We study symmetric and antisymmetric tensor products of Hilbert-space operators, focusing on norms and spectra for some well-known classes favored by function-theoretic operator theorists. We pose many open questions that should interest the field.

We study the complexities of isometry and isomorphism classes of separable Banach spaces in the Polish spaces of Banach spaces, recently introduced and investigated by the authors in [14]. We obtain sharp results concerning the most classical separable Banach spaces.

We prove that the infinite-dimensional separable Hilbert space is characterized as the unique separable infinite-dimensional Banach space whose isometry class is closed, and also as the unique separable infinite-dimensional Banach space whose isomorphism class is $F_\sigma $. For $p\in \left [1,2\right )\cup \left (2,\infty \right )$, we show that the isometry classes of $L_p[0,1]$ and $\ell _p$ are $G_\delta $-complete sets and $F_{\sigma \delta }$-complete sets, respectively. Then we show that the isometry class of $c_0$ is an $F_{\sigma \delta }$-complete set.

Additionally, we compute the complexities of many other natural classes of separable Banach spaces; for instance, the class of separable $\mathcal {L}_{p,\lambda +}$-spaces, for $p,\lambda \geq 1$, is shown to be a $G_\delta $-set, the class of superreflexive spaces is shown to be an $F_{\sigma \delta }$-set, and the class of spaces with local $\Pi $-basis structure is shown to be a $\boldsymbol {\Sigma }^0_6$-set. The paper is concluded with many open problems and suggestions for a future research.

Let A and $\tilde A$ be unbounded linear operators on a Hilbert space. We consider the following problem. Let the spectrum of A lie in some horizontal strip. In which strip does the spectrum of $\tilde A$ lie, if A and $\tilde A$ are sufficiently ‘close’? We derive a sharp bound for the strip containing the spectrum of $\tilde A$ , assuming that $\tilde A-A$ is a bounded operator and A has a bounded Hermitian component. We also discuss applications of our results to regular matrix differential operators.

Let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}\in \mathbb{R}$ and $s\in \mathbb{N}$ be given. Let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{x}$ denote the Dirac measure at $x\in \mathbb{R}$, and let $\ast$ denote convolution. If $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$ is a measure, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}^{\star }$ is the measure that assigns to each Borel set $A$ the value $\overline{\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}(-A)}$. If $u\in \mathbb{R}$, we put $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD},u}=e^{iu(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}-\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD})/2}\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{0}-e^{iu(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}+\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD})/2}\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{u}$. Then we call a function $g\in L^{2}(\mathbb{R})$ a generalized$(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD})$-difference of order$2s$ if for some $u\in \mathbb{R}$ and $h\in L^{2}(\mathbb{R})$ we have $g=[\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD},u}+\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD},u}^{\star }]^{s}\ast h$. We denote by ${\mathcal{D}}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD},s}(\mathbb{R})$ the vector space of all functions $f$ in $L^{2}(\mathbb{R})$ such that $f$ is a finite sum of generalized $(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD})$-differences of order $2s$. It is shown that every function in ${\mathcal{D}}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD},s}(\mathbb{R})$ is a sum of $4s+1$ generalized $(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD})$-differences of order $2s$. Letting $\widehat{f}$ denote the Fourier transform of a function $f\in L^{2}(\mathbb{R})$, it is shown that $f\in {\mathcal{D}}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD},s}(\mathbb{R})$ if and only if $\widehat{f}$  “vanishes” near $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ at a rate comparable with $(x-\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC})^{2s}(x-\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD})^{2s}$. In fact, ${\mathcal{D}}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD},s}(\mathbb{R})$ is a Hilbert space where the inner product of functions $f$ and $g$ is $\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }(1+(x-\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC})^{-2s}(x-\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD})^{-2s})\widehat{f}(x)\overline{\widehat{g}(x)}\,dx$. Letting $D$ denote differentiation, and letting $I$ denote the identity operator, the operator $(D^{2}-i(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}+\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD})D-\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}I)^{s}$ is bounded with multiplier $(-1)^{s}(x-\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC})^{s}(x-\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD})^{s}$, and the Sobolev subspace of $L^{2}(\mathbb{R})$ of order $2s$ can be given a norm equivalent to the usual one so that $(D^{2}-i(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}+\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD})D-\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}I)^{s}$ becomes an isometry onto the Hilbert space ${\mathcal{D}}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD},s}(\mathbb{R})$. So a space ${\mathcal{D}}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD},s}(\mathbb{R})$ may be regarded as a type of Sobolev space having a negative index.

