Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2002 / iii / Paper 7 / 4 / Solution

Put $K=\sigma (T)$ and use the continuous functional calculus $\pi :C(K)\to \mathcal{B}(H)$. It is a unital star-homomorphism taking the coordinate function to $T$. This follows from the commutative C-star theorem applied to $C^{\ast }(I,T,T^{\ast })$, together with spectral permanence for C-star subalgebras, which is among the permitted C-star results.

Take the Hilbert space inner product linear in its first variable. For a vector $\xi$, let $H_{\xi }=\overline{\{\pi (f)\xi :f\in C(K)\}}$. This cyclic subspace is invariant under every $\pi (f)$ and its adjoint, so it is reducing. The functional $f\mapsto ⟨\pi (f)\xi ,\xi ⟩$ is positive because $f\ge 0$ implies $\pi (f)=\pi (\sqrt{f}{)}^{\ast }\pi (\sqrt{f})$. It has, by the Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem, a finite regular positive Borel measure ${\mu }_{\xi }$ on $K$. The identitymakes $f\mapsto \pi (f)\xi$ an isometry on its quotient by the functions of zero $L^2$ norm. Density of continuous functions in $L^2({\mu }_{\xi })$ extends it to a unitary $U_{\xi }:L^2({\mu }_{\xi })\to H_{\xi }$. Multiplication by a continuous function intertwines with $\pi$ on this subspace.

Choose a maximal family of mutually orthogonal nonzero cyclic reducing subspaces. Their orthogonal sum is all of $H$: otherwise its reducing orthogonal complement contains a nonzero vector generating another such subspace. This argument does not require separability. For a bounded Borel measurable function $g$ on $K$, multiplication $M_g$ on every $L^2({\mu }_{\xi })$ is bounded with norm at most $\Vert g{\Vert }_{\infty }$. Define on that orthogonal sumMultiplication operators satisfy $M_{fg}=M_f{M}_g$, $M_{\overline{g}}=M_g^{\ast }$ and $M_1=I$. The same identities hold for their direct sums, and the norm bound is uniform in $\xi$. Thus ${\beta }_T$ is a norm-decreasing unital star-homomorphism on the algebra of actual bounded Borel measurable functions, and ${\beta }_T(Z)=T$ because it extends $\pi$. No quotient by a single unspecified measure is being substituted for that Borel algebra.

Choose the bounded Borel measurable square root $s(0)=0$ and $s(z)=|z{|}^{1/2}{e}^{i\mathrm{Arg}(z)/2}$ for $z\ne 0$, taking $\mathrm{Arg}\in [0,2\pi )$. Let $S={\beta }_T(s)$. ThenThus every bounded normal operator has a normal square root. The Borel branch is essential in general: on a circle winding about zero a continuous square-root branch need not exist.