Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / iii / Paper 5 / 2

Throughout this question the Banach spaces and Hilbert spaces are complex. Separability is an additional standing hypothesis, not part of the general definition of a Hilbert space. Here and below unit ball means the closed unit ball. An open unit ball in positive finite dimension is not compact. In finite dimension, equivalence of norms identifies the closed unit ball with a closed bounded subset of Euclidean space, so the Heine-Borel theorem gives compactness in the norm topology.

In an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space, the Gram-Schmidt process constructs an infinite orthonormal sequence $(e_n)$. Put $f_n=e_n/\sqrt{2}$. Then $\Vert f_n\Vert =1/\sqrt{2}\le 1$ and, for $m\ne n$, $\Vert f_n-f_m{\Vert }^2=(1+1)/2=1$. No subsequence is a Cauchy sequence, contradicting sequential compactness. Thus the closed unit ball is norm compact exactly in finite dimension.

The finite-dimensional implication again follows from equivalence of norms and the Heine-Borel theorem. In an infinite-dimensional Banach space, inductively apply Riesz lemma to the proper closed finite-dimensional linear span $Y_n=\mathrm{span}(f_1,\dots ,f_n)$ to obtain a unit vector $f_{n+1}$ with $\mathrm{dist}(f_{n+1},Y_n)>1/2$. Therefore $\Vert f_n-f_m\Vert >1/2$ for distinct indices, precluding a Cauchy subsequence.

For completeness, Riesz lemma here follows by taking $z\notin Y$, setting $d=\mathrm{dist}(z,Y)>0$, choosing $y\in Y$ with $\Vert z-y\Vert <2d$, and putting $f=(z-y)/\Vert z-y\Vert$. Its distance from $Y$ exceeds $1/2$. This proves the closed unit ball is norm compact if and only if the Banach space is finite-dimensional. The printed hint's equality of all pairwise distances is unnecessary; the separation inequality is what the argument supplies.

Use the assumed separability of the Hilbert space to choose a countable Hilbertian basis $(e_j)$. For $\Vert f_n\Vert \le M$, every scalar sequence $⟨f_n,e_j⟩$ is bounded. Repeated extraction followed by the diagonal subsequence argument gives one subsequence with all these coordinates converging, say to $a_j$. The Bessel inequality gives ${\sum }_{j\le N}|a_j{|}^2\le M^2$ for every $N$, so $g={\sum }_j{a}_j{e}_j$ exists and $\Vert g\Vert \le M$.

For $h\in H$, let $h_N$ be its finite basis truncation. Coordinate convergence gives $⟨f_{\phi (n)}-g,h_N⟩\to 0$, while the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality bounds the remaining inner product by $2M\Vert h-h_N\Vert$, uniformly in $n$. First choose $N$ large, then $n$ large. ThusThis proves the asserted sequential conclusion. To obtain actual compactness for the weak topology, note that on a bounded ball it is induced by the metricFinite coordinates and the uniformly small tail show that $d$ gives coordinate convergence; uniform boundedness of the ball extends this to every inner product as above. Hence this metric induces exactly the restricted weak topology. In a metric space, sequential compactness implies compactness. The closed unit ball is therefore weakly compact, and the limit remains inside it.

No. On the complex l2 sequence space, let $L(x_n)=(x_n/n)$. This is a bounded self-adjoint operator. At $\lambda =0$, $\ker L=\{0\}$, so zero is not an eigenvalue (an eigenvector must be nonzero). But $y=(1/n)\in {\ell }^2$ has no preimage in ${\ell }^2$: its only formal preimage is the constant-one sequence. Thus $L$ is not surjective andAlternatively $\Vert L{e}_n\Vert =1/n\to 0$ excludes a bounded inverse. This example separates the spectrum of a bounded operator from its point spectrum.

