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p-th matricial numerical range

Definition

The p-th matricial numerical range is the special case of (p,k)-numerical range for k=1.

Let Mn will be the set of all matrices of dimension n and by Un it will be denoted the set of all unitary matrices of dimension n. The p-th numerical range (also known as matricial numerical range [1]) of the matrix AMn is defined as [2]

W(p:A):={XAX:CCn×p,XX=1p}.

We can observe that W(n:A)={UAU:Xn} and W(1:A)=W(A) as standard numerical range. In particular, many generalizations of standard numerical range W(A) are actually the ranges of certain scalar-valued functions on W(p:A) (see [3], [4]) so it is worthwhile to study the properties of W(p:A).

Convexity of W(p:A)

Let AMn will be any matrix of dimension n, then in general case the set W(p:A) is non-convex [5]. The following theorems (see [2]) give us the conditions to matrix A and its eigenvalues so as to the set $W(p:A) will be convex.

Theorem

Let AMn will be Hermitian matrix with eigenvalues λ1λn. The set W(p:A) is convex if and only if λ1=λp and λnp+1=λn.

We can see that if AMn is Hermitian and p>n/2, when W(p:A) is convex if and only if A is a scalar matrix.

We can see other theorems involving convexity of W(p:A) in [6].

Properties

Let 1<p<n.

- If all XW(p:A) are scalar matrices, then A is a scalar matrix. Opposite implication is obvious;

- All XW(p:A) are Hermitian if and only if A is Hermitian;

- All XW(p:A) are normal if and only if A is essentially Hermitian.

References

  1. [1]W.-F. Chuan, “The unitary equivalence of compact operators,” Glasgow Mathematical Journal, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 145–149, 1985, [Online]. Available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/glasgow-mathematical-journal/article/unitary-equivalence-of-compact-operators/799971338C614A5088FB71FE0691659A.
  2. [2]C.-K. Li and N.-K. Tsing, “On the k th matrix numerical range,” Linear and Multilinear Algebra, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 229–239, 1991, [Online]. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03081089108818047.
  3. [3]C.-K. Li, B.-S. Tam, and N.-K. Tsing, “Linear operators preserving the (p, q)-numerical range,” Linear Algebra and its Applications, vol. 110, pp. 75–89, 1988, [Online]. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0024379583901337.
  4. [4]C.-K. Li and N.-K. Tsing, “The numerical range of derivations,” Linear Algebra and its Applications, vol. 119, pp. 97–119, 1989, [Online]. Available at: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82777226.pdf.
  5. [5]R. C. Thompson, Research problem the matrix numerical range. Taylor and Francis, 1987.
  6. [6]P.-S. Lau, C.-K. Li, Y.-T. Poon, and N.-S. Sze, “Convexity and star-shapedness of matricial range,” Journal of Functional Analysis, vol. 275, no. 9, pp. 2497–2515, 2018, [Online]. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022123618301277.