LAUSR

The purpose of this paper is to present in linear spaces some results for new notions called A-left (resp., A-right) ascent and A-left (resp., A-right) descent of linear operators (where A is a given operator) which generalize two important notions in operator theory: ascent and descent. Moreover, if A is a positive operator, we obtain several properties of ascent and descent of an operator in semi-Hilbertian spaces. Some basic properties and many results related to the ascent and descent for a linear operator on a linear space Kaashoek (Math Ann 172:105–115, 1967), Taylor (Math Ann 163:18–49, 1966) are extended to these notions. Some stability results under perturbations by compact operators and operators having some finite rank power are also given for these notions.