We study some basic properties of the class of universal operators on Hilbert spaces, and provide new examples of universal operators and universal pairs.

New inequalities relating the norm $n(X)$ and the numerical radius $w(X)$ of invertible bounded linear Hilbert space operators were announced by Hosseini and Omidvar [‘Some inequalities for the numerical radius for Hilbert space operators’, Bull. Aust. Math. Soc.94 (2016), 489–496]. For example, they asserted that $w(AB)\leq$$2w(A)w(B)$ for invertible bounded linear Hilbert space operators $A$ and $B$. We identify implicit hypotheses used in their discovery. The inequalities and their proofs can be made good by adding the extra hypotheses which take the form $n(X^{-1})=n(X)^{-1}$. We give counterexamples in the absence of such additional hypotheses. Finally, we show that these hypotheses yield even stronger conclusions, for example, $w(AB)=w(A)w(B)$.

We study some geometric properties related to the set

$${{\Pi }_{X}}\,:=\left\{ \left( x,\,{{x}^{*}} \right)\,\in \,{{\text{S}}_{X}}\,\times \,{{\text{S}}_{{{X}^{*}}}}\,:\,{{x}^{*}}\left( x \right)\,=\,1 \right\}$$

obtaining two characterizations of Hilbert spaces in the category of Banach spaces. We also compute the distance of a generic element $\left( h,\,k \right)\,\in \,H\,{{\oplus }_{2}}\,H$ to ${{\Pi }_{H}}$ for $H$ a Hilbert space.

We introduce some new refinements of numerical radius inequalities for Hilbert space invertible operators. More precisely, we prove that if $T\in {\mathcal{B}}({\mathcal{H}})$ is an invertible operator, then $\Vert T\Vert \leq \sqrt{2}\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}(T)$.

Let $\mathcal{H}$ and $\mathcal{K}$ be infinite-dimensional separable Hilbert spaces and $\text{Lat}\,\mathcal{H}$ the lattice of all closed subspaces oh $\mathcal{H}$. We describe the general form of pairs of bijective maps $\phi ,\,\psi :\,\text{Lat}\,\mathcal{H}\,\to \,\text{Lat}\,\mathcal{K}$ having the property that for every pair $U,\,V\,\in \,\text{Lat}\,\mathcal{H}$ we have $\mathcal{H}\,=\,U\,\oplus \,V\,\Leftrightarrow \,\mathcal{K}\,=\,\phi \left( U \right)\,\oplus \,\psi \,\left( V \right)$. Then we reformulate this theorem as a description of bijective image equality and kernel equality preserving maps acting on bounded linear idempotent operators. Several known structural results for maps on idempotents are easy consequences.

Let $T$ be a contraction on a complex, separable, infinite dimensional Hilbert space and let $\sigma (T)\,(\text{resp}\text{.}\,{{\sigma }_{e}}(T))$ be its spectrum (resp. essential spectrum). We assume that $T$ is an essentially isometric operator; that is, ${{I}_{H}}\,-\,T*T$ is compact. We show that if $D\backslash \sigma (T)\,\ne \,\varnothing $, then for every $f$ from the disc-algebra

$${{\sigma }_{e}}\left( f\left( T \right) \right)\,=\,f\left( {{\sigma }_{e}}\left( T \right) \right),$$

where $D$ is the open unit disc. In addition, if $T$ lies in the class ${{C}_{0}}.\,\bigcup \,C{{.}_{0}}$, then

$${{\sigma }_{e}}\left( f\left( T \right) \right)\,=\,f\left( \sigma \left( T \right)\,\bigcap \,\Gamma \right),$$

where $\Gamma $ is the unit circle. Some related problems are also discussed.

Some subadditivity inequalities for matrices and concave functions also hold for Hilbert space operators, but (unfortunately!) with an additional $\varepsilon $ term. It does not seem possible to erase this residual term. However, in case of compact operators we show that the $\varepsilon $ term is unnecessary. Further, these inequalities are strict in a certain sense when some natural assumptions are satisfied. The discussion also emphasizes matrices and their compressions and several open questions or conjectures are considered, both in the matrix and operator settings.