On the Birman-Krein Theorem

Abstract

It is shown that if $X$ is a unitary operator so that a singular subspace of~$U$ is unitarily equivalent to a singular subspace of~$UX$ (or $XU$), for each unitary operator~$U$, then $X$ is the identity operator. In other words, there is no nontrivial generalization of Birman-Krein Theorem that includes the preservation of a singular spectral subspace in this context.