The Wold-type decomposition for $m$-isometries

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the Wold-type decomposition in the class of $m$-isometries. One of our main results establishes an equivalent condition for an analytic $m$-isometry to admit the Wold-type decomposition for $m\ge2$. In particular, we introduce the $k$-kernel condition which we use to characterize analytic $m$-isometric operators which are unitarily equivalent to unilateral operator valued weighted shifts for $m\ge2$. As a result, we also show that $m$-isometric composition operators on directed graphs with one circuit containing only one element are not unitarily equivalent to unilateral weighted shifts. We also provide a characterization of $m$-isometric unilateral operator valued weighted shifts with positive and commuting weights.