The Stability and Density of Norm Attaining Operators on Reducing Subspaces
For a bounded linear operator on an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space, we consider the class $β(H)$ of operators whose restrictions to all nonzero reducing subspaces attain their norms. We prove that $β(H)$ is dense in $\mathcal{B}(H)$ in the operator norm. Since $β(H)$ is not stable under arbitrary compact perturbations, we introduce a natural subclass $β_0(H)$ and investigate its perturbation properties. We show that $β_0(H)$ is stable under finite-rank perturbations and obtain a complete characterization of those compact perturbations that preserve membership in $β_0(H)$. We also determine the maximal compactly perturbation-invariant subset of $β_0(H)$. These results clarify the spectral structure and stability of norm-attaining operators on reducing subspaces.