Integral Equations 0378-620X/83/030345-12501.50+0.

20/0
and Operator Theory © 1983 Birkh~user Verlag, Basel
Vol.6 (1983)

COMMUTANTS MODULO THE COMPACT OPERATORS

OF CERTAIN CSL A L G E B R A S II

Frank Gilfeather* and David R. Larson*

The c o m m u t a n t modulo compacts, or essential commutant,

of a r e f l e x i v e a l g e b r a w i t h c o m m u t a t i v e subspace lattice is a
C* a l g e b r a which is the sum of the compact o p e r a t o r s in L(H) and
a C* s u b a l g e b r a of the core. We give a c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n of the
e s s e n t i a l c o m m u t a n t of a separably acting CSL a l g e b r a in terms
of properties of the spectral measure of an o p e r a t o r in the
i n t e r s e c t i o n of the e s s e n t i a l commutant and the core. This is
used to d e t e r m i n e some sufficient conditions on the lattice for
when the e s s e n t i a l commutant is n o r m g e n e r a t e d by the projec-
tions it contains.

The study of the essential commutant of Hilbert space

operators was initiated in the work of B. Johnson and S. Parrott
for yon Neumann algebras [8]. Subsequently the e s s e n t i a l
commutant has been d e t e r m i n e d for the analytic Toeplitz
operators [3], for nest algebras [2], for nest subalgebras of
von Neumann algebras [6] and for certain width two CSL algebras
[7]. Related to this the e s s e n t i a l l y invariant projections of
a CSL a l g e b r a have been studied [4]. Recently K. D a v i d s o n has
given a representation for the e s s e n t i a l commutant of an
arbitrary CSL a l g e b r a [5] w h i c h can be stated in terms of the
Arveson representation for c o m m u t a t i v e subspace lattices.
In this note we give a different characterization of
the e s s e n t i a l c0mmutant of a CSL algebra which was o b t a i n e d
independently from the work of D a v i d s o n [5] and which utilizes
different techniques. The c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n here is given in

*Partially supported by the National Science Foundation

G i l f e a t h e r and L a r s o n 346

terms of properties of the spectral measure of a normal operator

in the intersection of the essential commutant and the core,
and is used to d e t e r m i n e some sufficient conditions on the
lattice for when the essential commutant is n o r m g e n e r a t e d by
its projections. These serve to generalize some of the main
results of [7]. General necessary and sufficient conditions
are unknown. For certain classes of CSL algebras, in p a r t i c u l a r
the irreducible tridiagonal algebras, it is known that the
essential commutant fails to be generated by projections.
Davidson's work in Section 5 of [5] sheds additional light on
this question.
Some of the results here were presented at a special
session on C ~ algebras and o p e r a t o r theory at the 1981 AHS
annual meeting (AMS A b s t r a c t s 1(1981), p. 96) and in talks
during the summer of 1981 in Timisoara, Romania and Tubingen,
W. Germany. We wish to thank K. Davidson for c o m m u n i c a t i n g his
recent results to us and e s p e c i a l l y for his preprint [5].

§i. PRELIMINARIES. All o p e r a t o r s will be bounded

linear operators on separable Hilbert space. All subspaces
will be closed and all p r o j e c t i o n s will be self-adjoint. We
write L(H) for the set of bounded operators and LC(H) for the
set of compact operators on H. A lattice L is a c o l l e c t i o n of
subspaees of H c o n t a i n i n g {0} and H and closed under pairwise
intersections and joins (closed linear spans), i is commutative
if the p r o j e c t i o n s on members of k pairwise commute. The term
subspace lattice will denote a lattice k of p r o j e c t i o n s closed
in the strong operator topology and all lattices in this paper
will be subspaoe lattices.
An a l g e b r a A is r e f l e x i v e if A = Alg LatA where as
usual LatA denotes the invariant subspace lattice for a set A
and A l g P is the invariant set of o p e r a t o r s for a set of projec-
tions P. Subspace lattices i need not be r e f l e x i v e
(i = Lat Algk), however commutative ones are r e f l e x i v e [1,4].
If A is r e f l e x i v e and LatA is c o m m u t a t i v e then A is called a
CSL algebra. All algebras in this paper will be CSL algebras.
Gilfeather and L a r s o n 347

