A proof of Crouzeix's conjecture for a class of matrices (Q1947088)

Let \(A\) be a square matrix with numerical range \(W(A)=\{q^*AQ: q\in\mathbb{C}^n,~ q*q=1\}\). \textit{M. Crouzeix} conjectured in [Integral Equations Oper. Theory 48, No. 4, 461--477 (2004; Zbl 1069.47004)] and [J. Funct. Anal. 244, No. 2, 668--690 (2007; Zbl 1116.47004)] that the following inequality holds for any polynomial \(p\): \[ \|p(A)\| \leq 2\max\{|p(z)| : z\in W(A)\}. \] In this paper, the conjecture is proved for a class of perturbed two-diagonal matrices. It is an improvement of the same result for the perturbed Jordan blocks obtained by \textit{A. Greenbaum} and \textit{D. Choi} [Linear Algebra Appl. 436, No. 7, 2342--2352 (2012; Zbl 1390.15074)].