Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2018 / iii / Paper 106 / 2

Use the usual unital-subalgebra convention $I_H\in A$. The spectral theorem for a commutative operator algebra states that the character space ${\Phi }_A$, equipped with the Gelfand topology, is a compact Hausdorff space, and there is a unique regular projection-valued measure $E$ on its Borel sigma-algebra satisfyingwhere $\hat{a}(\chi )=\chi (a)$ is the Gelfand transform. The map $a\mapsto \hat{a}$ is an isometric unital star-isomorphism from $A$ onto $C({\Phi }_A)$ by the Commutative Gelfand--Naimark theorem.

More explicitly, every $E(B)$ is an orthogonal projection, $E(\varnothing )=0$, $E(B\cap C)=E(B)E(C)$, and for disjoint Borel sets $B_n$,with convergence in the norm of the Hilbert space. Regularity means that each scalar spectral measure $B\mapsto ⟨E(B)v,w⟩$ is a regular Borel measure. The integral identity then implies $\Vert a\Vert ={\sup }_{\chi \in {\Phi }_A}|\hat{a}(\chi )|$. No separability assumption on $H$ is needed.

First construct the spectral measure of a normal operator and prove the open-set assertion needed for all three numbered conclusions. The algebra $A=C^{\ast }(I,T)$ generated by $T$ and $T^{\ast }$ is commutative because $T$ is a normal operator. The Gelfand transform identifies $A$ with $C({\Phi }_A)$. By spectral permanence for C-star algebras,is onto: its image is the spectrum of $T$ in $A$, which is also its spectrum in $\mathcal{B}(H)$. It is injective because a character is determined by its values on $T,T^{\ast }$ and $I$, and $\chi (T^{\ast })=\overline{\chi (T)}$. Thus $h$ is a homeomorphism. Apply part (a) and setThis is a projection-valued measure with $P(K)=I$ andThe associated continuous functional calculus is isometric: $\Vert u(T)\Vert =\Vert u{\Vert }_{\infty }$ for $u\in C(K)$.

If $U\subseteq K$ is nonempty and relatively open, choose $z_0\in U$ and a nonzero continuous $u$ supported inside $U$, for example a small continuous bump about $z_0$ in the metric of $K\subseteq \mathbb{C}$. If $P(U)=0$, then $u(T)={\int }_{K}udP=0$, contradicting $\Vert u(T)\Vert =\Vert u{\Vert }_{\infty }>0$. ThereforeThis proves the claim from faithfulness of the representation rather than assuming it as part of the spectral theorem.

Now take an isolated point $\lambda \in K$. Its singleton is relatively open, so $P(\{\lambda \})\ne 0$. Multiplication of spectral integrals givesThus its range is contained in the eigenspace $\ker (T-\lambda I)$. Conversely, for $v$ in that kernel, the positive scalar spectral measure ${\mu }_v(B)=⟨P(B)v,v⟩$ satisfiesIt follows that ${\mu }_v(K\setminus \{\lambda \})=0$, and hence $\Vert (I-P(\{\lambda \}))v{\Vert }^2=0$. ConsequentlyThe identification of this projection with the eigenspace holds even for a non-isolated $\lambda$; isolation guarantees that it is nonzero.

If $K=\{{\lambda }_0\}$, the projection-valued measure satisfies $P(\{{\lambda }_0\})=P(K)=I$. Its integral representation therefore reduces toThus a normal operator with a singleton spectrum is a scalar multiple of the identity operator. Normality is essential: a nonzero nilpotent matrix has spectrum $\{0\}$ but need not be zero.

If the spectrum has one point, the preceding part gives $T=\lambda I$, and the linear span of any nonzero vector is a closed proper invariant subspace because $\dim H>1$.

Otherwise choose distinct points ${\lambda }_1,{\lambda }_2\in K$ and disjoint nonempty relatively open neighborhoods $U,V\subseteq K$. The open-set result gives $P(U)\ne 0$ and $P(V)\ne 0$, whileThus $P(U)\ne I$. Set $L=\mathrm{ran}P(U)$. As the range of an orthogonal projection, $L$ is closed, and the preceding observations give $\{0\}\ne L\ne H$. The Borel functional calculus for a normal operator gives $TP(U)=P(U)T$, soIn fact both $L$ and its orthogonal complement are invariant.