We shall often disregard the n o t a t i o n a l distinction

between a projection and its range space. We c o n s i d e r a sub-
space lattice as c o n s i s t i n g of p r o j e c t i o n s or subspaces and we
may use the same n o t a t i o n to indicate either. This occurs most
often in the t e c h n i c a l argument. We shall let ~ denote the
canonical projection of L(H) onto the Calkin algebra and let
a(T) and a (T) denote the spectrum and essential spectrum of an
e
o p e r a t o r T. Finally, ess eom A will be the e s s e n t i a l eommutant
of A and A' the algebraic commutant of A.
We require two lemmas from [7] and [4]. For a
commutative subspace lattice L the core of i (denoted C L) is the
yon N e u m a n n algebra generated by L. Using Johnson and Parrot's
theorem [8] one r e d u c e s essential commutant questions for CSL
algebras to q u e s t i o n s involving operators in C L. We let M be a
m.a.s.a, containing C
L"
LEMMA i.i [7]. The essential commutant of a CSL
algebra A is a C* algebra which is the sum of the compact
operators and a C* subalgebra of C
L"
LEMMA 1.2 [4]. (Davidson) Let P, Q be projections in
M with QAP c LC(H). Then there exists finite rank projections
F, G in M with F ~ Q, G ~ P 8o that (Q-F)A(P-G) = 0.

§2. THE E S S E N T I A L COMMUTANT. We give below a

necessary and sufficient condition for T c C L to be in the
essential commutant of a CSL a l g e b r a A.

THEOREM 2.1. Let A be a CSL algebra and T ~ Ck and

let E(') be the spectral measure for T. Then T E ess eom A if
and only if E ( F I ) A E ( F 2) ~ LC(H) for every disjoint pair of
closed sets FI, F 2 in the plane.

PROOF. The n e c e s s i t y of the spectral condition is

shown first. Let f be a c o n t i n u o u s function of the plane so
that F 1 i f-l(0) while F 2 ! f-l(1). By Lemma i.i

f(T) e ess com,A so for A £ A, f(T)A - Af(T) is a compact

operator. Now E ( F 2 ) [ f ( T ) A - A f ( T ) ] E ( F I) = E ( F 2 ) A E ( F I) since
Gilfeather and L a r s o n 348

E(F2)f(T) = E(F 2) and f ( T ) E ( F I) = 0 and so E ( F 2 ) A E ( F I) is a

compact operator.
For the sufficiency we n e e d only consider F 1 and F 2 to
be d i s j o i n t rectangles in the plane. We s h o w that if
T-T*
T e ess eom A, t h e n (T+T*) _ Re(T) and - Im(T) are both in
2 2
ess com A. Let S = Re T and F(.) the spectral measure for S.
The spectral condition for T i m p l i e s that F ( G I ) A F ( G 2) c LC(H)
for d i s j o i n t closed intervals G 1 and G 2 on the real line.
Given e > 0 let F be a f i n i t e partition of o(S) by
n
adjacent intervals and t n e F n so t h a t IIS-ZtnF(Fn)II < E.
For c o n v e n i e n c e denote F(F ) by F . For A e A,
n n

AS - SA = Z F (AS-SA)F = Z (F AF S-SF AF )
m n m n m n
m,n m,n

= K + ~(F n_IAFnS-SF n_lAFn) + ~(FnAFnS-SFnAFn )

n n

+ ~(FnAFn+IS-SFnAFn+I),
n
where K i s a compact o p e r a t o r . Hence

II(AS-SA)-KII ~ IIZ(tn-tn_l)Fn_lAFnl
n
I + IJZ(tn+l-tn)PnAFn+lll
n

2 IIAII.

REMARK. The last part of the above proof can be m o d -

ified to g i v e an a l t e r n a t e result. We m o d i f y each projection
F n in the proof using Lemma 1.2 so t h a t the resulting subpro-
T ! !

jection F of F satisfies F AF = 0 if m ~ n + i. By r e p l a c i n g
n n n m --
! T
S with Z t nFn and compressing A to P = ZFn t h e n K = 0 in the
above proof. Let the derivation determined by an o p e r a t o r R
be d e n o t e d by 6R' that is, ~R(A) = AR-RA. The above shows that
given e > 0, [l~pspllpAp s ~ for some projection P E M with
finite eorank. Thus we h a v e as a c o r o l l a r y a result mentioned
to us f i r s t by D a v i d s o n and in [5].

