1. Introduction
The notion of closed and closable operators is key in operator theory. It describes how operator graphs behave under limits and transformations. This paper focuses on closed compact linear operators on Hilbert spaces and investigates stability properties of closability under limits, sums, restrictions, and composition. Moreover, it studies how compactness interacts with closability and related graph-theoretic properties. The main results show when closability is preserved and when it fails, especially under pointwise convergence, algebraic addition, and restriction to subspaces.
Let
be a linear operator such that
, closability is defined by the existence of a minimal closed extension
, which extends spectral considerations to a broader, more stable framework. In recent studies, Shi [1] and Sharma [2] investigated closability. They defined closability via graph closure and established a criterion linking closability to properties of the kernel and range. In particular, they proved that a bounded operator with closed range is necessarily closed, establishing the connection between boundedness and closedness. Moreover, Azzouz [3] clarified the structure of the space of closed linear operators
, proving that boundedness preserved closedness.
In contrast to these results, not all operators are closable. For instance, Popovici [4] and Mohammed [5] investigated densely defined paranormal operators and established that they were non-closable. This was because a paranormal operator
satisfied;
and since
. It was proven that K was trivially paranormal, and hence it could not be closable. In contribution, Messirdi [6] and Sandovici [7] studied almost closable operators and von Neumann’s theorem, which asserts that an operator is closed even when it is not densely defined. These results highlighted the importance of closability in an operator´s extension, stability, and spectral behavior.
In addition, extensive research has been done on the spectral properties of special classes of operators. It is well known that compact operators on Hilbert spaces have spectra consisting only of eigenvalues, with zero as the only possible accumulation point [8]. Also, self-adjoint operators have real spectra, while unitary operators have spectra that lie on the unit circle [9]. In the study of the essential spectrum, Feshchenko [10] and Jeribi [11] established that the essential spectrum is invariant under compact and demicompact perturbations but also stable under certain operator matrix constructions. Despite these results, the relationship between compactness, closedness, closability, and the essential spectrum is still not fully understood for closed compact linear operators.
Motivated by this gap, this paper focuses on closability properties of closed compact linear operators and their implications for spectral analysis. We investigate conditions that make an operator closable, the relationship between closability and compactness, and the structural behavior of their graphs and domains.
Results from this study will contribute to knowledge in operator theory, particularly in the area of the spectrum. The results will also be of help in establishing the relationship between closabality, closedness, and compactness. This method not only improves existing knowledge but also contributes to the deeper understanding of spectral structures in infinite-dimensional spaces.
2. Preliminaries
Assume that
is a Hilbert space. The space of bounded linear operators on
is denoted by
.
Let
be a linear operator, then
denotes the domain of
, and
represents the graph of
.
2.1. Closed and Closable Operators
Let
be a linear operator. We define the graph of
by
[2]
1)
is closed if
is closed in
[12].
2)
is closable if the closure of its graph is the graph of a linear operator [12].
2.2. Characterization of Closability
A linear operator
is closable if for every sequence
such that
it follows that
[12].
2.3. Compact Operators
An operator
is said to be compact if it maps bounded sets into relatively compact sets [12].
2.4. Classical Results
We will use the following standard results:
1) If
is densely defined and closed, then its graph
is closed in
.
2) A linear operator
is closable if and only if whenever
,
, and
, one has
.
3) Every bounded operator is closed [3].
3. Main Results
Proposition 3.1. Let
be a Hilbert space and
be a linear operator. Suppose there exists a sequence
such that
1)
in
.
2)
for some
.
Then, the operator
is not closable.
Proof. By the characterization of closability given in Section 1,
is closable when
is dense in
. Assume, for contradiction, that
is closable, so
is dense.
Let
. By definition of the adjoint,
Taking limits as
, we obtain
, since
. Thus,
Since
is dense in
, it follows that
, a contradiction.
