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Cyclic Inequalities

Article  in  Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society · February 1993

DOI: 10.2307/2160333

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Shigeru Yamagami
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 PROCEEDINGSOF THE
AMERICANMATHEMATICAL
SOCIETY
Volume 118, Number 2, June 1993

CYCLICINEQUALITIES

SHIGERUYAMAGAMI

(Communicated by Palle E. T. Jorgensen)

Dedicated to Professor Tomiyama on his sixtieth birthday

Abstract. We prove a class of cyclic inequalities including the ones that are
related with the positivity of Choi's maps in matrix algebras.

Introduction
Inspired by Nowosad's results on Shapiro's cyclic inequalities, we shall give
a proof of another kind of cyclic inequalities that have been conjectured with
the relation to the positivity of Choi's maps

(!) Y.1-i-<*>
JTi (« - m)xj + xj+i + ■■■+ xJ+m
x\ > 0, ... , xn > 0, 1 < m < n - 1,
where the Xj 's are cyclically identified as Xj+n = Xj.
The inequality (1), which is proved for m = 1 in [6], for m = n - 2 in
[1] (the case m = n - 1 is trivial), and then conjectured in the above form by
Nakamura and recently proved for the case (n, m) = (5, 2) in [4], now shows
that the map xm : Matn(C) -» Matn(C) defined by
m
rm(X) = (n- m)s(X) + Y^^C]XC*J) - X
j=i
is positive as pointed out in [6], where e denotes the conditional expectation
to the diagonal algebra and C the cyclic permutation. See [4, 5] for further
information.
In this paper, we shall prove more general inequalities: For positive integers
/, m, n and a positive real number 5 such that s > n and 1 < m < n - I,
we have
n
(2) V--r--^- <-, X\ >0, ... ,X„ >0,
j* (s - m)xj + xj+i + ■■■+ xj+l+m_x ~ s

Received by the editors October 9, 1991.

1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 46L05, 47B55.
Key words and phrases. Cyclic inequality, positive map.

© 1993 American Mathematical Society

0002-9939/93 $1.00+ $.25 per page

521

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 522 SHIGERU YAMAGAMI

which is, again by the argument in [6], equivalent to the positivity of the map
l+m-\
Ih(j- m)e{X)+ J2 £{C*JXO)- -X.
H

Preliminaries
Let A be a commutative C* -algebra containing 1 and let (p be a positive
linear functional on A. Set A% = {x e A; x* = x, x is invertible in A }.
For a e A%, we denote by [a] the set of elements, say x, in A% such that jc
and x~l are approximated in the norm topology of A by Laurent polynomials
of a (i.e., polynomials of a and a~l). Note that [a] is a closed subgroup of
A£ containing a.
The next theorem, due to Nowosad [3, Theorem 1.8], is essential in our proof
of (2).
Theorem 1. Let T : A -* A be a bounded linear operator such that T(x*) =
T(x)* Vx e A. If the functional XT : A% 9 x i-> (p(x~lT{x)) has local
maximums at x = 1 and x = a e A£ \ Ml, ^en Ar « constant on the subset
[a].
n times

We shall apply Theorem 1 to the case A = C e • • • © C and tp(x) = x\ +

-h x„, x = (x\, ... , x„). Linear operators in A are identified with n x n
matrices in an obvious way. Let S = (s/j) be an n x n matrix with nonnega-
tive real entries such that S and its transpose 'S admit 1 = (1, ... , 1) as an
eigenvector. Then S and '5" have a common eigenvalue 5 > 0 for the eigen-
vector 1 (we exclude the trivial case S = 0). Such a matrix S leaves the set
A++ = {(xi, ... , xn) e A; x\ > 0, ... , xn > 0} invariant, and we can consider
a function fs defined by
fs(x) = <p{S(x)-lx), xeA++.

Note that fs(x) depends only on the ray R+x — {ax; a > 0}, and hence fs
can be regarded as a function on the projective set A++/R+ .

