The \(\Gamma\) operator has the following properties (assuming that \(\mathbb E(\|Y\|^2) < \infty\)):
\(\displaystyle \langle \Gamma f, g\rangle = \mathbb E\left( \langle Y - \mu, f\rangle\langle Y - \mu, g\rangle \right)\) for all \(f, g \in L^2[0, T];\)
\(\Gamma = \mathbb E (Y \otimes Y) - \mu \otimes \mu\)
it is a self-adjoint operator (\(\Gamma = \Gamma^*\), where \(\Gamma^*\) is the adjoint operator) because the kernel \(\gamma(\cdot,\cdot)\) is symmetric and non-negative (\(\langle \Gamma u, u \rangle \geq 0\));
it has finite trace: \(\|\Gamma\|_{TR} = \sum_{j \geq 1}\langle (\Gamma^*\Gamma)^{1/2} e_j, e_j\rangle = \mathbb E\|Y\|^2 < \infty\);
is a Hilbert-Schmidt operator: \[
|\Gamma\|^2_{HS} = \sum_{j \geq 1}\|\Gamma e_j\|^2 < \infty,
\]
where \(\{e_j\}_{j \geq 1}\) is any orthonormal basis of \(L^2[0, T]\).