Bounding the Frobenius norm of a \(q\)-deformed commutator (Q2134557)

Let \(A\) and \(B\) be \(n\times n\) complex matrices and consider the well-known Böttcher-Wenzel inequality \[ \|AB-BA\|_F^2 \le 2 \|A\|_F^2\|B\|_F^2, \] where \(\|\cdot\|_F\) is the Frobenius norm. In this paper, the authors define the \(q\)-deformed commutator as \[ [A, B]_q := AB-qBA \] for a real \(q\). They give the sharp bound of the Frobenius norm of the \(q\)-deformed commutator for \(q\le 0\): \[ \|[A, B]_q\|_F^2 \le (1-q)^2 \|A\|_F^2\|B\|_F^2. \] For \(q>0\), if either \(A\) or \(B\) is normal, the sharp bound \[ \|[A, B]_q\|_F^2 \le (1+q^2) \|A\|_F^2\|B\|_F^2 \] is proved as well. The authors conjecture that the same bound holds true for \(q>0\) when either \(A\) or \(B\) is traceless and prove this claim for \(n=2\).