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If $H$ is a Hilbert space and $A:H \rightarrow H$ is a linear operator such that $\langle Ax, y\rangle = \langle x, Ay\rangle, \forall x, y \in H$ then how to show $A$ is a bounded linear operator?

Mars Plastic
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thomus
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2 Answers2

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Solution 1: Use Closed Graph Theorem like Robert Israel suggested.

Solution 2: Note that if $\|x\| = 1$ then for all $y \in H$ we have that $|\langle Ax, y \rangle| = |\langle x, Ay \rangle| $ $\leq \|x\| \cdot \|Ay\| = \|Ay\|$. Hence by the uniform boundedness principle we see that $\sup_{\|x\|=1} \| \langle Ax, \cdot \rangle\| < \infty$. Use this as a hint to proceed.

shalin
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Hints:

  1. Adjoint operators are closed.
  2. Closed graph theorem.

EDIT: BTW, this is called the Hellinger-Toeplitz theorem.

Robert Israel
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  • A proof using the closed graph theorem can be found e.g. here. Why do we need the closeness of the adjoint? Or are those two ideas for two proofs? – ViktorStein Mar 07 '20 at 00:36