Parameterization by polytopes of intersections of orbits by conjugation (Q1863558)

Let \(S\) be an \(n\times n\) real symmetric matrix with spectral decomposition \(S= Q^T\Lambda Q\), where \(Q\) is an orthogonal matrix and \(\Lambda\) is diagonal with simple spectrum \(\{\lambda_1,\dots, \lambda_n\}\). Also let \({\mathcal O}_S\) and \({\mathcal R}_S\) be the orbits by conjugation of \(S\) by, respectively, orthogonal matrices and upper triangular matrices with positive diagonal. Denote by \({\mathcal F}_S\) the intersection \({\mathcal O}_S\cap{\mathcal R}_S\). We show that the map \(F: \overline{\mathcal F}_S\to \mathbb{R}^n\) taking \(S'= (Q')^T\Lambda Q'\) to \(\text{diag}(Q'\Lambda(Q')^T)\) is a smooth bijection onto its range \({\mathcal P}_S\), the convex hull of some subset of the \(n!\) points \(\{(\lambda_{\pi(1)}, \lambda_{\pi(2)},\dots, \lambda_{\pi(n)})\), \(\pi\) is a permutation\}. We also find necessary and sufficient conditions for \({\mathcal P}_S\) to have \(n!\) vertices.