Use the corrected essential spectrum of a bounded self-adjoint operator and put . Essential spectral points are real. If is infinite-dimensional, choose an orthonormal sequence in the kernel. It converges weakly to zero by the Bessel inequality, and its residuals vanish.
If is finite-dimensional, membership in the essential spectrum means the range is not closed. Choose unit with , using the closed-range bound on the kernel complement. A bounded Hilbert space sequence has a weakly convergent subsequence. Its weak limit satisfies because bounded operators preserve weak convergence, and ; hence . This subsequence is a singular Weyl sequence.
Conversely a singular Weyl sequence first places in the spectrum of a bounded operator. If it were not essential, the sequential properness for a self-adjoint operator equivalence for would yield a norm-convergent subsequence. Its weak limit is zero, whereas norm convergence of unit vectors gives a unit norm limit, a contradiction. Therefore
For nonreal , the resolvent lower bound excludes such a sequence, so the equivalence covers all .
For a bounded self-adjoint operator , every bounded sequence whose images converge has a norm-convergent subsequence exactly when its kernel is finite-dimensional and its range is closed, or equivalently for the essential spectrum of a bounded self-adjoint operator. Split the sequence into kernel and kernel complement: finite dimensionality gives a subsequence on the first part and the closed-range bound on the kernel complement makes the second part a Cauchy sequence. Infinite kernel or approximate null unit vectors in its complement obstruct the property.
Singular Weyl sequence 2026-10-06
A singular Weyl sequence for a bounded self-adjoint operator at is a spectral Weyl sequence that also converges weakly to zero. Such a sequence exists exactly when is in the essential spectrum of a bounded self-adjoint operator. An infinite-dimensional shifted kernel gives a weakly null orthonormal sequence. If that kernel is finite-dimensional but the shifted range is not closed, choose approximate null vectors in the kernel complement and extract a weakly convergent subsequence; its limit belongs to both kernel and complement, so is zero.
If is bounded and self-adjoint on a complex Hilbert space and is compact and self-adjoint, then
A singular Weyl sequence for stays singular for , because compact operators send weak convergence to norm convergence and therefore . Applying the same argument with proves the reverse inclusion. Finite-multiplicity isolated eigenvalues can move under such perturbations; the essential spectrum of a bounded self-adjoint operator is unchanged.