Generalized circular projections (Q2154419)

Let \(X\) be a complex Banach space. The collection \(\{P_1,\ldots, P_r\}\) of non-zero bounded projections on \(X\) is said to be a family of \(r\)-circular projections if: \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] \(\sum_{j=1}^r P_j = I\) and \(P_iP_j = \delta_{i,j}P_i\); \item[(ii)] There are distinct complex numbers \(\mu_1,\ldots, \mu_r\) of modulus \(1\), such that \(\sum_{j=1}^r \mu_j P_j\) is an isometry of \(X\) onto \(X\). \end{itemize} The authors carefully analyse the existence of \(r\)-circular projections for classes of matrix norms on \(M_n(\mathbb C)\), including unitarily invariant, unitarily congruence invariant and unitarily similarity invariant norms. Here, the norm \(\Vert\cdot \Vert\) on \(M_n(\mathbb C)\) is unitarily invariant if \(\Vert UAV\Vert = \Vert A\Vert\), unitarily congruence invariant if \(\Vert UAU^{\dagger}\Vert = \Vert A\Vert\), and unitarily similarity invariant if \(\Vert UAU^*\Vert = \Vert A\Vert\) for all unitary matrices \(U, V\) and all \(A \in M_n(\mathbb C)\). The structure of the \(r\)-projections \(\{P_1,\ldots, P_r \}\) is determined, together with the values of \(r\) for which the isometry \(\mu_1 P_1 + \dots + \mu_rP_r\) takes a certain form on \((M_n(\mathbb C), \Vert\cdot\Vert)\). The outcome is quite involved and depends on the isometry group of the given matrix norm. A sample result is as follows. Let \(\Vert \cdot\Vert\) be a unitarily invariant norm on \(M_n(\mathbb C)\), different from a multiple of the Frobenius norm. Then: \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] There is a family of \(r\)-circular projections corresponding to an isometry of the form \(A \mapsto UAV\) if and only if \(2 \le r \le n^2\); \item[(ii)] There is a family of \(r\)-circular projections corresponding to an isometry of the form \(A \mapsto UA^{\dagger}V\) if and only if \(r \in \{2,\ldots,n^2\} \setminus J_n\), where \(J_4 = \{3,7,11\}\) and \(J_n =\{3,7\}\) for \(n \neq 4\). \end{itemize}