PROPOSITION (Davidson). Let T c C Then

L"
T ~ ess corn A if a n d only if for all e > 0 there e x i s t s a
Gilfeather and Larson 349

projection P E M with finite corank so that II6pTpllpAp ~ •.

We follow with several corollaries of T h e o r e m 2.1.

The first d e m o n s t r a t e s the key r e l a t i o n s h i p used in the sequel
between the lattice L and the spectral measure of an o p e r a t o r
in C ness com A.
L
COROLLARY 2.2. Let T E CL n e s s tom A and let E(.)
be the spectral measure for T. Let F be a closed subset of the
plane and G an open set with F c G. There exists a projection
L F in i and finite rank projections K F and K G in M with

K F ~ E(F), K G ~ E(G c) and E(F) - K F ~ L F ~ E(G) + K G.

PROOF. The sets F and G c are disjoint closed subsets

of the plane so by T h e o r e m 2.1 E(GC)AE(F) c LC(H). Thus by
(1.2) there exists finite rank p r o j e c t i o n s K I and K 2 in M so

that ( E ( G C ) - K I ) A ( E ( F ) - K 2) = 0. Let L F = [A(E(F)-K2)H], the sub-

space g e n e r a t e d by A acting on (E(F)-K2)H. Clearly

L F ! (E(GC)-KI)± = E(GC)± + K I = E(G) + K I and E(F)-K 2 ~ L F. 0

The following is useful. Two p r o j e c t i o n s L and M in

L are e s s e n t i a l l y orthogonal if ~(L)n(M) = 0. Since L,M • L
this is equivalent to L A M c LC(H).

COROLLARY 2.3. Let T and E(') be as in (2.2). Let

{F n) be a pairwise disjoint sequence of closed sets in the plane
with a corresponding pairwise disjoint sequence {G n} of open
sets with F n _c Gn. Then there exists a sequence {Ln } _c L with

~ ( L n ) ~ ( L m) = 0 if n = m such that ~(L n) ~ 0 if F n n ae(T) ~ ~.

Let L denote the set of p r o j e c t i o n s in L n e s s tom A.

er
It follows from Davidson's c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n of the e s s e n t i a l l y
invariant projections of a CSL algebra [4] that a p r o j e c t i o n P
is in ess tom A if and only if P • L + LC(H). This also
er
follows from (2.2).
Gilfeather and Larson 350

COROLLARY 2.4. A projection P e ess com A if and only

if P = L + K where L e Let and K is compact. In this case
there exists M ¢ L so that ~(LM) = 0 while ~(L+M) = ~(I).

PROOF. By (i.i) P = T + K where T E C L ness c o m A.

Since Oe(T) ~ {0,i}, by (2.2) there exist L, M in i with
~(L)~(M) = 0 and E(0) - K 0 s M and E(1) - K 1 s L. Consequently
~(L+M) : ~(I), L ~ ier and P = L + K 2 where K 2 ~ LC(H). D

§3. STRUCTURE OF ESS C0M A. In this section we

determine some structure results for the essential commutant
generally under some additional hypothesis.
If C[ n [C(H) = {0}, t h e n there exists a m.a.s.a.
M = C A such t h a t M n LC(H) = {0}. It f o l l o w s from (1.2) that
in t h i s case essentially reducing projections actually reduce.
More is true.

PROPOSITION 3.1. Let C[ n LC(H) = (0). Then

ess c o m A = A' + LC(H).

