Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 5 2 10 Solution 2026-10-06
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. ThereforeFor nonreal , the resolvent lower bound excludes such a sequence, so the equivalence covers all .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 5 2 9 Solution 2026-10-06
For the subsequent essential spectrum arguments, the discrete-spectrum definition must use closed, rather than the printed unshifted range. With that correction, means exactly that is finite-dimensional and is closed; this includes the case is in the resolvent set.
A closed-range bound on the kernel complement supplies the useful equivalenceFor the forward implication, 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 , and completeness gives a preimage of its limit.
Now decompose a bounded sequence as with , . If converges, the lower bound makes a Cauchy sequence. The finite-dimensional vector space makes the bounded 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 with . Any norm limit would lie in both and , 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 , take . Its range is not closed, but is an isolated eigenvalue with one-dimensional eigenspace and closed shifted range. The printed definition would incorrectly place in the essential spectrum, although no singular Weyl sequence exists there: on the complement of that eigenspace, .