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Suppose that $T,U$ are bounded operators on a Hilbert space $H$, with $U$ unitary. If $\|T-U\| < 1$, then show that $T$ is invertible.

Injectivity is easy: Suppose $z \in \ker T$, then $\| (T-U)z \| < \|z\|$ for $z \neq 0$ which implies that $z = 0$. So $T$ has to be injective.

What about surjectivity?

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  • $\begingroup$ Are $f, g$ supposed to be $T, U$? $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 20, 2018 at 5:15
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry about that. I have fixed it. $\endgroup$
    – z.z
    Commented Sep 20, 2018 at 5:24
  • $\begingroup$ Have you seen the special case of this involving $I$? It involves a geometric series. This case is typically used to show that invertible operators are open in the set of all bounded linear operators. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 20, 2018 at 5:33
  • $\begingroup$ $U$ mean "you" is you-nitary, right?😉 $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 20, 2018 at 5:39
  • $\begingroup$ That is, $g = U$, right? $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 20, 2018 at 5:41

2 Answers 2

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The standard way to show this uses a result from Banach algebra theory (if I can think of a more elementary way to show this, I'll edit my answer to include it).

Let $A$ be a unital Banach algebra with unit $1_A$. If $a\in A$ and $\|a-1_A\|<1$, then $a$ is invertible.

If you haven't seen this, a proof should be found in almost any book on functional analysis, and definitely in one which has a chapter on bounded operators on Banach spaces (or a chapter on Banach algebras).

Returning to the question at hand: since $\|T-U\|<1$, we have $$\|U^*T-1\|=\|U(U^*T-1)\|=\|T-U\|<1.$$ Thus $U^*T$ is invertible, and therefore $T$ is invertible.

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Neumann series.

Show that $$\|1-TU^{-1}\|<1$$ and

$$ TU^{-1}\sum_{k=0}^\infty (1-TU^{-1})^k =\text{Id} $$

just how you'd show that

$$ \sum_{k=0}^{\infty}q^k=(1-q)^{-1} $$

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