Lemma 2. 1 e A++ is a critical point of fs and its Hessian is given by 2 'SS -

s(S + 'S).
Proof. By a direct computation. □

Lemma 3. Suppose that S is invertible. If the matrix s(S + 'S)-2'SS is positive

semidefinite and its kernel is spanned by 1, then 1 is a unique (up to scalar
factor) point that gives a local maximum of fs on A++ .
Proof. By Lemma 2, fs takes a local maximum at 1. To see the uniqueness,
suppose on the contrary that there is another point a e A++ \ El of local
maximum. Then Theorem 1 with T = S~l tells us that the Hessian at 1 should
be degenerate in a direction other than 1, which contradicts the assumption on
the kernel of the Hessian. □

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 CYCLICINEQUALITIES 523

An n x n matrix S is called cyclic if it commutes with the cyclic permutation

/0 1 0\
c= ° '• '• .
: '•• '•• 1
\1 ... 0 0/
The following properties can be easily seen.
Lemma 4. (i) 51 is cyclic if and only if S is a polynomial of C.
(ii) Eigenvectors of a cyclic matrix S are given by
( l \
ej= . , 7 = 0, 1, ... ,n- 1,
V^(n-i)/
with C = e2nil". In fact, Ce, = &ej •
Corollary 5. A cyclic matrix S with nonnegative real entries fulfills the conditions
in Lemma 3 if and only if its eigenvalues are contained in the set {z e C;
\z - s/2\ < 5/2} except for s.
Proof. Let S —Y^]ZosjCj with s} > 0. Then the eigenvalue i of 5 for the
eigenvector 1 is given by 5 - J2"lo sj • Since eigenvalues of S are of the form
X = Y?;=l sjCJ with C = 1, it is easy to see that s is a simple root of S1. Thus
the condition in Lemma 3 is equivalent to the positivity of

5(A+ I)-2|A|2 = 2^-|A-^|2)

for eigenvalues k^ s of S, proving the assertion. □

Now we specialize to the case
Sn,m,s = {s-m)l + Cl+ Cl+l+--- + Cl+m-i, \<m<n-l, n<s.
Lemma 6. S„ymiS satisfies the spectral condition in Corollary 5.
Proof. Since an eigenvalue Xs of 5„,m>i is of the form X + (s —ri) with X an
eigenvalue of Sn, m, „ , once the condition is proved for s = n , the general case
follows:
|A,- 5/2| = |A- n/2 + (^ - n)/2|
< \X- n/2\ + (s- n)/2 < n/2 + (s - «)/2 = s/2.
So we concentrate on the case s = n .
Since the spectrum of C is {1, C, ... , C"-1} with £ = e2ni/" , eigenvalues
of S are given by
Xj = n - m + Cjl+ C;(/+1)+ ••• + Cj{l+m~l), j = 0, 1,..., n - 1.
We need to check that these eigenvalues (except for Xq = n) are contained in
the open disk \z - n/2\ < n/2, which can be seen as follows: For m < n/2,
\Xj - n/2\ = \n/2 -m + £jl + ■■■+ ^'(/+m-1)|
<n/2-m + \Cjl\+ --- + \Cmm~l)\
= n/2 - m + m = n/2,

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 524 SHIGERU YAMAGAMI

and for m > n/2,

\Xj - n/2\ = \n/2 -m +&' + ■■■+ Cj{l+m'l)\
= \n/2 -m- Cj{l+m)-£/(/+«-i)|
< m - n/2 + \Ci{l+m)\+ ■• • + |^(/+"-1)|
= m - n/2 + n - m = n/2. D
Remark. The method of the proof shows that S„ymtS satisfies the spectral con-
dition in Corollary 5 whenever 5 > 2m .
Proof of the inequality. First, we give the proof of (2) for / = 1 to get used to the
reasoning. We express the summation in the left-hand side of (2) by fn,m,s(x).
Note that fn,m,s(x) = fs(x) for S = Sn,miS. Recall that the function f„,m,s
is homogeneous and can be regarded as a function on the subset A++/R+ in the
real projective space P"_1. By Lemmas 3 and 6, fn,m,s{x) has a unique (up to
scalar factor) local maximum fntmtS{l) = n/s at x = 1. So to prove that this
is the absolute maximum, we need to examine the behaviour of fn,m,s at the
boundary dA++ of A++ , where the boundary dA++ is taken in the projective
space:
dA++ = {{xi, ... ,xn) eA;xx >0, ... , x„ >0, (x. , ... , x„) ^ (0, ... , 0)}.
According to [3], we divide the boundary into two parts: a e dA++ is called
in the regular boundary if the function fn,m,s{x) is analytically continued to a
neighborhood of a, otherwise it is called in the singular boundary. So the prob-
lem is reduced to check (i) the behaviour of fn,m,s near the singular boundary
and (ii) the values of fnm<s at the regular boundary.
(i) Singular boundary. Let a e dA++ be in the singular boundary. Then the
formal expression fn,m,s{d) contains at least one term of the form 0/0. First
we consider the case where only one term of indeterminate form appears in the
summand of fn,m,s(d). By the cyclicity, we may assume that an = a\ — ■■■—
am = 0, am+\ > 0, a„_i > 0. When x e A++ approaches a, the sum of the
first n - 1 terms in the left-hand side of (2) approaches
_#m+l_
(s - m)am+\ + am+2 + ■■■+ a2m+i