Therefore,
is not dense in
, and hence
is not closable. □
Remark 3.2. Proposition 3.1 shows that closability is determined by the behavior of sequences converging strongly to zero in the domain of the operator. In particular, an operator fails to be closable whenever a sequence
in norm is mapped to a sequence whose limit is non-zero.
The following theorem illustrates this instability for bounded compact operators.
Theorem 3.3. Consider a Hilbert space
and a sequence of bounded compact linear operators
. Suppose a linear operator
exists for which
for each
. Then, closability need not be preserved under this convergence.
Proof. Let
and define
Then,
is dense in
and
is linear. To show that
is not closable, consider
Then
so
in
, but
Thus,
while
. By Proposition 3.1
is not closable.
Now define, for each
,
Each
is linear. Moreover, for
, by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality,
Therefore,
. Since the range of
is contained in
, each
has rank one, hence is compact.
Since
is continuous,
Hence,
in
.
Therefore,
for
. Closability is not preserved under pointwise convergence on a dense domain. □
Corollary 3.4. Consider a Hilbert space
and a sequence of bounded compact linear operators
. Suppose a linear operator
exists for which
for each
. Then, the limit operator
need not be closable, even though each
is bounded and hence closed.
Proof. Since each
, it follows that every
is bounded and therefore closed.
To show that the limit operator need not be closable, consider the same construction as in Theorem 3.2. Let
and define
Then,
is dense in
and
is linear.
Define
Each
is linear, bounded, and of rank one, hence compact (and thus closed). Moreover, for every
, continuity at 0 gives
However, as shown in Theorem 3.2, the operator
is not closable since there exists a sequence
such that
in
but
.
Thus, although each
is bounded and hence closed, the limit operator
fails to be closable.
Corollary 3.5. Consider a Hilbert space
and a sequence of bounded compact linear operators
. Suppose a linear operator
exists for which
for each
. Then, the graph
of the limit operator need not be closed. Consequently,
need not be closable.
Proof. From Theorem 3.2, there exists a sequence of bounded compact operators
and a linear operator
such that
for all
, but
is not closable.
Suppose there exists a sequence
such that
Hence,
for all
, and
in
.
Since
is linear,
, so
, because
. Therefore,
is not closed in
. Since every closed operator is closable, it follows that
is not closable.
While Corollary 3.4 established that the limit of closable operators may fail to be closable, the next result extended this instability to the algebraic sum of operators. In particular, it demonstrated that adding a non-closable operator to a closable one destroyed the closability property, even when boundedness was assumed.
Proposition 3.6. Let
be a Hilbert space. Suppose
are linear operators defined on the same dense subspace
. Assume:
1)
is bounded (hence closable).
2)
is not closable.
Define the operator
on the domain
. Then
is not closable.
Proof. Since
is not closable, there exists a sequence
such that
and
Since
is closable and
, we have
Therefore,
Hence, there exists a sequence
such that
,
is not closable. □
Remark 3.7. This proposition highlighted the following:
1) Closability is not necessarily preserved under the addition of operators.
2) If one operator in the sum is non-closable, then the resulting operator is also non-closable. Moreover, non-closability is stable under bounded perturbations. That is: if
is not closable and
is bounded, then
is not closable.
3) This occurs because the sequence violating the closability condition for the non-closable operator also prevents the sum from admitting a closed extension.
Moreover, the study considered whether closability is preserved under domain restriction.
Proposition 3.8. Let
be a Hilbert space and let
be a closable linear operator. Let
be a linear subspace, and define the restriction
. Then,
is closable.
Moreover:
1) If
is dense in
with respect to the graph norm, then
.
2) If
is not dense in
with respect to the graph norm, then
may be a proper restriction of
, although
remains closable.
Proof. A linear operator
is closable if and only if the closure of its graph.
is the graph of a single-valued operator.
Consider the restriction
whose graph is
Taking closures in
, we obtain
Since
is closable,
is the graph of a linear operator. The closure of a subset of a graph is also the graph of a single-valued operator in
. Hence,
is closable.
