TITLE: Are the following subsets of a Hilbert space always homeomorphic?
QUESTION [8 upvotes]: Let $F$ be a infinite-dimensional complex Hilbert space, with inner product $\langle\cdot\;| \;\cdot\rangle$, the norm $\|\cdot\|$, the 1-sphere $S(0,1)=\{x\in F;\;\|x\|=1\}$ and let $\mathcal{B}(F)$ be the algebra of all bounded linear operators on $F$.

Let  $M\in \mathcal{B}(F)$ be a bounded operator. Suppose

that $M\in \mathcal{B}(F)^+$, i.e., $\langle Mx,x\rangle\geq0$ for all $x\in F$, and

that $M$ is an injective operator on $F$.


Consider
$$S_M(0,1)=\{x\in F:\;\langle Mx, x\rangle=1\}.$$
Is $S_M(0,1)$ always homeomorphic to the 1-sphere $S(0,1)$?

REPLY [7 votes]: The topological equivalence of the set $S_M:=\{x\in F:\langle Mx,x\rangle=1\}$ and the unit sphere $S:=\{x\in F:\|x\|=1\}$ can be proved as follows.
The assumptions on $M$ and the spectral theorem (or just the equality $\langle Mx,x\rangle=\langle \sqrt{M}x,\sqrt{M}x\rangle$) imply that $\langle Mx,x\rangle>0$ for any non-zero vector $x\in F$. Then the map $$h:S\to S_M,\;h:x\mapsto \frac{x}{\sqrt{\langle Mx,x\rangle}},$$ is a homeomorphism with inverse $$h^{-1}:S_M\to S,\;\;h^{-1}:y\mapsto \frac{y}{\|y\|}.$$
Acknowledgement. I would like to thank Nik Weaver for his very helpful comments, which allowed to simplify the initial answer (which infolved a powerful machinery of infinite-dimensional topology) to the present (almost) trivial form.

Added after comments of @MathUsers: For a positive (but not necessarily injective) opeartor $M$ on a Hilbert space $F$ the set $S_M:=\{x\in F:\langle Mx,x\rangle=1\}$ is homeomorphic to the product of the sphere in a Hilbert space and a Hilbert space (of suitable dimensions). This can be shown as follows.
Using the Spectral Theorem, show that the Hilbert space $F$ admits an orthogonal projector $P:F\to Y$ onto its subspace $Y\subset F$ such that 
$M=M\circ P=P\circ M$ and $\langle My,y\rangle>0$ for every $y\in Y\setminus\{0\}$. Write $F$ as the orthogonal sum $F=X\oplus Y$ where $X=P^{-1}(0)$ is the kernel of the projector $P$. Let $S_Y=\{y\in Y:\|y\|=1\}$ be the unit sphere in the Hilbert space $Y$.
Theorem. The space $S_M:=\{x\in F:\langle Mx,x\rangle=1\}$ is homeomorphic to $X\times S_Y$.
Proof. The map $$h:X\times S_Y\to S_M,\;\;h:(x,y)\mapsto x+\frac{y}{\sqrt{\langle My,y\rangle}}$$is a homeomorphism with the inverse $$h^{-1}:z\mapsto (z-Pz,\tfrac{Pz}{\|Pz\|}).$$
Corollary. The space $S_M$ is homeomorphic to the unit sphere $S$ in $F$ if and only if the positive opeartor $M$ has infinite-dimensional range.