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Scott McCullough

Publications and source records attributed to Scott McCullough.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Addendum to "Factoring non-negative operator valued trigonometric polynomials in two variables"

Factorization for positive semidefinite matrix-valued polynomials over a nonsingular compact affine real surface is established. Corollaries include Fej\'er-Riesz factorization for bivariate matrix polynomials that take positive semidefinite values and resolutions to questions posed by Mehta-Slofstra-Zhao and Savchuk-Schm\"udgen. An explicit example shows a conclusion of [Dri25, Theorem, p. 519] that arises organically from its proof need not hold. The difficulty is traced to [Dri25, Theorem 3.7].

math.FA↗
arXiv2026

Beurling Criteria for Reproducing Kernels

A classical theorem due to Beurling-Lax-Halmos characterizes the invariant subspaces of the unilateral shift as ranges of isometric multiplication operators acting on the Hardy space. The class of Beurling-Lax-Halmos (BLH) pairs of reproducing kernels is introduced, consisting of those pairs that admit an analogue of this theorem. The BLH class is, under varying hypotheses, characterized in several equivalent ways: dilation-theoretically, via a complete Leech interpolation property, and through a sums-of-squares-inspired Agler-style decomposition. These characterizations unify and extend a variety of related results in the literature. Examples are given to illustrate the theory, the hypotheses and compare and contrast with the recent developments in the study of complete Pick pairs. In particular, while it is anticipated, perhaps under some mild assumptions, that the class of complete Pick pairs of kernels is contained in the class of BLH pairs of kernels, it is shown that the reverse inclusion fails in a strong sense.

math.FA↗
arXiv2026

Completely Positive Matrix Products

Building on recent works that investigate positivity preserving matrix products, we {examine} the class of \JCP (\jcp) matrix products. A bilinear map on the Cartesian product of the space of n by n matrices with itself into m by m matrices is a \jcp matrix product if the natural linear map it induces on the tensor product of the space of n by n matrices with itself into m by m matrices is completely positive. In particular, a matrix product is \jcp if and only if its naturally associated Choi matrix is positive semidefinite. Similarly, a matrix product is \jcp if and only if it admits a Choi-Kraus representation. We use the Choi-Kraus representation of \jcp matrix products to study various basic properties, including positivity lower bounds, commutativity, units, causality, and separability. As examples, we apply our results to the Schur (Hadamard) product and the convolution product.

math.FA↗
arXiv2026

Operator-Valued Positivstellens\"atze on Matrix Convex Sets and Free Products of Finite Abelian Groups

We prove a Positivstellensatz for operator-valued noncommutative polynomials that are positive on matrix convex sets. Specifically, let $p$ be an operator-valued polynomial in $B(H)\otimes C $ of degree at most $2d+1$, where $H$ is separable and infinite-dimensional. Let $L(x)=I+\sum_{j=1}^{g} A_j x_j$ be a monic linear operator pencil, and let $D_L=\{X: L(X) \geq 0\}$ be the associated matrix convex set. We show that $p$ is positive on $D_L$ if and only if $p=r^*r+q^*\pi(L)q$, where $q$ and $r$ have degree at most $d$, and $\pi$ is a unital completely positive map on the operator system generated by the coefficients of $L$. The proof combines a Hahn--Banach separation argument with a tailored GNS construction. The main challenge is that the separation occurs in the product ultraweak topology, so boundedness of the resulting GNS operators is not automatic. We first handle bounded matrix convex sets, using closedness of the cone of weighted squares in the product ultraweak topology as the key technical input, and then pass to the general unbounded case by an approximation argument. Finally, we apply this convex Positivstellensatz to prove an operator-valued noncommutative Fejer--Riesz theorem on free products of finite abelian groups. The key additional ingredients are the universal $*$-algebra povm(n) associated with POVMs, a perfect Positivstellensatz for povm(n), and Boca's theorem on free products of completely positive maps. As a consequence, every positive operator-valued trigonometric polynomial on a free product of finite abelian groups admits a sum-of-squares factorization with explicit complexity bounds.

math.FA↗
arXiv2025

Fej\'er--Riesz factorization for positive noncommutative trigonometric polynomials

