Smoothness in the space of bounded linear operators on semi-Hilbert space

Abstract

Given a nonzero positive operator $A$ on a Hilbert space $\mathbb{H}$, a semi-inner product is naturally induced on $\mathbb{H}$. In this work, we introduce the notion of \emph{$A$-smoothness} for bounded linear operators on the resulting semi-Hilbert space and investigate its various properties. We provide a comprehensive characterization of the $A$-smoothness for $A$-bounded operators and further analyze the $A$-smoothness of $A$-compact operators in terms of their $A$-norm attainment sets. Utilizing these characterizations, we establish that G\^{a}teaux differentiability of the semi-norm $\|\cdot\|_A$ at an $A$-bounded operator is equivalent to its $A$-smoothness. Furthermore, we characterize the $A$-smoothness of $2\times 2$ block diagonal matrices.