The road to equal-norm Parseval frames (Q1048170)

Based on a system of ordinary differential equations, this paper presents a constructive method to address V. Paulsen's problem: How close is a nearly equal-norm, nearly Parseval frame to an equal-norm Parseval frame? The main result (Theorem~3.23) shows: Let \(n,d\in \mathbb{N}\) be relatively prime, \(n\geq 2\), let \(0<\varepsilon<\frac{1}{2}\), and assume that \(\mathcal{F}=\{f_j\}_{j=1}^n\) is an \(\varepsilon\)-nearly equal-norm and \(\varepsilon\)-nearly Parseval frame for a real or complex Hilbert space of dimension \(d\), then there is an equal-norm Parseval frame \(\mathcal{G}=\{g_j\}_{j=1}^n\) such that \[ \|\mathcal{F}-\mathcal{G}\|:=\left(\sum_{j=1}^n \|f_j-g_j\|^2\right)^{1/2}\leq \frac{29}{8} d^2 n(n-1)^8 \varepsilon. \] The distance estimate obtained in the paper is valid for a fairly large class of frames and can be used to substantiate numerically found, approximate constructions of equal-norm Parseval frames.