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 \(L^2[0, T]\).