Algebras closed by \(J\)-Hermitianity in displacement formulas (Q2038480)

Fix an integer \(n\) and let \(\mathcal{M}\) be the \(n^{2}\)-dimensional algebra of \(n\times n\) complex matrices. We use \(t\) and \(h\) to denote transpose and Hermitian transpose and \(\mathbb{C}^{n}\) to denote the space of column vectors. Fix a unitary Hermitian matrix \(J\) (so \(J^{2}=I\)). Then, \(X\in \mathcal{M}\) is called \(J\)-Hermitian if \((JXJ)^{h}=X\) and a subset \(\mathcal{ S}\subseteq \mathcal{M}\) is said to be closed under \(J\)-Hermitianity if \( (JXJ)^{h}\in \mathcal{S}\) for all \(X\in \mathcal{S}\). Some well-known classes of matrices can be described in terms of these concepts. For example, if the \((i,n+1-i)\)th entry of \(J\) is \(1\) for \(i=1,\dots,n\) and the other entries are all \(0\), then the space of all Toeplitz matrices, the space of circulant matrices and various related classes are all closed under \(J\)-Hermitianity. The present paper is an extension of earlier work on \(J\)-Hermitianity by two of the authors (see [\textit{C. Di Fiore} and \textit{P. Zellini}, Linear Algebra Appl. 229, 49--99 (1995; Zbl 0839.15010); \textit{E. Bozzo} and \textit{C. Di Fiore}, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 16, No. 1, 312--326 (1995; Zbl 0819.65017); \textit{E. Bozzo}, Integral Equations Oper. Theory 29, No. 3, 368--372 (1997; Zbl 0889.15012)]). If \(\mathcal{H}\) is an \(n\)-dimensional subalgebra of \(\mathcal{M}\) we say that \(v\in \mathbb{C}^{n}\) characterizes \(\mathcal{H}\) by columns if the linear function given by \(X\longmapsto Xv\) is a bijection from \(\mathcal{H}\) onto \(\mathbb{C}^{n}\); in this case the inverse of this bijection is denoted by \(\mathcal{H}^{(v)}\) so \(\mathcal{H} ^{(v)}(Xv):=X\) for all \(X\in \mathcal{H}\). Analogously a vector \(w\) characterizes \(\mathcal{H}\) by rows if \(X\longmapsto X^{t}w\) is a bijection and the inverse \(\mathcal{H}_{(w)}\) is defined by \(\mathcal{H} _{(w)}(X^{t}w):=X\). If \(v\) and \(w\) characterize \(\mathcal{H}\) by columns and rows, respectively, then \(A\in \mathcal{M}\) is said to have a \(J\)-decomposition if there exist vectors \(x_{i}\) and \(y_{i}\) such that \(A=\sum_{i=1}^{r}x_{i}y_{i}^{t}\) for some \(r\) where \(\mathcal{H}^{(v)}(x_{i})\) and \(\mathcal{H}_{(w)}(y_{i})\) are \(J\)-Hermitian for all \(i\). If \(A\) has a \(J\)-decomposition and \(H\) is \(J\)-Hermitian, then the commutator \(AH-HA\) also has a \(J\)-decomposition. The main theorem of this paper is the following precise converse of this result. Let \(\mathcal{H}\) and \(\mathcal{K} \) be two \(n\)-dimensional commutative subalgebras of \(\mathcal{M}\) which are both closed under \(J\)-Hermitianity. Let \(H\in \mathcal{H}\) and \(K\in \mathcal{K}\) be \(J\)-Hermitian and assume \(H+vv^{h}J=K\) where \(v\) characterizes \(\mathcal{H}\) by columns and \(w=(v^{h}J)^{t}\) characterizes \( \mathcal{K}\) by rows, and take \(A\in \mathcal{M}\). Suppose that \(AH-HA\) has a \(J\)-decomposition \(\sum_{i=1}^{k}x_{i}y_{i}^{t}\). Then \(A=\sum_{i=1}^{k} \mathcal{H}^{(v)}(x_{i})\mathcal{H}_{(w)}(y_{i})^{t}+C\) where \(C\) commutes with \(H\). Moreover, if \(H\) is non-derogatory then \(C=\mathcal{H}^{(v)}(Av)\). The authors point out some results in the literature proved for particular choices for \(J\) which can deduced from their general result.