PROOF. Let T E C£ n e s s tom A. Let E be a s p e c t r a l

projection for T c o r r e s p o n d i n g to a c l o s e d set E and let F
n
be an increasing sequence of spectral projections also
corresponding to c l o s e d sets ~ so that F n E = ¢ and
n n
A A

(uF n) u E ~ O(T). By (2.1) F AE and EAF are contained in £C(H)

n n
and by (1.2) EAF = F AE = 0. Thus EAE ± and E±AE = 0. That is
n n
E E A'.

REMARK. An a p p l i c a t i o n of Fuglede's theorem shows that

the algebraic commutant of a CSL a l g e b r a is a yon Neumann sub-
algebra of the core. So if C i n iC(H) = {0} t h e n (3.1) implies
that ess com A is g e n e r a t e d by its p r o j e c t i o n s .
In [7] we investigated CSL a l g e b r a s whose lattices i
were generated by two pairwise commuting nests N and M
satisfying the property that ~(N)~(M) = 0 for N ¢ N, M e M
implies ~(N) or ~(M) = 0. For c e r t a i n of t h e s e algebras, the
tridiagonal ones, it was shown that ess c o m A was n o n t r i v i a l .
Gilfeather and Larson 351

Next we show that if we strengthen the condition to a r b i t r a r y

N and M in [ and extend i to an a r b i t r a r y commutative subspace
lattice then ess tom A is always trivial. This c o n d i t i o n is
naturally related to the order condition of a nest.
PROPOSITION 3.2. Let [ be a commutative lattice with
the property that ~(L)~(M) = 0 implies ~(L) or ~(M) = 0. Then
ess tom A = {I + LC(H).
PROOF. Let T ~ C L n e s s tom A with E(.) the spectral
measure of T. If I ~ e ~ o (T) then there exists closed dis-
e
joint sets F and G with E(F) and E(G) both infinite rank.
Applying (2.3) ~ ( L F ) ~ ( L G) = 0 and ~(L F) and ~(L G) are both
nonzero. Consequently T = ~I + K where K is compact. D

The following result gives a n e c e s s a r y and sufficient

condition for ess com A to be e s s e n t i a l l y finitely generated.

THEOREM 3.3. Assume ~(L) does not contain an infinite

n
essentially orthogonal family. Then there exists {Li}i= 1 in
[er so that ess com A is g e n e r a t e d by {L i} and iC(H). That is,
ess tom A : (~LI+...+~L n) + [C(H).

PROOF. Let T E C i n e s s eom A and E(.) its spectral

measure. If Oe(T) has a limit point we can find a pairwise dis-
joint family of closed subsets {E i} and a c o r r e s p o n d i n g pairwise
disjoint family of open sets {G i} such that E i ~ G i and
E i n oe(T) ~ #. Consequently E(E i) is infinite rank. Applying
(2.3) and (2.4) we contradict our hypothesis. Therefore o (T)
e
is finite. Moreover, for each I i ¢ qe(T) we obtain a L i ¢ i

by a p p l y i n g (2.3) where E i = {I i} and G i n Oe(T) = {li}.

Clearly L i E [er"
Assume the s u p r e m u m of the c a r d i n a l i t y
of o (T) for
e
T e C i ness com A is infinite. Using a Bolzano W e i e r s t r a s s
type argument and the fact that C£ n e s s com A is a C* algebra
there exists a T • C i n e s s com A with Oe(T) infinite. This
contradicts the first part of the proof. Let n be the max of
Gilfeather and Larson 352

~e(T) as T ranges over C[ n e s s n I c fer be

com A and let {Li}i:

obtained from T as above where T E C L n e s s tom A and the

cardinality of ae(T) is n.

