![Eigenvalue equation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Eigenvalue_equation.svg)
In the field of
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
known as
functional analysis
Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (e.g. Inner product space#Definition, inner product, Norm (mathematics)#Defini ...
, the invariant subspace problem is a partially unresolved problem asking whether every
bounded operator
In functional analysis and operator theory, a bounded linear operator is a linear transformation L : X \to Y between topological vector spaces (TVSs) X and Y that maps bounded subsets of X to bounded subsets of Y.
If X and Y are normed vector s ...
on a complex
Banach space
In mathematics, more specifically in functional analysis, a Banach space (pronounced ) is a complete normed vector space. Thus, a Banach space is a vector space with a metric that allows the computation of vector length and distance between vector ...
sends some non-trivial
closed subspace to itself. Many variants of the problem have been solved, by restricting the class of bounded operators considered or by specifying a particular class of Banach spaces. The problem is still
open
Open or OPEN may refer to:
Music
* Open (band), Australian pop/rock band
* The Open (band), English indie rock band
* ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969
* ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999
* ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001
* ''Open'' (YF ...
for separable
Hilbert space
In mathematics, Hilbert spaces (named after David Hilbert) allow generalizing the methods of linear algebra and calculus from (finite-dimensional) Euclidean vector spaces to spaces that may be infinite-dimensional. Hilbert spaces arise natural ...
s (in other words, each example, found so far, of an operator with no non-trivial invariant subspaces is an operator that acts on a Banach space that is not isomorphic to a separable Hilbert space).
History
The problem seems to have been stated in the mid-1900s after work by
Beurling and
von Neumann Von Neumann may refer to:
* John von Neumann (1903–1957), a Hungarian American mathematician
* Von Neumann family
* Von Neumann (surname), a German surname
* Von Neumann (crater), a lunar impact crater
See also
* Von Neumann algebra
* Von Ne ...
,
[.] who found (but never published) a positive solution for the case of
compact operator
In functional analysis, a branch of mathematics, a compact operator is a linear operator T: X \to Y, where X,Y are normed vector spaces, with the property that T maps bounded subsets of X to relatively compact subsets of Y (subsets with compact c ...
s. It was then posed by
Paul Halmos
Paul Richard Halmos ( hu, Halmos Pál; March 3, 1916 – October 2, 2006) was a Hungarian-born American mathematician and statistician who made fundamental advances in the areas of mathematical logic, probability theory, statistics, operator ...
for the case of operators
such that
is compact. This was resolved affirmatively, for the more general class of polynomially compact operators (operators
such that
is a compact operator for a suitably chosen non-zero polynomial
), by
Allen R. Bernstein and
Abraham Robinson
Abraham Robinson (born Robinsohn; October 6, 1918 – April 11, 1974) was a mathematician who is most widely known for development of nonstandard analysis, a mathematically rigorous system whereby infinitesimal and infinite numbers were reincorpo ...
in 1966 (see for a summary of the proof).
For
Banach space
In mathematics, more specifically in functional analysis, a Banach space (pronounced ) is a complete normed vector space. Thus, a Banach space is a vector space with a metric that allows the computation of vector length and distance between vector ...
s, the first example of an operator without an invariant subspace was constructed by
Per Enflo
Per H. Enflo (; born 20 May 1944) is a Swedish mathematician working primarily in functional analysis, a field in which he solved mathematical problems, problems that had been considered fundamental. Three of these problems had been open problem, ...
. He proposed a
counterexample
A counterexample is any exception to a generalization. In logic a counterexample disproves the generalization, and does so rigorously in the fields of mathematics and philosophy. For example, the fact that "John Smith is not a lazy student" is a ...
to the invariant subspace problem in 1975, publishing an outline in 1976. Enflo submitted the full article in 1981 and the article's complexity and length delayed its publication to 1987
[; .] Enflo's long "manuscript had a world-wide circulation among mathematicians"
and some of its ideas were described in publications besides Enflo (1976). Enflo's works inspired a similar construction of an operator without an invariant subspace for example by Beauzamy, who acknowledged Enflo's ideas.
In the 1990s, Enflo developed a "constructive" approach to the invariant subspace problem on Hilbert spaces.
Precise statement
Formally, the invariant subspace problem for a complex
Banach space
In mathematics, more specifically in functional analysis, a Banach space (pronounced ) is a complete normed vector space. Thus, a Banach space is a vector space with a metric that allows the computation of vector length and distance between vector ...
of
dimension
In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a Space (mathematics), mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any Point (geometry), point within it. Thus, a Line (geometry), lin ...
> 1 is the question whether every
bounded linear operator
In functional analysis and operator theory, a bounded linear operator is a linear transformation L : X \to Y between topological vector spaces (TVSs) X and Y that maps bounded subsets of X to bounded subsets of Y.
If X and Y are normed vect ...
has a non-trivial
closed -invariant subspace: a closed
linear subspace
In mathematics, and more specifically in linear algebra, a linear subspace, also known as a vector subspaceThe term ''linear subspace'' is sometimes used for referring to flats and affine subspaces. In the case of vector spaces over the reals, li ...
of
, which is different from
and from
, such that
.
A negative answer to the problem is closely related to properties of the
orbits . If
is an element of the Banach space
, the orbit of
under the action of
, denoted by