Universality and models for semigroups of operators on a Hilbert space

This paper considers universal Hilbert space operators in the sense of Rota, and gives criteria for universality of semigroups in the context of uniformly continuous semigroups and contraction semigroups. Specific examples are given. Universal semigroups provide models for these classes of semigroups: following a line of research initiated by Shimorin, models for concave semigroups are developed, in terms of shifts on reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces.