This monograph presents necessary and sufficient conditions for
completeness of the linear span of eigenvectors and generalized
eigenvectors of operators that admit a characteristic matrix function in
a Banach space setting. Classical conditions for completeness based on
the theory of entire functions are further developed for this specific
class of operators. The classes of bounded operators that are
investigated include trace class and Hilbert-Schmidt operators, finite
rank perturbations of Volterra operators, infinite Leslie operators,
discrete semi-separable operators, integral operators with
semi-separable kernels, and period maps corresponding to delay
differential equations. The classes of unbounded operators that are
investigated appear in a natural way in the study of infinite
dimensional dynamical systems such as mixed type functional differential
equations, age-dependent population dynamics, and in the analysis of the
Markov semigroup connected to the recently introduced zig-zag process.