The intended self-adjoint operator identity is $⟨Lf,g⟩=⟨f,Lg⟩$, with the inner product linear in its first argument. The printed second $Lf$ must be $Lg$. Taken literally, the printed identity forces $L=0$: put $g=0$ and then vary $g$. Its spectral conclusion is then trivial, but it does not define self-adjointness.

For the corrected identity, $⟨Lv,v⟩$ is real. If $\mathrm{Im}\lambda \ne 0$, the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality givesThus $L-\lambda I$ is injective and bounded below, so its range is closed: a convergent image sequence has a Cauchy sequence of preimages. Its range is dense because its orthogonal complement is $\ker (L-\bar{\lambda }I)$, also zero by the same lower bound. Hence it is surjective with inverse norm at most $1/|\mathrm{Im}\lambda |$. Therefore

For a bounded self-adjoint operator, $g$ is orthogonal to its range exactly when $⟨Lf,g⟩=⟨f,Lg⟩=0$ for every $f$, or equivalently $Lg=0$. ConsequentlyThis is image-kernel orthogonality for an adjoint. Taking the double orthogonal complement gives the closure; it does not assert that the range itself is closed.

If unit vectors $f_n$ satisfy $(L-\lambda I)f_n\to 0$, a bounded inverse would give $1\le \Vert (L-\lambda I{)}^{-1}\Vert \Vert (L-\lambda I)f_n\Vert \to 0$. Hence $\lambda$ belongs to the spectrum of a bounded operator.

Conversely a spectral point is real by the preceding argument. Put $A=L-\lambda I$, again a self-adjoint operator. If ${\inf }_{\Vert f\Vert =1}\Vert Af\Vert >0$, then $A$ is injective with closed range. Its range is dense by image-kernel orthogonality for an adjoint, so it is bijective with a bounded inverse, a contradiction. Thus this infimum is zero; choose unit $f_n$ with $\Vert A{f}_n\Vert <1/n$. We have provedSuch a sequence is a spectral Weyl sequence. No weak convergence is required here; nonreal $\lambda$ are ruled out by the lower bound in the preceding solution.

No. Reuse the diagonal operator on sequence space $L(x_n)=(x_n/n)$ on ${\ell }^2$. Its kernel is zero, hence finite-dimensional. Let $y^{(N)}$ be the truncation of $(1/n)$ to its first $N$ coordinates. Each $y^{(N)}=L(1,\dots ,1,0,\dots )$ lies in the range, while $y^{(N)}\to (1/n)$ in ${\ell }^2$. The limit is not in the range because its formal preimage is not square summable. Thus finite-dimensional kernel does not imply closed range. Equivalently the unit vectors $e_n\in (\ker L{)}^{\perp }$ violate every positive closed-range bound on the kernel complement.

For the subsequent essential spectrum arguments, the discrete-spectrum definition must use $\mathrm{ran}(L-\lambda I)$ closed, rather than the printed unshifted range. With that correction, $0\notin {\Sigma }_{\mathrm{e}}(L)$ means exactly that $N=\ker L$ is finite-dimensional and $\mathrm{ran}L$ is closed; this includes the case $0$ is in the resolvent set.

A closed-range bound on the kernel complement supplies the useful equivalenceFor the forward implication, $L:N^{\perp }\to \mathrm{ran}L$ is a bounded bijection between Banach spaces, so the bounded inverse theorem applies. For the reverse implication, any Cauchy sequence of image points has a Cauchy sequence of preimages in $N^{\perp }$, and completeness gives a preimage of its limit.

Now decompose a bounded sequence as $f_n=p_n+v_n$ with $p_n\in N$, $v_n\in N^{\perp }$. If $L{f}_n$ converges, the lower bound makes $(v_n)$ a Cauchy sequence. The finite-dimensional vector space $N$ makes the bounded $p_n$ have a convergent subsequence. Their sum has a norm-convergent subsequence.

