In mathematics, a weak trace class operator is a compact operator on a separable Hilbert space H with singular values the same order as the harmonic sequence. When the dimension of H is infinite, the ideal of weak trace-class operators is strictly larger than the ideal of trace class operators, and has fundamentally different properties. The usual operator trace on the trace-class operators does not extend to the weak trace class. Instead the ideal of weak trace-class operators admits an infinite number of linearly independent quasi-continuous traces, and it is the smallest two-sided ideal for which all traces on it are singular traces.
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Weak trace-class operators feature in the noncommutative geometry of French mathematician Alain Connes.
Definition
A compact operator A on an infinite dimensional separable Hilbert space H is weak trace class if μ(n,A) = O(n−1), where μ(A) is the sequence of singular values. In mathematical notation the two-sided ideal of all weak trace-class operators is denoted,
where