Symmetric Tensor Products: An Operator Theory Approach

Although tensor products and their symmetrisation have appeared in mathematical literature since at least the mid-nineteenth century, they rarely appear in the function-theoretic operator theory literature. In this talk, I will introduce the symmetric and antisymmetric tensor products from an operator theoretic point of view. I will present results concerning some of the most fundamental operator-theoretic questions in this area, such as finding the norm and spectrum of the symmetric tensor products of operators. I will then work through some examples of symmetric tensor products of familiar operators, such as the unilateral shift, the adjoint of the shift, and diagonal operators.