(3) +■■■+-^-
K' [s - m)an-m + an-m+x + ■■■+ an-\
an-2 a„-\
■\-1-^—-1-—-
{s - m)an-2 + an-\ (s - m)an-] '
while the last term
(4) 7-5-
(5 - m)x„ + X[ H-hxm
becomes a limit of indeterminate form.
Clearly, (3) is less than
am+\ ] | an-\ _ n-m-l
(s-m)am+i (s-m)a„-i s-m
and (4) is less than
Xn _ 1
(5 - m)x„ s-m'

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 CYCLICINEQUALITIES 525

In total, they are less than

n- m n
s-m ~ s'
Thus
(5) lim/„>m;J(x) < -.

We can similarly manipulate the case where fn,m,s{o) contains more than
one term of indeterminate form 0/0 and show that (5) remains valid (notice
the index j such that a, > 0 and fl/-m-i = a,-_m = • • • = o,_i = 0).
(ii) Regular boundary. Let a e dA++ be in the regular boundary. We may
assume that a„ = 0 without loss of generality. Then

fn'm's{U) = {s-m)ax+a\ + --- + am+i

_fl/i-m-1_
(s - m)a„_m_! + an-m + ■■■+ an_t
O-n—m
(s - m)an-m + an-m+i + ■■■+ a„_i
H-1-—;-
(s-m)a„-i +fli +--- + am_i
<_*1_
{s - m)a\ +a2 + ---+am
_<ln-m-\_
(5 - w)an_m_i + a„-m + • • • + a„_2
_&n—m_
(5 - m)an-m + a„-m+i + • • • + a„_i
H-1-^—-
(s-m)an-i +ax +--- + am-\
= fn-\,m-l,s-l(a\ . ••• > fl»i-l).
Thus the problem is reduced to the case m = 1 remarking that (« - 1)/(s - 1) <
n/s. Now the estimate
r , n_ fli_flw-2_a«-i
/»,iM ; (s-i)ai+a2+-"+(5-l)a„_2 + a„_1 + (5-l)an_,
a\ a„-i n- 1 «
(s - \)a\ (5-l)a„_i s-\ s
completes the analysis at the regular boundary, proving the inequality (2) for
/= 1.
Remark. From the discussions at the singular boundary, we know that the in-
equality (2) with / = 1 breaks down for s < n. In fact, maximizing (3) and
(4), respectively, we can find a sequence x e A++ such that
^- n-m n
lim/n,m,J(x) = 7-^>7.

This fact, combined with the remark after Lemma 6, shows that the spectral
condition on the Hessian at 1 does not control the behaviour of the function
fn,m,s at the boundary.

