Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2009
Let B(H) be the algebra of bounded linear operators on a complex separable Hilbert space H. The problem of operator approximation is to determine how closely each operator T ∈B(H) can be approximated in the norm by operators in a subset L of B(H). This problem is initiated by P. R. Halmo [3] when heconsidered approximating operators by the positive ones. Since then, this problem has been attacked with various classes L: the class of normal operators whose spectrum is included in a fixed nonempty closed subset of the complex plane [4], the classes of unitary operators [6] and invertible operators [1]. The purpose of this paper is to study the approximation by partial isometries.