On a conjecture of Marcus and de Oliveira (Q1329999)

Let \(X\), \(Y\) be two normal \(n \times n\) matrices over \(\mathbb{C}\) with spectra \(x_ 1, \dots, x_ n\) and \(y_ 1, \dots, y_ n\) resp. Marcus and de Oliveira conjectured that \(\text{det} (X + Y)\) lies in the convex hull of the \(n!\) points \(\prod^ n_ 1 (x_ i + y_{\sigma (i)})\), where \(\sigma\) ranges over the symmetric group \(S_ n\). The author proves this conjecture for the case that \(n-2\) of the \(y_ i\) are equal. Note added in proof: in a forthcoming paper in the same journal S. W. Drury generalizes this result.