Conversely, if every bounded sequence with convergent images has a norm-convergent subsequence, the kernel cannot be infinite-dimensional: an orthonormal sequence in it would have zero images and no convergent subsequence. If the range were not closed, the lower-bound equivalence would provide unit vectors $v_n\in N^{\perp }$ with $L{v}_n\to 0$. Any norm limit would lie in both $N$ and $N^{\perp }$, hence be zero, contradicting its unit norm. This proves the required sequential properness for a self-adjoint operator equivalence.

The spectral-shift repair is essential for later parts. On ${\ell }^2$, take $L=\mathrm{diag}(2,1,1/2,1/3,\dots )$. Its range is not closed, but $2$ is an isolated eigenvalue with one-dimensional eigenspace and closed shifted range. The printed definition would incorrectly place $2$ in the essential spectrum, although no singular Weyl sequence exists there: on the complement of that eigenspace, $\Vert (L-2I)v\Vert \ge \Vert v\Vert$.

Use the corrected essential spectrum of a bounded self-adjoint operator and put $A=L-\lambda I$. Essential spectral points are real. If $\ker A$ is infinite-dimensional, choose an orthonormal sequence in the kernel. It converges weakly to zero by the Bessel inequality, and its residuals vanish.

If $\ker A$ is finite-dimensional, membership in the essential spectrum means the range is not closed. Choose unit $v_n\in (\ker A{)}^{\perp }$ with $A{v}_n\to 0$, using the closed-range bound on the kernel complement. A bounded Hilbert space sequence has a weakly convergent subsequence. Its weak limit $v$ satisfies $Av=0$ because bounded operators preserve weak convergence, and $v\in (\ker A{)}^{\perp }$; hence $v=0$. This subsequence is a singular Weyl sequence.

Conversely a singular Weyl sequence first places $\lambda$ in the spectrum of a bounded operator. If it were not essential, the sequential properness for a self-adjoint operator equivalence for $A$ would yield a norm-convergent subsequence. Its weak limit is zero, whereas norm convergence of unit vectors gives a unit norm limit, a contradiction. ThereforeFor nonreal $\lambda$, the resolvent lower bound excludes such a sequence, so the equivalence covers all $\lambda \in \mathbb{C}$.

Suppose $K$ is a compact operator and $f_n\rightharpoonup f$. The Uniform boundedness principle makes $(f_n)$ bounded. If $K{f}_n$ did not converge in norm to $Kf$, some subsequence would stay a fixed positive distance away. Compactness provides a further norm-convergent subsequence, say to $g$. On the other hand, for every $h$, $⟨K{f}_n,h⟩=⟨f_n,K^{\ast }h⟩\to ⟨Kf,h⟩$, so its norm limit must be $Kf$, a contradiction.

Conversely, if $K$ sends every weakly convergent sequence to a norm-convergent sequence, take any sequence in the closed unit ball. Weak compactness of that ball supplies a weakly convergent subsequence, whose images converge in norm by hypothesis. Thus every sequence in the image has a convergent subsequence in $H$. Its closure is also sequentially compact: approximate its $n$th member by an image point within $1/n$. Since $H$ is a metric space, that closure is compact. We concludeThis is the principle that compact operators send weak convergence to norm convergence.

Let $(f_n)$ be a singular Weyl sequence for $L$ at $\lambda \in {\Sigma }_{\mathrm{e}}(L)$. Since $K$ is compact and $f_n\rightharpoonup 0$, the preceding result gives $K{f}_n\to 0$. ThereforeThe norms remain one and the weak limit remains zero. The singular Weyl sequence criterion yields $\lambda \in {\Sigma }_{\mathrm{e}}(L+K)$. Apply the same argument to $L+K$ and the compact self-adjoint operator $-K$ for the reverse inclusion. Both operators are bounded and self-adjoint. Thus the Weyl theorem for compact self-adjoint perturbations isThe corrected shifted-range definition is necessary. For the diagonal example in the preceding solutions, a rank-one perturbation changing the entry $2$ to $0$ removes $2$ from the spectrum. The unshifted printed definition had classified $2$ as essential merely because the original range was not closed, so it would make this invariance false.