Proposition 3.2 and T h e o r e m 3.3 help to illustrate the

pathology involved in the structure of the simple t r i d i a g o n a l
CSL a l g e b r a A introduced in [7]. As was noted above this
algebra is a w i d t h two CSL algebra whose lattice [ is generated
by two nests ~i and N 2 with the p r o p e r t y that ~(N) : {0} for
all N ~ I in NI, yet [ contains infinite rank, infinite corank,
projections. From the c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n of ess tom A given in
[7] it follows that in fact ~([er ) is trivial while [ contains
a countable set of m u t u a l l y orthogonal infinite rank nonessen-
tially r e d u c i n g projections. Below we show that if this is
not the ease then ess tom A = A' + iC(H) and is therefore
generated by its e s s e n t i a l l y reducing projections. We prove
somewhat more.
For two projections L, M in [ the notation L ~
M
e
shall mean ~(L) ~ ~(M) or e q u i v a l e n t l y L-K ~ M for K a finite
rank p r o j e c t i o n in C K. We say that a m u t u a l l y essentially
orthogonal family {L i} in f is separated by [er if for each
L k e {L i} there is a L m • {L i} and an M k • ier so that
±
Lk Se Mk while L m ~e Mk"

THEOREM 3.4. Assume every infinite sequence of

mutually essentially orthogonal essentially nontrivial projec-
tions in i is separated by ker. T h e n ess com A = C~(Ler)+kC(H).
PROOF. Let T • C i n e s s tom A. We may assume
0 ~ T ~ I. Let E(.) be the spectral m e a s u r e of T. If
{tlE[0,t] • £er } is dense in ae(T) , then T • C*(ier) and we are
done. Thus we assume there is an interval (a,b) for w h i c h
E[0,t] ~ ier for all t • (a,b). From (2.2) it follows that
[a,b] c Oe(T). Fix e > 0 for what follows and let t O • (a,b).
Our first aim is to show there is a P•(t o ) in [er' so that
Gilfeather and Larson 353

E[0't0-e/2] gePe(t0 ) ~e E[0't0 + e/2].

Choose a family of closed and respectively open
intervals F i and G i so that F 0 : (t0-e/2 , t0+E/2) e and

F 0 c G O c (t0-e/S , t0+E/3) c , a n d F1. c

--
G. for i > i so that
i -

{G i} are disjoint open intervals in (t0-e/3, t0+e/3). Use

(2.3) to determine a sequence {L i} in i of essentially ortho-
gonal projections • Since F I. c o e (T) the L.1 are all nontrivial.
By our assumptions L 0 can be separated from at least one L i by

some M in ier. Assume L 0 Se M while L 1 ~e M±" If F 1 = [c,d]

c+d. .c+d
we apply (2.2) to the sets [0,c] c [0, --~-) and [d,l] c t--~--,l]

to obtain essentially orthogonal projections L3,L 4 e £ with

< c+d.
E[0,c] -e L3 ~e E [ 0 ' T J while

< rc+d
E[d,l] -e L4 Se E~--~--,I].

Let M I = LsM E L then E[0,t0-~/2] ~e MI ~e E [ 0 , ~ ] -<

E[0,t0+e/2]. Since (L3+L4) ± ~e E[c,d] = E(F I) ~e L1 ~e M± and

M s e L 3 + L 4 we have M 1 = e M i + ML 4 e L If P (t o ) : M I then
E
PE(t0) E ier and E[0,t0-e/2] < P((t0)
-e ~e E[0't0+E/2]

Finally to show T is norm approximated by an operator

T n in C*(ier) + [C(H) we choose points 0 = t O s t I s...s t n = 1

so that t I• = i/n. Let T n = Z ~1 Pl/n(ti) as determined above.

Clearly T n e C*([er) and

I
Z ~i E[0,ti_l ] + K I -< T n ~ E ~ E[0,ti+ I] + K 2

where K I and K 2 are finite rank operators. Let R n and S n be

the operators given by ~ ~ i E[0,ti _ i] and Z ~ E[0,t i+l ]
i

respectively. The operators Rn, Sn, T n and T all commute

I IRn-Snl I ~ 2/n while I IRn-TII and I ISn-TII ~ i/n. Finally
Gilfeather and Larson 354

Rn-S n ~ T n - S n - K I ~ K2-K I so that in the Calkin algebra,

I I~(Tn-Sn) I I 2/n or II~(T-Tn)II ~ 3/n.

