Fractional operators as traces of operator-valued curves

Abstract: We relate non integer powers ${\mathcal L}^{s}$, $s>0$ of a given (unbounded) positive self-adjoint operator $\mathcal L$ in a real separable Hilbert space $\mathcal H$ with a certain differential operator of order $2\lceil{s}\rceil$, acting on even curves $\mathbb R\to \mathcal H$. This extends the results by Caffarelli--Silvestre and Stinga--Torrea regarding the characterization of fractional powers of differential operators via an extension problem.