Numerical range and product of matrices (Q442673)

The numerical range \(W(A)\) of an \(n\times n\) complex matrix \(A\) is the subset \(\{\langle Ax,x\rangle: x\in\mathbb{C}^n\), \(\| x\|= 1\}\) of the complex plane, where \(\langle.,.\rangle\) and \(\|.\|\) denote the standard inner product and its associated norm in \(\mathbb{C}^n\), respectively. A known result says that if \(A\) is a scalar multiple of a positive semidefinite matrix, then the spectrum \(\sigma(AB)\) of \(AB\) is contained in the product \(W(A)W(B)\) for all \(n\times n\) matrices \(B\). The main result of this paper, Theorem 2.4, proves that the converse also holds, namely, if \(\sigma(AB)\subseteq W(A)W(B)\) for all matrices \(B\), then \(A\) is a scalar multiple of a positive semidefinite matrix.