Thus IIT-Tn+K4I I S 3/n for some compact o p e r a t o r K4 . Since

Tn-K 4 e C*(ier) + [C(H) we are done.

REMARK. In p a r t i c u l a r the above proof shows that if

[ does not contain an infinite sequence {L i] of m u t u a l l y
essentially orthogonal nonessentially r e d u c i n g projections,
then ess com A = C*([er) + [C(H).

For a lattice i with a c o m p l e t e l y atomic core, that

is, generated by minimal projections, a third c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n
besides those in §2 can be given for T e C[ n e s s com A. This
representation was o b t a i n e d by Davidson [5] and extends to
these algebras the r e p r e s e n t a t i o n given the essential eommu-
tant of the simple t r i d i a g o n a l CSL algebras studied by the
authors in [7]. Davidson then showed that this extended
naturally in terms of the A r v e s o n r e p r e s e n t a t i o n for commuta-
tive subspace lattices to a function theoretic representation
valid for a r b i t r a r y CSL algebras. It is illuminating, in view
of the d i f f e r e n c e in t e c h n i q u e s used, to give an alternate
proof here for the atomic core ease based on T h e o r e m 2.1. Let
E = {E~} be the minimal projections in C i. By our a s s u m p t i o n
I = ~ E . Since T E C i then T can be r e p r e s e n t e d as

T = Z f(E )E where f(E ) is a scalar. Recall that for core

projections E and F we denote E << F if Ei(H)F c A.

THEOREM 3.5 (Davidson). Let T be r e p r e s e n t e d as

f(E )E a for a lattice i with a completely atomic core. Then

T cess tom A if and only if given E > 0 there exists a finite

set of finite rank p r o j e c t i o n s [ = [ so, that if E and
E
F ~ [\[ £ and E << F then If(E)-f(F)l < E.

PROOF. Let T E ess tom A, and by c o n s i d e r i n g real

and i m a g i n a r y parts of T we may assume 0 ~ T ~ I. Let E(.) be
Gilfeather and L a r s o n 355

the spectral measure of T and let c > 0 be given. Suppose no

finite set E£ exists as in the statement. Then by i n d u c t i o n
we o b t a i n an infinite set of p a i r s (Ei,F i) all m u t u a l l y ortho-
gonal with E I• << F.i a n d I f ( E i ) - f ( F i ) I > E. Now p a r t i t i o n [0,1]

by 0 < t I < ... < t n = 1 so that Iti-ti+ll < e/2 and let

G i = E[ti,ti+l). Notice that E I. <

- G.3 and F.1 <
- G k for some j

and k. But If(E.)-f(Fi) I > e implies that k ~ i nor i + i.

1
Therefore there exists a Gj and Gk, j ~ k , k ! 1 so t h a t an
infinite number of E l. -
< G.] and the corresponding F i s G k.
Since E I• << F.l and by the orthogonality of the E i and F i there
exists a noncompact partial isometry S with S = G i S G k and
S c A. This contradicts GiAG k [ LC(H) given in (2.1).
For the
i
converse also assume 0 ~ T ~ I and let E(.)
be the spectral measure of T. Let 0 < t < s < 1 be g i v e n and
let E < s-t. Assume E exists as in the t h e o r e m . For
E

E,F e E with E << F a s s u m e E ~ E[0,t] and F s E[s,l]. Since

f(E) c [0,t] and f(F) c [s,l] and s-t > ¢, e i t h e r E or F is in
~ . Now let A E A and A = ZsE AE 8. Then

E[0,t] AE Is,l] = Z E , AE8, where E , <

- E[0,t] a n d E8, < E[s,l]

However, either E , or E S , m u s t be in E unless Ee,AEs, = 0

(EeAE 8 = 0 u n l e s s E << E 8 ) " Hence ' E[0,t] A E[s,l] c LC(H)

and T ~ ess tom A by (2.1) D

REFERENCES
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Gilfeather and Larson 356

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F. Gilfeather and D. R. Larson

Department of Mathematics and Statistics
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0323

Submitted: August 30, 1982