We prove a Fej\'er-Riesz type factorization for positive matrix-valued noncommutative trigonometric polynomials on $\mathscr{W}\times\mathfrak{Y}$, where $\mathscr{W}$ is either the free semigroup $\langle x \rangle_g$ or the free product group $\mathbb{Z}_2^{g}$, and $\mathfrak{Y}$ is a discrete group. More precisely, using the shortlex order, if $A$ has degree at most $w$ in the $\mathscr{W}$ variables and is uniformly strictly positive on all unitary representations of $\mathscr{W}\times\mathfrak{Y}$, then $A=B^{*}B$ with $B$ analytic and of $\mathscr{W}$-degree at most $w$; this degree bound is optimal, and strict positivity is essential. As an application, we obtain degree-bounded sums-of-squares certificates for Bell-type inequalities in $\mathbb{C}[\mathbb{Z}_2^{*g}\times \mathbb{Z}_2^{*h}]$ from quantum information theory. In the special case $\mathscr{W}=\mathbb{Z}^h$ we recover, in the matrix-valued setting, the classical commutative multivariable Fej\'er-Riesz factorization. For trivial $\mathfrak{Y}$ we obtain a ``perfect'' group-algebra Positivstellensatz on $\mathbb{Z}_2^{*g}$ that does not require strict positivity; this result is sharp, as demonstrated by counterexamples in $\mathbb{Z}_2*\mathbb{Z}_3$ and $\mathbb{Z}_3^{*2}$. To establish our main results two novel ingredients of independent interest are developed: (a) a positive-semidefinite Parrott theorem with entries given by functions on a group; and (b) solutions to positive semidefinite matrix completion problems for $\langle x \rangle_g$ or the free product group $\mathbb{Z}_2^{*g}$ indexed by words in $\mathscr{W}$ of length $\le w$.

math.FA↗
arXiv2025

Positive operator-valued noncommutative polynomials are squares

We establish operator-valued versions of the earlier foundational factorization results for noncommutative polynomials due to Helton (Ann.~Math., 2002) and one of the authors (Linear Alg.~Appl., 2001). Specifically, we show that every positive operator-valued noncommutative polynomial $p$ admits a single-square factorization $p=r^{*}r$. An analogous statement holds for operator-valued noncommutative trigonometric polynomials. Our approach follows the now standard sum-of-squares (sos) paradigm but requires new results and constructions tailored to operator coefficients. Assuming a positive $p$ is not sos, Hahn--Banach separation yields a linear functional that is positive on the sos cone and negative on $p$; a Gelfand--Naimark--Segal (GNS) construction then produces a representing tuple $Y$ leading to contradiction since $p$ was assumed positive on $Y$. The main technical input is a canonical tuple $A$ of self-adjoint operators and, in the unitary case, a canonical tuple $U$ of unitaries, both constructed from the left-regular representation on Fock space. We prove that, up to a universal constant, the norms $\|p(A)\|$ and $\|p(U)\|$ bound the operator norm of any positive semidefinite Gram matrix $G$ representing the sos polynomial $p$. This uniform control is the key input in showing that the cone of (sums of) squares is closed in the product ultraweak topology on the coefficients. A separate approximation argument then produces a separating functional that is continuous for the weak operator topology (WOT). This two-step passage between the ultraweak and WOT topologies constitutes our separation argument and yields the required WOT closedness of the sos cone. With this in hand, the GNS construction associates to such a separating linear functional a finite-rank positive semidefinite noncommutative Hankel matrix and, on its range, produces the desired tuple $Y$.

math.FA↗
arXiv2024

Duality, extreme points and hulls for noncommutative partial convexity

This article studies generalizations of (matrix) convexity, including partial convexity and biconvexity, under the umbrella of $\Gamma$-convexity. Here $\Gamma$ is a tuple of free symmetric polynomials determining the geometry of a $\Gamma$-convex set. The paper introduces the notions of $\Gamma$-operator systems and $\Gamma$-ucp maps and establishes a Webster-Winkler type categorical duality between $\Gamma$-operator systems and $\Gamma$-convex sets. Next, a notion of an extreme point for $\Gamma$-convex sets is defined, paralleling the concept of a free extreme point for a matrix convex set. To ensure the existence of such points, the matricial sets considered are extended to include an operator level. It is shown that the $\Gamma$-extreme points of an operator $\Gamma$-convex set $K$ are in correspondence with the free extreme points of the operator convex hull of $\Gamma(K).$ From this result, a Krein-Milman theorem for $\Gamma$-convex sets follows. Finally, relying on the results of Helton and the first two authors, a construction of an approximation scheme for the $\Gamma$-convex hull of the matricial positivity domain {(also known as a free semialgebraic set)} $D_p$ of a free symmetric polynomial $p$ is given. The approximation consists of a decreasing family of $\Gamma$-analogs of free spectrahedra, whose projections, under mild assumptions, in the limit yield the $\Gamma$-convex hull of $D_p.$

math.OA↗
arXiv2024

The complete Pick property for pairs of kernels and Shimorin's factorization

Let $(\mathcal{H}_k, \mathcal{H}_{\ell})$ be a pair of Hilbert function spaces with kernels $k, \ell$. In a 2005 paper, Shimorin showed that a certain factorization condition on $(k, \ell)$ yields a commutant lifting theorem for multipliers $\mathcal{H}_k\to\mathcal{H}_{\ell}$, thus unifying and extending previous results due to Ball-Trent-Vinnikov and Volberg-Treil. Our main result is a strong converse to Shimorin's theorem for a large class of holomorphic pairs $(k, \ell),$ which leads to a full characterization of the complete Pick property for such pairs. We also present a short alternative proof of sufficiency for Shimorin's condition. Finally, we establish necessary conditions for abstract pairs $(k, \ell)$ to satisfy the complete Pick property, further generalizing Shimorin's work with proofs that are new even in the single-kernel case $k=\ell.$ Our approach differs from Shimorin's in that we do not work with the Nevanlinna-Pick problem directly; instead, we are able to extract vital information for $(k, \ell)$ through Carath\'eodory-Fej\'er interpolation.