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 526 SHIGERU YAMAGAMI

Generalization. Now the general case will be dealt with. Let us begin with the
case m = 1. If n and / are relatively prime, then by changing the variables
Xj's according to the permutation
(\ 2 3 ••• n\
\l 21 3/ ••• nl)
(the second line is calculated modulo n) the problem is reduced to the case
/ = 1. If n and / have the greatest common divisor d > 2, then the summand
in fn,m,s{a) splits into c?-parts and the problem is reduced to the case d = 1,
just discussed.
So from now on, we assume that m>2. Then most of the above argument
is valid without changes; the only exception is in the discussion at the singu-
lar boundary, where we need to show that at least m terms become 0 in the
summation of fn,m,s{d). Since fn,m,s{d) contains at least one term of inde-
terminate form 0/0, we may assume that d\ = ••• = am = 0. We complete
the analysis at the singular boundary by showing that the number of 1 < j < n
satisfying
(*) aj = 0, {aj+,, aj+l+i, ... ,aJ+i+m-i) ?(0,0, ... , 0),
is > m. To see this, it is convenient to introduce the following terminology.
A successive subsequence ap, ap+\, ... , aq of {a/}_/>i is called a null-string if
ap = ap+i = • • • = dq = 0 and ap-\ > 0, aq+l > 0.
Consider a null-string of maximum length. By the cyclic nature, we may
assume that it is of the form {a\, ... , ak+m) {k >0). If
(aj+!, 0/+/+1, ... ,a7+/+m_i)/(0,0, ... ,0), k + l<Vj<k + m,
then the claim clearly holds. So we restrict ourselves to the case
(aj+i, aj+i+i, ... , aj+l+m_x) = (0, 0, ... , 0),
for some j in {k + 1, k + 2, ... , k + m}.
Let J2 be the maximum of such a j and y'j < j2 be such that
(**) «/,+/ > ■• ■. &h+i»• • • > aj2+i+m-\ = (0, ... , 0)
and a;,+/_i # 0. Note that j\ >h —k as the maximum length of null-strings
is k + m . Since (**) is a null string for j2 < k + m , we see that the index j
in the range
max( 1, jx - m) < j < j\ - 1 or j2+ 1 <j <k + m,
satisfies the condition (*) and the number of j in this range is given by
min(;'i - 1 + k + m - j2, Ui ~ 1) - C/'i- m - 1) + k + m - j2)
—min(_/i +k-J2 + m~l,m + k + m-J2)
> min(/n - 1, m) = m - 1
because j\ >j2-k and j2<k + m.
Thus, if there exist two null-strings of length k + m , then the number N of
j satisfying (*) is estimated as
,/V> 2{m- 1) > m
(note that m>2).

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 CYCLICINEQUALITIES 527

Now suppose that N = m -1 and there is the unique null-string of maximum

length. Since N = m - 1, the above reasoning shows that j\ - m < 0 and
h + k —J2 = 0, which implies that the length of the null string containing (**)
is > m + k . Since the string of length m + k is maximal and unique, we should
have j\ + I = 1 (mod n ), i.e., j\ = n + 1 - /. Then n + 1 - / < m , which
contradicts the assumption m < n - I. Thus we have completed the proof of
(2).
Conjecture. Let n be a positive integer, s be a positive real number, and /
be a subset of {1,...,«- 1} . As a generalization of the inequality (2), it is
natural to expect the inequality
n
V-_%_<n
f^(s-\I\)xj+>ZieIxi+j- s'
where |/| denotes the number of elements in /.
By a calculation based on the arguments in the proof of (2), we can check
the validity of the above inequality in the most simple case « = 4,J = {1,3},
which is not included in (2). The author has, however, no other clues on this
problem.
Acknowledgment
The author is indebted to K. Tanahashi for calling attention to Nowasad's
work [3] and much useful information on the present subject and to F. Hiai for
pointing out some defects in the original description of the proof of (2).

References
1. T. Ando, Positivity of certain maps, Seminar Notes, 1985.
2. M. D. Choi, Positive linear maps on C* -algebras, Canad. J. Math. 24 (1972), 520-529.
3. P. Nowosad, Isoperimetric eigenvalue problems in algebras, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 21
(1968),401-465.
4. H. Osaka, Indecomposable positive maps in low dimensional matrix algebras. Linear Algebra
Appl. 153(1991), 73-83.
5. _, A series of absolutely indecomposable positive maps in matrix algebras, preprint.
6. K. Tanahashi and J. Tomiyama, Indecomposable positive maps in matrix algebras, Canad.
Math. Bull. 31 (1988), 308-317.

Department of Mathematics, College of General Education, Tohoku University,

Sendai 980, Japan
E-mail address: e22236@cctu.cc.tohoku.ac.jp

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