Characteristic Functions and Models of Non-Selfadjoint Operators

This work aims to give a systematic presentation of methods used in the spectral theory of non-selfadjoint, generally unbounded, operators. Subjects treated include the wide class of both selfadjoint and non-selfadjoint extensions of Hermitian operators; characteristic functions of a regular extension; the construction of some operator models for different classes of non-selfadjoint operators; the construction of the selfadjoint dilation of an arbitrary dissipative operator and J-unitary and J-selfadjoint dilations of linear operators; the abstract Lax Phillips scheme in scattering theory for spaces with indefinite metric (Pontryagin spaces); the relation between scattering matrix and the characteristic function of J-nonexpansive operators; a structure of J-nonexpansive operators; and contractions and their triangulation. Audience: This book will be of interest to post-graduate students and researchers in the field of functional analysis.