1) Suppose that
is dense in
with respect to the graph norm. Then, for every
, there exists a sequence
such that
That is,
in
and
in
.
Hence,
in
, which implies
.
Therefore,
and consequently,
2) Suppose that
is not dense in
with respect to the graph norm. Then, there exists
such that .
Hence,
, even though
. Therefore,
and hence
is a proper restriction of
.
Since
is still the graph of a linear operator,
remains closable. □
Corollary 3.9. Let
be a Hilbert space, and let
be a closable linear operator. Let
be a linear subspace, and define the restriction
. If
is not dense in
with respect to the graph norm
then, the closure
may be a proper restriction of
, although
remains closable.
Proof. Since
is closable, its closure
exists and has graph
.
Consider the restriction
with graph
Taking closures,
Hence,
is also the graph of an operator, and therefore
is closable.
Now suppose that
is not dense in
with respect to the graph norm. Then, there exists
such that .
Therefore,
and hence
.
Thus, while
remains closable, its closure may be strictly smaller than the closure of
. □
As examined by Kato [13], composition with an isometry or partial isometry often preserves certain stability properties of operators. Motivated by this, this recent study presented a sufficient condition for preservation of closability under composition.
Proposition 3.10. Let
be an isometry. Define the composition
Then,
is closable on
.
Proof. Let
be such that
Since
converges, it is Cauchy. Because
is an isometry,
Hence,
is a Cauchy sequence in
. Since
is complete, there exists
such that
.
By continuity of
,
.
Therefore,
is closable. □
This shows that while general bounded composition can destroy closability, composition with an isometry preserves it.
Corollary 3.11. Consider a Hilbert space
be a closable linear operator
. Let
be unitary. Then,
is closable and
is closable, where
.
Proof. Consider a Hilbert space
be a closable linear operator
on
, and let
be a unitary operator on
.
For
: Take any sequence
such that
(3.1)
Since
is unitary,
is bounded, so applying
to both sides of Equation (3.1) gives
in
. Because
is closable, the conditions
and
imply
, applying
, we obtain
. Therefore,
is closable.
For
: Consider the domain
Take any sequence
such that
Since
is bounded, we have
in
. Also,
. Because
is closable, it follows that
. Hence
is closable. □
Therefore, both
and
are closable on their respective domains.
Proposition 3.12. Let
be a Hilbert space, and let
be a compact linear operator with dense domain
. Suppose that
is closable and that its closure
is a bounded operator defined on all of
. Then:
1)
is compact on
.
2) The non-zero spectra of
and
coincide, that is,
Proof. Let
be compact and densely defined, and assume
is closable with bounded closure
.
1)
is compact. Take any bounded sequence
, say
. Since
is dense, for each
choose
with
. Then,
is bounded:
.
By compactness of
, there exists a subsequence
such that
. Now,
and since
is bounded,
. Thus,
showing that
is compact.
2) Let
. Since both
and
are compact, every non-zero spectral value is an eigenvalue. Thus, it suffices to compare non-zero eigenvalues.
If
for some non-zero
, then
so
.
Conversely, if
for some non-zero
, then
belongs to the operator part determined by the closure of the graph of
, and hence
with
.
Thus,
.
Therefore,
□
4. Conclusion
This study examined closability for closed compact linear operators, establishing that closability may fail under different circumstances. That is, under pointwise limits of bounded compact operators, under addition with non-closable operators, and when domains are restricted. In contrast, closability can also be preserved under composition with isometries and unitaries. Furthermore, the study illustrated how the closure of a closable operator relates to its domain and spectral properties when compact. These results enhance our understanding of the structural stability of linear operators as they establish conditions that preserve or destroy closability and thus suggest further research on the relationship between closability and spectral behavior for bounded compact, non-closable, sum, restriction, and composition operators.