Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 May 2009
We consider the hypothesis that an operator T on a given Banach space can always be perturbed by a compact operator K in such a way that, whenever a complex number A is in the semi-Fredholm region of T + K, then T + K – λ is either bounded below or surjective. The hypothesis has its origin in the work of West [11], who proved it for Riesz operators on Hilbert space. In this paper, we reduce the general Banach space problem to one of considering only operators of a special type, operators which are, in a spectral sense, natural generalizations of the Riesz operators studied by West.