Arveson extreme points span free spectrahedra (Q2324862)

Let \(X_1,X_2,\dots, X_g \in \mathbb{R}^{m \times m}\) and \(Y_1,Y_2,\dots, Y_g \in \mathbb{R}^{n \times n}\) be symmetric matrices and let \(X=(X_1, X_2, \dots, X_g)\) and \(Y= (Y_1, Y_2, \dots, Y_g)\). Let \(V_1 \in \mathbb{R}^{m \times k}\) and \(V_2 \in \mathbb{R}^{n \times k}\) be contractions such that \(V_1^*V_1+V_2^*V_2=I\). A matrix convex combination of \(X\) and \(Y\) is a sum of the form \(V_1^*XV_1+V_2^*YV_2\). Matrix convex sets are sets which are closed under matrix convex combinations and these are a dimension free analogue of convex sets. There are three central concepts of extreme points for matrix convex sets, viz., ordinary, matrix, and absolute extreme points. The latter notion is closely related to the classical idea of Arveson boundary. A central objective in this body of research is to determine if one of these types of extreme points for a matrix convex set minimally recovers the set through matrix convex combinations. In the present article, it is shown that every real compact matrix convex set which is defined by a linear matrix inequality is the matrix convex hull of its absolute extreme points, and that the absolute extreme points are the minimal set with this property.