First construct the spectral measure of a normal operator and prove the open-set assertion needed for all three numbered conclusions. The algebra generated by and is commutative because is a normal operator. The Gelfand transform identifies with . By spectral permanence for C-star algebras,
is onto: its image is the spectrum of in , which is also its spectrum in . It is injective because a character is determined by its values on and , and . Thus is a homeomorphism. Apply part (a) and set
This is a projection-valued measure with and
The associated continuous functional calculus is isometric: for .
If is nonempty and relatively open, choose and a nonzero continuous supported inside , for example a small continuous bump about in the metric of . If , then , contradicting . Therefore
This proves the claim from faithfulness of the representation rather than assuming it as part of the spectral theorem.
Now take an isolated point . Its singleton is relatively open, so . Multiplication of spectral integrals gives
Thus its range is contained in the eigenspace . Conversely, for in that kernel, the positive scalar spectral measure satisfies
It follows that , and hence . Consequently
The identification of this projection with the eigenspace holds even for a non-isolated ; isolation guarantees that it is nonzero.
By the spectral theorem, the operator in parentheses acts at spectral value by
The Poisson kernel converges to for , to at , and to outside . It is uniformly bounded, so dominated convergence in the spectral measure of a normal operator gives the strong limit
Applying this operator to proves the claimed Stone formula.
Spectral measure of a normal operator Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-11-05
For a normal operator with projection-valued measure and vectors , its scalar spectral measure of a normal operator is
This is generally a complex measure, while is positive with total mass . For every bounded Borel function , the Borel functional calculus for a normal operator satisfies
For an unbounded , one must additionally have , equivalently . This domain condition makes the pairing and scalar integral well-defined; an arbitrary unbounded function cannot be inserted without checking it.
Spectral projection 2026-10-31
For a self-adjoint operator , its projection-valued spectral measure of a normal operator assigns each Borel set an orthogonal projection . For a normalized quantum state , the probability of a measurement result in is . In finite dimensions, is the sum of the orthogonal projections onto eigenspaces whose eigenvalues lie in . This generalizes an individual eigenvector probability to degenerate eigenvalues and continuous spectra. The functional-calculus notation uses the indicator function of the set.
Spectral projection gives a reducing subspace Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-31
For a bounded normal operator with spectral measure of a normal operator , any projection commutes with and by the Borel functional calculus for a normal operator. Its range is a closed reducing subspace. If the spectrum has two points, choose disjoint nonempty relative open sets around them. Full support of a faithful spectral measure makes both projections nonzero and their product zero, so either range is nonzero and proper, in particular an invariant subspace.