Roberts orthogonality and Davis-Wielandt shell (Q1688862)

Let \(A\) be a unital \(C^*\)-algebra with unit \(e\). Two elements \(a, b\in A\) are said to be Roberts orthogonal if \(\|a+\lambda b\|=\|a- \lambda b\|\) for all \(\lambda \in \mathbb{C}\). The Davis-Wielandt shell of \(a \in A\) is defined as the joint numerical radius of the elements \(a\) and \(a^*a\), that is, \(DV(a)=\{(\phi(a), \phi(a^*a)): \phi ~\text{is a state of}~ A\}\). The authors present a characterization of the Roberts orthogonality of \(a\in A\) to the unit \(e\) in terms of \(DV(a)\) and show that, for certain classes of elements of \(A\) (e.g., the class of isometries), the Roberts orthogonality of \(a\) and \(e\) is equivalent to the symmetry of the numerical range of \(a\) with respect to the origin.