Finite-Dimensional Extensions of Certain Symmetric Operators(1)

Abstract

Let H be a Hilbert space with inner product 〈,). A well-known theorem of von Neumann states that, if S is a symmetric operator in H, then S has a selfadjoint extension in H if and only if S has equal deficiency indices. This result was extended by Naimark, who proved that, even if the deficiency indices of S are unequal, there always exists a Hilbert space H1 such that H ⊆ H1 and S has a selfadjoint extension in H1.