continuous in the strong and weak operator topologies.

  4. (4)

    The composition map $(S, T) \mapsto ST$ is left-hypocontinuous with respect to the strong operator topology and strong-operator bounded subsets of $B(H)$.

Proof. (2): By Proposition 37.1.3.

(4): By the Banach-Steinhaus Theorem, every strong-operator bounded subset of $B(H)$ is equicontinuous.$\square$

Proposition 37.1.5.label Let $H$ be a complex Hilbert space, then:

  1. (1)

    The adjoint map $T \mapsto T^{*}$ is continuous in the weak operator topology and the ultraweak topology.

  2. (2)

    $T \mapsto T^{*}$ restricted to the normal operators is continuous in the strong operator topology.

  3. (3)

    For any $f \in C(\complex; \complex)$, the mapping $T \mapsto f(T)$ restricted to any bounded set of normal operators is continuous in the strong operator topology.

Proof, [Section 19.1, Zhu93]. (2): Let $S, T \in B(H)$, then

\begin{align*}\normn{(S^* - T^*)x}_{H}^{2}&= \normn{S^*x}_{H}^{2} + \normn{T^*x}_{H}^{2} - \dpn{x, ST^*x}{H}- \dpn{ST^*x, x}{H}\\&\le \normn{S^*x}_{H}^{2} + \normn{T^*x}_{H}^{2} - \dpn{x, TT^*x}{H}- \dpn{TT^*x, x}{H}\\&+ |\dpn{x, (T - S)T^*x}{H}| + |\dpn{(T - S)T^*x, x}{H}| \\&\le |\normn{S^*x}_{H}^{2} - \normn{T^*x}_{H}^{2}| + 2\norm{x}_{H}\normn{(T - S)T^*x}_{H}\end{align*}

Now, if $S$ and $T$ are normal, then $\normn{S^*x}_{H} = \norm{Sx}_{H}$ and $\norm{T^*x}_{H} = \norm{Tx}_{H}$, so

\begin{align*}|\norm{S^*x}_{H}^{2} - \norm{T^*x}_{H}^{2}|&= |\norm{Sx}_{H}^{2} - \norm{Tx}_{H}^{2}| \\&\le \norm{(S - T)x}_{H} (\norm{Sx}_{H} + \norm{Tx}_{H}) \\&\le \norm{(S - T)x}_{H} (\norm{(S - T)x}_{H} + 2\norm{Tx}_{H})\end{align*}

Therefore

\begin{align*}\normn{(S^* - T^*)x}_{H}^{2}&\le \norm{(S - T)x}_{H} (\norm{(S - T)x}_{H} + 2\norm{Tx}_{H}) \\&+ 2\norm{x}_{H}\normn{(T - S)T^*x}_{H}\end{align*}

and the adjoint map restricted to normal operators is continuous in the strong operator topology.

(3): Let $S, T \in B_{B(H)}(0, 1)$ and $x \in H$ and $n \in \natp$, then

\begin{align*}\normn{(S^n - T^n)x}_{H}&\le \sum_{k = 0}^{n-1}\normn{S^{n-1-k}(S - T)T^kx}_{H}\\&\le \sum_{k = 0}^{n - 1}\normn{(S - T)T^kx}_{H}\end{align*}

so the mapping $T \mapsto T^{n}$ on $B_{B(H)}(0, 1)$ is continuous in the strong operator topology. By (2), the mapping $T \mapsto p(T, T^{*})$ is strong-operator continuous for all $p \in \complex[z, \ol z]$.

By the Stone-Weierstrass Theorem, there exist polynomials $p_{n} \in \complex[z, \ol z]$ such that $p_{n} \to f$ uniformly on $\ol{B_\complex(0, 1)}$. For any $T \in B_{B(H)}(0, 1)$, $x \in H$, and $n \in \natp$,

\begin{align*}\norm{[f(T) - p_n(T)]x}_{H}&\le \norm{f(T) - p_n(T)}_{B(H)}\cdot \norm{x}_{H} \\&\le \norm{x}_{H} \cdot \sup_{z \in \ol{B_\complex(0, 1)}}|f(z) - p_{n}(z)|\end{align*}

by the continuous functional calculus. Thus $f$ is a uniform limit of strong-operator continuous functions on $B_{B(H)}(0, 1)$, and as such also strong-operator continuous by Proposition 7.3.2.$\square$

Proposition 37.1.6.label Let $A$ be a $C^{*}$-algebra, $H_{1}, H_{2}$ be complex Hilbert spaces, $\pi_{1}: A \to B(H_{1})$ and $\pi_{2}: A \to B(H_{2})$ be injective representations of $A$, and $U: H_{1} \to H_{2}$ be a unitary equivalence, then the mapping

\[\pi_{1}(A) \to \pi_{2}(A) \quad T \mapsto UTU^{-1}\]

is strong-operator and weak-operator continuous.

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