math.FA↗
arXiv2023

Reinhardt Free Spectrahedra

The automorphism group of a particular free spectrahedron is determined via a novel argument involving algebraic methods.

math.FA↗
arXiv2023

Geometric Dilations and Operator Annuli

Fix 1<R. The dilation theory for the quantum annulus, consisting of those invertible Hilbert space operators T such that the norm of T and its inverse are both at most R is determined. The proof technique involves a geometric approach to dilation that applies to other well known dilation theorems. The dilation theory for the quantum annulus is compared, and contrasted, with the dilation theory for other canonical operator annuli.

math.FA↗
arXiv2022

Noncommutative partially convex rational functions

Motivated by classical notions of bilinear matrix inequalities (BMIs) and partial convexity, this article investigates partial convexity for noncommutative functions. It is shown that noncommutative rational functions that are partially convex admit novel butterfly-type realizations that necessitate square roots. The notion of xy-convexity, a strengthening of partial convexity arising in connection with BMIs, is also considered. A characterization of xy-convex polynomials is given.

math.FA↗
arXiv2022

Reinhardt Free Spectrahedra

Free spectrahedra are natural objects in the theories of operator systems and spaces and completely positive maps. They also appear in various engineering applications. In this paper, free spectrahedra satisfying a Reinhardt symmetry condition are characterized graph theoretically. It is also shown that, for a simple class of such spectrahedra, automorphisms are linear.

math.FA↗
arXiv2021

Convexity of a certain operator trace functional

In this article the operator trace function $ Λ_{r,s}(A)[K, M] := {\operatorname{tr}}(K^*A^r M A^r K)^s$ is introduced and its convexity and concavity properties are investigated. This function has a direct connection to several well-studied operator trace functions that appear in quantum information theory, in particular when studying data processing inequalities of various relative entropies. In the paper the interplay between $Λ_ {r,s}$ and the well-known operator functions $Γ_{p,s}$ and $Ψ_{p,q,s}$ is used to study the stability of their convexity (concavity) properties. This interplay may be used to ensure that $Λ_{r,s}$ is convex (concave) in certain parameter ranges when $M=I$ or $K=I.$ However, our main result shows that convexity (concavity) is surprisingly lost when perturbing those matrices even a little. To complement the main theorem, the convexity (concavity) domain of $Λ$ itself is examined. The final result states that $Λ_{r,s}$ is never concave and it is convex if and only if $r=1$ and $s\geq 1/2.$

quant-ph↗
arXiv2019

Bianalytic free maps between spectrahedra and spectraballs

Linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) are ubiquitous in real algebraic geometry, semidefinite programming, control theory and signal processing. LMIs with (dimension free) matrix unknowns are central to the theories of completely positive maps and operator algebras, operator systems and spaces, and serve as the paradigm for matrix convex sets. The matricial feasibility set of an LMI is called a free spectrahedron. In this article, the bianalytic maps between a very general class of ball-like free spectrahedra (examples of which include row or column contractions, and tuples of contractions) and arbitrary free spectrahedra are characterized and seen to have an elegant algebraic form. They are all highly structured rational maps. In the case that both the domain and codomain are ball-like, these bianalytic maps are explicitly determined and the article gives necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of such a map with a specified value and derivative at a point. In particular, this leads to a classification of automorphism groups of ball-like free spectrahedra. The results depend on a novel free Nullstellensatz, established only after new tools in free analysis are developed and applied to obtain fine detail, geometric in nature locally and algebraic in nature globally, about the boundary of ball-like free spectrahedra.

math.FA↗
arXiv2019

Noncommutative partial convexity via $Γ$-convexity

Motivated by classical notions of partial convexity, biconvexity, and bilinear matrix inequalities, we investigate the theory of free sets that are defined by (low degree) noncommutative matrix polynomials with constrained terms. Given a tuple of symmetric polynomials $Γ$, a free set is called $Γ$-convex if it closed under isometric conjugation by isometries intertwining $Γ$. We establish an Effros-Winkler Hahn-Banach separation theorem for $Γ$-convex sets; they are delineated by linear pencils in the coordinates of $Γ$ and the variables $x$.

math.FA↗
arXiv2019

Plurisubharmonic Noncommutative Rational Functions

A noncommutative (nc) function in $x_1,\dots,x_g,x_1^*,\dots,x_g$ is called plurisubharmonic (plush) if its nc complex Hessian takes only positive semidefinite values on an nc neighborhood of 0. The main result of this paper shows that an nc rational function is plush if and only if it is a composite of a convex rational function with an analytic (no $x_j^*$) rational function. The proof is entirely constructive. Further, a simple computable necessary and sufficient condition for an nc rational function to be plush is given in terms of its minimal realization.

math.FA↗