Singular values of compressions, restrictions and dilations (Q1863537)

Let \(A\) be an operator acting on a finite-dimensional Hilbert space \(H\). Denote by \(A\colon E\) and \(A_E\) the restriction and the compression of \(A\) to \(E\) . A pair \((S,T)\) of Hermitian operators is said to be monotone if there exist two nondecreasing functions \(f,g\) and a Hermitian operator \(Z\) such that \(S=f(Z)\) and \(T=g(Z).\) The author gives a simple analytic characterization of invertible operators \(X\) such that \(Sing(A\colon X(E))\geq Sing(A\colon E)\) for all subspaces \(E,\) where \(Sing(.)\) stands for the sequence of singular values. Several inequalities involving monotone pairs of positive operators are obtained, for instance \(\det A_E.\det B_E \leq \det(AB)_E\). The author also shows that pairs of Hermitians can be dilated into monotone pairs.