Norms of polynomials of the Volterra operator
We compute the operator norm of real-quadratic polynomials of the Volterra operator. This is used to test whether the Crouzeix conjecture holds for the Volterra operator.
arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Nathan Walsh.
We compute the operator norm of real-quadratic polynomials of the Volterra operator. This is used to test whether the Crouzeix conjecture holds for the Volterra operator.
Let $N\ge 4$. We show that, if $x_1,\dots,x_N$ and $y_1,\dots,y_N$ are $N$-tuples of strictly positive numbers whose arithmetic, geometric and harmonic means agree, then \[ \max_j x_j <(N-2)\max_j y_j \quad\text{and}\quad \min_j x_j <(N-2)\min_j y_j. \] This is used to show that, if $N\ge4$ and $A,B$ are $N\times N$ matrices with super-identical pseudospectra, then, for every polynomial $p$, we have \[ \|p(A)\|< \sqrt{N-2}\|p(B)\|, \] unless $p(A)=p(B)=0$. This improves a previously known inequality to the point of being sharp, at least for $N=4$.
Let $A$ be a square matrix and let $\Omega$ be an open set in the plane containing the spectrum of $A$. We consider the problem of maximizing the operator norm $\|f(A)\|$ amongst all holomorphic functions $f$ from $\Omega$ into the closed unit disk. If $f_0$ is extremal for this problem and if $\|f_0(A)\|>1$, then it turns out that the matrix $f_0(A)$ has special properties, among them the fact that its principal left and right singular vectors are mutually orthogonal. We study this class of exceptional matrices $f_0(A)$. In particular, we are interested in the extent to which they are characterized by the aforementioned orthogonality property.