Product of diagonal elements of matrices (Q1208286)

For \(A \in \mathbb{C}^{n \times n}\) and \(1 \leq k \leq n\) one defines the \(k\)th generalized numerical range \[ W^ \Pi_ k(A):=\left\{ \prod^ k_{i=1}u^*_ iAu_ i |\;\{u_ 1,\dots,u_ k\}\quad\text{an orthonormal set}\right\}. \] For \(k=1\) this is the usual numerical range \(W^ \Pi_ 1(A)=W(A)\). In the present paper the geometrical properties of \(W^ \Pi_ k(A)\) are studied. To this end the authors introduce two further sets: \[ D^ \Pi_ k(A):=\left\{ \prod^ k_{i=1}u^*_ iAv_ i |\;\{u_ 1,\dots,u_ k\},\;\{v_ 1,\dots,v_ k\}\quad \text{ orthonormal sets}\right\}. \] \[ P^ \Pi_ k(A):=\left\{ \prod^ s_{i=1}\left[ {1 \over \# N_ i} \sum_{j \in N_ i} \lambda_ i \right]^{\# N_ i} |\;\# (N_ 1 {\overset \cdot \cup} \cdots {\overset \cdot \cup} N_ s)=k\right\}, \] where \(\overset \cdot \cup\) denotes the disjoint union of sets and \(\lambda_ 1,\cdots,\lambda_ n\) are the eigenvalues of \(A\); observe that \(P^ \Pi_ 1(A)\) is the spectrum \(P(A)\) of \(A\). It is shown that \(P^ \Pi_ k(A)\subseteq W^ \Pi_ k(A)\subseteq D^ \Pi_ k(A)\) and that the latter set is the disc with centre 0 and radius \(\left[{1 \over k}\sum^ k_{i=1}\sigma_ i(A)\right]^ k\) (here \(\sigma_ i(A)\) denotes the \(i\)th singular value of \(A)\). Further, \(W^ \Pi_ k(A) \subseteq W(A)^ k:=\left\{ \prod^ k_{i=1}z_ i | z_ 1,\dots,z_ k \in W(A) \right\}\). In fact, \(0\in W^ \Pi_ k(A) \Leftrightarrow 0 \in W(A)\). For the case where \(A=I=iH\), \(H=H^*\), a complete description of \(W^ \Pi_ k(A)\) is given in terms of the eigenvalues of \(H\), and a sufficient condition is obtained in order that \(W^ \Pi_ k(A)\) is star-shaped. Next, some results are derived involving special boundary points of \(W^ \Pi_ k(A)\), e.g. (i) If \(\left({1 \over n} \text{tr} A \right)^ k \in \partial W^ \Pi_ k(A)\), then \({1 \over n}\text{tr} A \in \partial W(A)\) and \(\mu A+\nu I\) is Hermitian for some \(0 \neq \mu\), \(\nu\) (in certain cases the converse holds as well) or (ii) If \(A\) is lower triangular and \(z \in \partial W^ \Pi_ k(A) \cap P^ \Pi_ k(A)\) then \(A\) is permutationally similar to \(D \oplus B\), \(D\) a diagonal matrix (the size of \(D\) depends on \(z)\). Further, results are presented where the set \(W^ \Pi_ k(A)\) has a corner or where the set \(\partial D^ \Pi_ k(A)\cap W^ \Pi_ k(A)\) is nonempty. Finally, it is proved that for \(A=A^*\) the set \(W^ \Pi_ k(A)\) is a closed interval \([m,M]\) and it is shown that \(W^ \Pi_ k(A)\not\subset \text{co} P^ \Pi_ k(A)\) for \(A=\text{diag}(i,- i,1,\dots,1) \in \mathbb{C}^{n\times n}\), \(n \geq 3\), thus refuting a conjecture of \textit{M. Marcus} [Indiana Univ. Math. J. 22, 1137-1149 (1973; Zbl 0255.15020)].