An operator C on a Hilbert space H dilates to an operator T on a Hilbert space K if there is an isometry V:H→K such that C=V∗TV. A main result of this paper is, for a positive integer d, the simultaneous dilation, up to a sharp factor ϑ(d), expressed as a ratio of Γ functions for d even, of all d×d symmetric matrices of operator norm at most one to a collection of commuting self-adjoint contraction operators on a Hilbert space.

This book presents 30 articles on the topic areas discussed at the 30th “International Workshop on Operator Theory and its Applications”, held in Lisbon in July 2019. The contributions include both expository essays and original research papers reflecting recent advances in the traditional IWOTA areas and emerging adjacent fields, as well as the applications of Operator Theory and Functional Analysis. The topics range from C*–algebras and Banach *–algebras, Sturm-Liouville theory, integrable systems, dilation theory, frame theory, Toeplitz, Hankel, and singular integral operators, to questions from lattice, group and matrix theories, complex analysis, harmonic analysis, and function spaces. Given its scope, the book is chiefly intended for researchers and graduate students in the areas of Operator Theory, Functional Analysis, their applications and adjacent fields.

In this paper, the authors study matrix functions of bounded type from the viewpoint of describing an interplay between function theory and operator theory. They first establish a criterion on the coprime-ness of two singular inner functions and obtain several properties of the Douglas-Shapiro-Shields factorizations of matrix functions of bounded type. They propose a new notion of tensored-scalar singularity, and then answer questions on Hankel operators with matrix-valued bounded type symbols. They also examine an interpolation problem related to a certain functional equation on matrix functions of bounded type; this can be seen as an extension of the classical Hermite-Fejér Interpolation Problem for matrix rational functions. The authors then extend the H∞-functional calculus to an H∞¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯+H∞-functional calculus for the compressions of the shift. Next, the authors consider the subnormality of Toeplitz operators with matrix-valued bounded type symbols and, in particular, the matrix-valued version of Halmos's Problem 5 and then establish a matrix-valued version of Abrahamse's Theorem. They also solve a subnormal Toeplitz completion problem of 2×2 partial block Toeplitz matrices. Further, they establish a characterization of hyponormal Toeplitz pairs with matrix-valued bounded type symbols and then derive rank formulae for the self-commutators of hyponormal Toeplitz pairs.

This volume is devoted to Joseph A. (Joe) Ball’s contributions to operator theory and its applications and in celebration of his seventieth birthday. Joe Ball’s career spans over four and a half decades, starting with his work on model theory and related topics for non-contractions and operators on multiply connected domains. Later on, more applied operator theory themes appeared in his work, involving factorization and interpolation for operator-valued functions, with extensive applications in system and control theory. He has worked on nonlinear control, time-varying systems and, more recently, on multidimensional systems and noncommutative H∞-theory on the unit ball and polydisk, and more general domains, and these are only the main themes in his vast oeuvre. Fourteen research papers constitute the core of this volume, written by mathematicians who have collaborated with Joe or have been influenced by his vast mathematical work. A curriculum vitae, a publications list and a list of Joe Ball’s PhD students are included in this volume, as well as personal reminiscences by colleagues and friends. Contributions by Yu. M. Arlinskii, S. Hassi, M. Augat, J. W. Helton, I. Klep, S. McCullough, S. Balasubramanian, U. Wijesooriya, N. Cohen, Q. Fang, S. Gorai, J. Sarkar, G. J. Groenewald, S. ter Horst, J. Jaftha, A. C. M. Ran, M.A. Kaashoek, F. van Schagen, A. Kheifets, Z. A. Lykova, N. J. Young, A. E. Ajibo, R. T. W. Martin, A. Ramanantoanina, M.-J. Y. Ou, H. J. Woerdeman, A. van der Schaft, A. Tannenbaum, T. T. Georgiou, J. O. Deasy and L. Norton.

The authors consider the energy super critical semilinear heat equation The authors first revisit the construction of radially symmetric self similar solutions performed through an ode approach and propose a bifurcation type argument which allows for a sharp control of the spectrum of the corresponding linearized operator in suitable weighted spaces. They then show how the sole knowledge of this spectral gap in weighted spaces implies the finite codimensional nonradial stability of these solutions for smooth well localized initial data using energy bounds. The whole scheme draws a route map for the derivation of the existence and stability of self-similar blow up in nonradial energy super critical settings.

The authors consider the nonlinear equation −1m=z+Sm with a parameter z in the complex upper half plane H, where S is a positivity preserving symmetric linear operator acting on bounded functions. The solution with values in H is unique and its z-dependence is conveniently described as the Stieltjes transforms of a family of measures v on R. In a previous paper the authors qualitatively identified the possible singular behaviors of v: under suitable conditions on S we showed that in the density of v only algebraic singularities of degree two or three may occur. In this paper the authors give a comprehensive analysis of these singularities with uniform quantitative controls. They also find a universal shape describing the transition regime between the square root and cubic root singularities. Finally, motivated by random matrix applications in the authors' companion paper they present a complete stability analysis of the equation for any z∈H, including the vicinity of the singularities.

If X is a manifold then the R-algebra C∞(X) of smooth functions c:X→R is a C∞-ring. That is, for each smooth function f:Rn→R there is an n-fold operation Φf:C∞(X)n→C∞(X) acting by Φf:(c1,…,cn)↦f(c1,…,cn), and these operations Φf satisfy many natural identities. Thus, C∞(X) actually has a far richer structure than the obvious R-algebra structure. The author explains the foundations of a version of algebraic geometry in which rings or algebras are replaced by C∞-rings. As schemes are the basic objects in algebraic geometry, the new basic objects are C∞-schemes, a category of geometric objects which generalize manifolds and whose morphisms generalize smooth maps. The author also studies quasicoherent sheaves on C∞-schemes, and C∞-stacks, in particular Deligne-Mumford C∞-stacks, a 2-category of geometric objects generalizing orbifolds. Many of these ideas are not new: C∞-rings and C∞ -schemes have long been part of synthetic differential geometry. But the author develops them in new directions. In earlier publications, the author used these tools to define d-manifolds and d-orbifolds, “derived” versions of manifolds and orbifolds related to Spivak's “derived manifolds”.

In 1925 Élie Cartan introduced the principal of triality specifically for the Lie groups of type D4, and in 1935 Ruth Moufang initiated the study of Moufang loops. The observation of the title in 1978 was made by Stephen Doro, who was in turn motivated by the work of George Glauberman from 1968. Here the author makes the statement precise in a categorical context. In fact the most obvious categories of Moufang loops and groups with triality are not equivalent, hence the need for the word “essentially.”

Indecomposable symmetric Lorentzian manifolds of non-constant curvature are called Cahen-Wallach spaces. Their isometry classes are described by continuous families of real parameters. The authors derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of compact quotients of Cahen-Wallach spaces in terms of these parameters.

Following the method developed by Waldspurger and Beuzart-Plessis in their proofs of the local Gan-Gross-Prasad conjecture, the author is able to prove the geometric side of a local relative trace formula for the Ginzburg-Rallis model. Then by applying such formula, the author proves a multiplicity formula of the Ginzburg-Rallis model for the supercuspidal representations. Using that multiplicity formula, the author proves the multiplicity one theorem for the Ginzburg-Rallis model over Vogan packets in the supercuspidal case.