English

Positive self-commutators of positive operators

Functional Analysis 2025-01-08 v1

Abstract

We consider a positive operator AA on a Hilbert lattice such that its self-commutator C=AAAAC = A^* A - A A^* is positive. If AA is also idempotent, then it is an orthogonal projection, and so C=0C = 0. Similarly, if AA is power compact, then C=0C = 0 as well. We prove that every positive compact central operator on a separable infinite-dimensional Hilbert lattice H\mathcal H is a self-commutator of a positive operator. We also show that every positive central operator on H\mathcal H is a sum of two positive self-commutators of positive operators.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.03733,
  title  = {Positive self-commutators of positive operators},
  author = {Roman Drnovšek and Marko Kandić},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.03733},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

19 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-28T20:58:40.198Z