arXiv2026
We study the Kadison--Kastler distance and the interior angle between masas in finite-dimensional matrix algebras. In \(\mathbb{M}_2(\mathbb{C})\), we obtain an explicit formula for the Kadison--Kastler distance between two masas and show that every value in \([0,1]\) is attained by \(\mathrm{d}_{\textrm{KK}}(Δ,uΔu^*)\). We further prove that the distance attains its maximal value precisely when the relative unitary is a Hadamard unitary. In addition, for every $v$ in the groupoid normaliser of $Δ$, the Kadison--Kastler distance between \(Δ\) and \(vΔv^*\) assumes either its minimal or maximal possible value. We also establish the identity \[ \mathrm{d}_{\textrm{KK}}(\mathcal{A},\mathcal{B})=\sinα(\mathcal{A},\mathcal{B}) \] for any two intermediate subalgebras \(\mathbb{C}\subsetneq\mathcal{A},\mathcal{B}\subsetneq\mathbb{M}_2(\mathbb{C})\). Most notably, for any unitaries \(u,v\in\mathbb{M}_2(\mathbb{C})\), we establish the equivalence of maximal Kadison--Kastler distance, maximal interior angle, maximal Connes--Størmer modified entropy, and minimal Popa probabilistic index: \[ \mathrm{d}_{\textrm{KK}}(uΔu^*,vΔv^*)=1 \iff h(uΔu^*,vΔv^*)=\log 2 \iff α(uΔu^*,vΔv^*)=\fracπ{2} \iff λ(uΔu^*,vΔv^*)=\frac{1}{2}. \] For general \(\mathbb{M}_n(\mathbb{C})\), we prove a unitary invariance property for the interior angle and derive an explicit formula for the angle between arbitrary masas of the form \(uΔ^{(n)}u^*\) and \(vΔ^{(n)}v^*\). As a consequence, the interior angle is \(\fracπ{2}\) precisely when the relative unitary \(u^*v\) is a Hadamard unitary. Finally, we show that every value in \(\left[0,\fracπ{2}\right]\) is attained as the interior angle between a pair of masas in \(\mathbb{M}_n(\mathbb{C})\).